If you talk to University of Florida football fans, a community of which I consider myself a member, they will tell you times have been hard enough the last few years. The Gators haven’t won a bowl game since 2019 and didn’t even play in one last season. All the while we’ve watched SEC foes Georgia and Alabama win national titles and have recent losses to the likes of Kentucky and Vanderbilt, who we always assumed was only in the conference for their SAT scores. And depending on what you believe, it might actually get worse.
That potential comes as the NAACP has encouraged black student athletes not to play for Florida universities in light of the state’s new law that prohibits any state funding of DEI programs, which has essentially made them implausible and illegal on the vast majority of its university campuses. That includes the University of Florida, which this month closed their Diversity office and laid off a bunch of DEI employees. Florida State also closed their DEI office, as did other universities across the state. Whether they wanted to or not, Florida universities have heeded Governor Ron DeSantis’ call for compliance, which led the NAACP to act.
They aren’t the only ones who have spoken up against Florida’s regulations, especially around athletics. NFL and Gator legend Emmitt Smith said he was disgusted with his alma matter’s move and told Florida athletes to be vocal about the decision. And a couple of states away, Birmingham, Alabama mayor Randall Woodfin said that if his state did in fact pass similar legislation, he would have no problem advising black athletes to look elsewhere for college sports, something that seems nearly blasphemous in the home state of the Crimson Tide.
For context, it’s critical to understand the contribution of black athletes to the success of Florida’s and most southern state’s college football and basketball programs, where billions are made and brands are built. Black men comprise over 70% of the University of Florida’s football and basketball players, a population that until recently couldn’t even earn money from endorsements, much less a salary. So needless to say, a Florida boycott would have a pretty drastic impact up and down I-75 and across the I-4 corridor. And, as some have suggested, could even swing the balance of power in sports from below the Mason Dixon line to northern blue states.
I won’t get into the argument about college DEI programs and offices, a debate whose politics far overshadows any actual conversation about efficacy and progress. To be clear, I work at a large state university and have the privilege of leading a school that maintains several important partnerships that build educational and career pipelines for diverse student populations. That really matters to me and is, I believe, a critical mission of higher education. But I’ll leave the dogma to the politicians and pundits.
But in the question of whether the Florida state ban on DEI programs will change the trajectory of where young black student athletes choose to go to college, it’s really hard to say. But we do have some recent history as a guide. Only a few years ago in the wake of the death of George Floyd, several high-profile athletes chose to forgo offers to play for top Division I programs to instead enroll in HBCU’s, which compete at a lower level. That was supported by former NFL star Deon Sanders taking the head football coaching job at Jackson State. This was a true demonstration of black athletes using their power and agency to both buoy the mission of HBCUs and speak to the inequities of college sports, where majority white institutions earn millions off the labor of primarily black team rosters. And yet only a couple of years later, Sanders moved to a high paying job at Colorado – where many of his Jackson State athletes transferred – and any recruiting trend away from the establishment in college sports has quickly abated. Largely because in the end, the most likely pathway to either a career in pro sports or significant NIL money came at establishment school. Places like Alabama, and Texas, and, yes, Florida. It's not that young athletes don’t care about social or racial justice. It’s just that, like most 18-year-olds, they are hoping for their greatest shot at making a living, something that drives the college decision of most kids, athletes or not.
So will this time be different. Did Ron DeSantis just start a fight he won’t win? It’s hard to say. But for Gator fans, it may only get worse.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler
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