November 2, 2024

Acquanyc

Health's Like Heaven.

Auburn’s new football coach raising alarms

A butter sandwich is more interesting than Bryan Harsin, and probably healthier, too.

Could be wrong about this, and hopefully I am wrong about this, but it’s probably not the greatest sign of things to come from Auburn’s new football coach that the most memorable thing he said on Thursday at his first SEC Media Days was that vaccines are a personal choice, and he’s not encouraging anyone to get one.

Has Harsin received the COVID-19 vaccine? He no commented that question, and also said he wasn’t going to discuss the vaccine with his team.

“It’s deeply personal for a lot of people,” Harsin said. “And so, that’s how we approach it: here’s the information, you make the decision.”

Bryan Harsin, the maybe/maybe not anti-vaxxer. Just great. Wonderful. Is he planning to run for the U.S. Senate, or something?

GOODMAN: ‘Brisket Takeover’ of the SEC must be stopped

Governor Kay Ivey, please have a talk with the football coach at your alma mater. He doesn’t quite understand the position just yet.

“Let’s be crystal clear about this issue,” Gov. Ivey said on Thursday in Birmingham. “And media, I want you to start reporting the facts. The new cases of COVID are because of unvaccinated folks. Almost 100% of the new hospitalizations are with unvaccinated folks. And the deaths are certainly occurring with the unvaccinated folks. These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain.”

Ivey, clearly shaken by Alabama’s vaccination rates and rising hospital numbers, snapped back at a reporter when asked how to get more people vaccinated.

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Gov. Ivey said. “Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the vaccinated folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down. I’ve done all I know how to do. I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself.”

If Harsin cares about Auburn, and if he cares about Alabama, then he will accept the responsibility of being one of the most influential public figures in the state and be the leader that the people of Alabama need him to be. This is a critical time for the health of Alabama’s residents. Alabama has the lowest rate of vaccination against COVID-19 in the country.

Know why?

Guys like Harsin.

GOODMAN: Vaccine misinformation crisis hits college football

This isn’t Idaho, pal. You’re not just a football coach here, so please don’t ever say or think that you’re just a football coach. That’s not reality.

Anyone who “no comments” a question about the COVID-19 vaccine from Harsin’s lofty position is either hiding something or out of touch and, at the very least, should not be around large groups of people without a mask. Did Harsin go to SEC Media Days unvaccinated while not wearing a mask? The SEC clearly stated before the event that anyone without the vaccine had to wear a mask inside The Wynfrey Hotel.

If Harsin isn’t vaccinated, then was he tested for COVID-19 before being allowed to walk into a closed space with thousands of people and yammer on about how the SEC “really does just mean more”? The SEC’s slogan has been widely dead-panned for years, but Harsin repeated it so much at SEC Media Days that I wouldn’t be surprised if he had it tattooed on his lower back.

The SEC wants teams to reach an 80 percent threshold for vaccinations before the season so games aren’t canceled and the 2021 season isn’t disrupted. Auburn’s football team, according to Harsin, is around 60 percent. Misinformation and lack of communication about the vaccine is a crisis for not only the SEC, but the SWAC as well. Alabama State coach Donald Hill-Eley said earlier this week that his team was about 30 percent vaccinated.

Hill-Eley begs his players daily to get vaccinated, but Auburn’s coach won’t even discuss it with his team? That’s more than discouraging. That’s unacceptable.

“We’re making sure that they understand from our medical staff the pros and cons,” Harsin said.

OK, from the top, I want to know what “medical staff” person at Auburn is telling Auburn’s football players about “cons” of the vaccine because that person should be fired today.

Sure, it’s a “personal decision” to get vaccinated. More than that, though, it’s a selfish decision not to be. Alabama’s football team, according to Saban, is around 90 percent vaccinated. If you’re in the military, it’s not even a choice. Know why? Because it’s a threat to the success of a team.

Harsin, like a lot of people, needs to understand that we’re all in this together. Let me tell you what’s personal, Bryan. On Thursday, a close personal friend had a medical event and was taken to the emergency room. The ER couldn’t help this person because it was filled with COVID-19 patients. She was taken to the fire department instead.

The friend is now OK, thankfully, but it’s infuriating that all of this could have been avoided if people in positions of power and influence would have done the right thing months ago and not confused people about the vaccine. Auburn’s Harsin added to the confusion this week when he could have been a leader.

There is so much to like about this Auburn football team, but Auburn’s new coach, as the previous one might have said, “needs to get butter.”

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.

More from Joseph Goodman: When did Texas get so soft?

Source News