SEC football coaches being oblivious to national elections? CCU’s Moglia has thoughts

Another national election, another SEC football coach who is oblivious to the date of the vote.

In 2016, it was Alabama coach Nick Saban who said the day after the presidential election that he had been unaware the vote was taking place, adding “we’re focused on other things here.”

On Tuesday, asked by a reporter at his weekly news conference if he discussed voting in the midterms with his team, or if he knew it was election day, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp replied, “I do now. I’m getting ready for Florida.”

Apparently national elections aren’t big in the realm of SEC football.

Conversely, Coastal Carolina coach Joe Moglia, who is also the chairman of the board of TD Ameritrade, arranged for his entire team to vote as a group in 2016.

He found Saban’s response in 2016 to be “disrespectful,” and Moglia maintains that college football coaches should be more cognizant of issues that will impact their players’ lives off the field, particularly in football’s aftermath.

“There are not many professions with stress and intensity that are more demanding than football coaching, and our jobs are dependent upon our being successful on Saturdays and I would hope running the type of program our universities would be very proud of,” Moglia said Thursday.

“But to acknowledge out loud that you are not even aware of our presidential or midterm elections is a slap in the face to the principles upon which our country has been founded. Part of our responsibility is to vote. I recognize it might be difficult at times for someone to vote, but to be oblivious is a bad example for the people you are responsible for, and the innuendo is nothing is more important than football, which is ridiculous.”

Moglia did not organize a player vote this year.

He said he made sure his players were aware of the midterm election and had planned to address it during a 30-minute Life After Football session. But Moglia said schedule changes that included a three-week evacuation from campus and increased academic requirements with makeup classes kept him from addressing it as much as he wanted to.

“I feel strongly about laying a foundation upon which our kids will build their lives later, so it’s part of our job to help really make that happen, thus our ‘Life After Football’ sessions,” Moglia said.

Somewhere in the SEC the apathy for 2020 is already building.

This story was originally published November 9, 2018 at 4:04 AM.