Josh Pate On UGA Allegations Of Culture Issues (Late Kick Cut)

I had the DMS full asking me what I

thought about this Atlanta Journal

Constitution piece on Georgia football

and first I had to ask which one and

then I found out oh there's a new one

okay

so it's a funny thing that happens I'll

tell you this to start off with when you

work in our business a funny thing

happens

you see a lot obviously we go on the

road a lot talk to a lot of staffers

talk to a lot of coaches off the Record

you know a lot of the players so you see

a lot of the a lot of the sides of the

sport that are better kept out of public

eye that doesn't necessarily mean hiding

things that are illegal it just means

you know if you're a middle linebacker

and you're starting Corner get into a

little scuffle in the tunnel and there

are no cameras around it doesn't exactly

behoove the head coach to head to the

press conference say you guys will never

guess what just happened in the tunnel

now in reality anyone who's been around

sport to competition knows those sorts

of things happen

well then there are other more serious

things that happen a lot of times behind

the scenes at various college football

programs and sometimes we're aware of

them and sometimes you know about them

and sometimes you don't and therefore

there's always this this public interest

in what isn't seen

I do that on this show to our benefit

you've never seen Jesse and Colin that's

called theater of the imagination and it

works because you really wonder what do

they look like well in college athletics

it's kind of the same way you wonder

my rival School landed that recruit I

wonder what they'd I bet they did

something underhanded to get him that

coach over there boy he's his kids look

like model citizens I bet behind the

scenes there's some really nasty stuff

that goes on in that program and if

you're not careful

you'll get someone with what Memaw would

call a burr in their saddle who covers

your program who preys on that sort of

thing

but what happens in our line of work

sometimes and I am privy to it is

I find out how many people

talk about things they really know

nothing about you experience this if

you're an insurance sales if you're a

bus driver because this happens in every

Walk of Life believe it or not it also

happens in college athletics it happens

in fandom it happens in coaching it

happens in media it happens in talking

sometimes people accuse me of such

things how does this relate to Georgia

football though well I'll tell you but

first let me let me illustrate something

and then I'll dive into this AJC report

so

Twitter has a new feature

that ironically reveals a whole lot

about this Georgia AJC deal almost like

the biggest rivalry in the SEC now

Twitter has this new feature it's a very

interesting direction that Elon and

Company are taking the platform you've

always been able to post video there

but now when you post a video on Twitter

I do it all the time

there are some pretty surface-based

analytic results that you can get from

it you know what one thing they have

given me that's been like a tool above

all tools has been and that is the

audience retention metric I post a video

on Twitter

two minutes long let's say and I can see

which percentage of viewers finish the

entire video and it's always below 10

percent yet there are comments by the

hundreds which leads me to reasonably

deduce people are talking about this

even though they didn't watch the whole

video I appreciate the engagement

now let's talk about the AJC in Georgia

so there are a lot of serious things

some terrible things that have happened

in the Georgia football program since

they won the National Championship up

there you know my feelings on that so

I'm not here to make any light of that

but I had a lot of you hit me up and

asked me what I thought about this

latest piece from the AJC this week and

I'm gonna tell you what I have no

problem with first off I got no problem

and I have immense respect for

investigative journalism when it's done

the right way

investigative journalism when done the

right way number one you can't see

through it and number two you can't

argue with it you can be mad at it you

can hate what it says but you can't

argue with it because investigative

journalism when done right just presents

facts

and then it kind of lets you decide what

you think about it that's the beauty of

investigative journalism I wouldn't

necessarily characterize what's happened

between the AJC and Georgia lately as

strict investigative journalism there

has been investigative journalism that's

happened but it's kind of had this this

weird cloak of

editorialized nature around it it's kind

of it's kind of like half investigating

half opinion very interesting

so for those of you who aren't aware of

what's Happening down there you know

Kirby Smart's been on a roll George has

been on a roll

um there was a headline this week I'm

gonna read you the headline in a second

but you already know some of the

negative headlines there George has had

some trouble Georgia's has some issues

and the thing about it is when you slip

up in one area it makes you

perceptionally vulnerable in every area

what I mean by that is

they got a street racing problem there

that's no mystery they've they've had it

there have been several headlines about

it I have not done a single segment on

this show about it because I have

nothing to add just is what it is it's

really not much commentary I can give

you

also it's not a street racing show

here's here's two downsides one terrible

stuff can happen

like we saw in January the most tragic

consequences imaginable can happen

and that's the most real world stuff

anything else pales in comparison to

that you lose lives really everything

else is kind of distantly secondary

but secondary nonetheless here's the

other thing that happens moving forward

because you have been very very shaky in

one area you sort of lose benefit of the

doubt in other areas

and everyone knows that you've lost

benefit of the doubt and that's why when

you open your laptop and you see this

headline

Georgia football program rallies when

players are accused of abusing women

you know what the Public's mindset is

immediately going to shift to

you put it behind a paywall and even

more so you know what it's going to

shift to because many of them actually

clicking on it paying you to read it and

I can assure you if you ever have a

Smoking Gun it ain't gonna be behind the

AJC paywall when it comes to Georgia

football that's the first thing I

thought then the second thing I thought

because I actually went and read it was

where is it

I've watched this happen before

so

I go detail by detail especially when

you deal with stuff like sexual assault

allegations

this is not rumors of a depth chart

turnover that stuff whatever that's

football that really doesn't mean

anything in the grand scheme of things

but when you're talking about sexual

assault you know when you follow it up

and you click on that article and the

first paragraph I see reads in a single

weekend a 16 year old University of

Georgia football recruit broke curfew

drank with potential teammates in an

Athens bar and ended up in a police

station under investigation for sexual

assault Georgia signed him anyway when

that's what you give me

I want more

because you just accused the kid of

something pretty serious pretty heavy I

want more well the AJC didn't give it to

me now I'll credit Jake Rowe good friend

of the program over at dogs HQ he works

for another company now he actually did

give me the rest of the story today in

fact they didn't put it behind a paywall

either it's on their website for all to

see and I find myself reading that

entire police report and I find myself

listening to or in this case reading

transcripts from the accuser transcripts

from the player who by the way is Jamal

Jarrett with Georgia now

and I find myself looking at text

message exchanges

and then I get to the end of it and I

watch the entire story just vaporize and

the aliation vaporize

and I ask myself how many people

actually dug this deep including the

folks who published that initial piece

of the AJC or if they did dig that deep

this gets even more nefarious why was I

not presented with this context you know

Roe and the guys over at dog's HQ by the

way

they didn't editorialize intentionally

they just put the facts out there that's

actually called investigative journalism

by the way for those unfamiliar they

just put the facts out there and they

let me read them and then I was able to

decide

what happened in this particular

instance this particular instance is bad

uh also nothing that's not going to

happen on about a thousand other

official visits all across the country

this fall and there there are no charges

all dismissed that that part's kind of

like it's kind of buried you're not

supposed to really pay attention to you

know the sexual assault charges being

dismissed let's you know let's let's

paint a picture of a guy for the rest of

his life especially it's just collateral

damage and achieving an overall agenda

so I read that and I say okay well

that's one down but this AJC piece is

talking about a whole lot more than just

that so then we get to Adam Anderson and

Adam Anderson

is going to go on trial for rape

eventually I think later this year I

believe that's when that's going to

happen

I I'm not going to do the whole thing

everyone else does to try and convince

you I take sexual assault seriously I'm

just going to tell you I do probably

probably let me run the justice system

we do more than just put you in jail if

you're found guilty of that sort of

thing so so there you go I take it real

seriously

I I mockingly say that because it's a

joke to have to watch people try and

convince the public they take that stuff

seriously no one's pro-rape around here

as far as I can tell no one in my Social

Circle is but uh what I'm also not is

pro let's go burn a guy at the stake

before we've actually done our due

diligence so that's what's going to

happen when that goes to trial and then

we'll see what comes of that but the AJC

had a problem

with um as they kind of put it eight

Georgia football players showing up in

court to defend Adam Anderson

now I read through the thing

admittedly I scanned through it but what

I took from that is the folks who wrote

that piece were trying to convince me

that there really was not a second

thought paid to the victim there really

was not a second thought paid to the

allegation it's just we're gonna go

stand up for this dude at all costs

facts be damned allegations be damned

really don't care and will even make

light of sexual assault well then I do a

little digging and I found out it's not

as it was presented at all actually what

they did was they went and showed up at

a bond hearing uh where they're trying

to determine if you're a flight risk or

not and they were character witnesses

that showed up and that's really what's

happened so far because the thing has

not gone to trial So I listened to that

and then I read that and I decide well

first off wouldn't the world's Kirby

Smart gonna do him if he doesn't like

him and secondly what am I supposed to

make of that because really the

allegation overarching here is that

there are massive cultural issues at

Georgia there's a culture of not taking

the stuff seriously

and so so far that's exactly how I'm

going to phrase my thoughts on this so

far no one's brought me anything no

one's written anything that looks to me

like that's a major issue there now

granted I get a little bit more access

to that program even than you do and so

I've seen a little bit more even than

most of you have

there will be some people who just think

I may be here carrying water for the

university in exchange for that access I

can tell you that's not true I can

promise you that's not true they know

that's not true but if you want to think

that you can think that that's fine

here's all I would ask you

I would ask you in return if you

disagree with my assessment on things

I want you to tell me how you think this

should be handled I want your opinion on

the facts

actual facts you know not the suggestive

way that some have been presented but

all the context all the facts in the

room because what I got a lot of when I

went back and forth with some of you

today on this privately what I got a lot

of was why wouldn't let any of that fly

around my program

what would you do

this goes back to what I started the

segment with

I told you what I learned a lot through

looking at some of our analytics is

hardly anyone gets to the end of those

videos WE Post hardly anyone yet a ton

of folks comment on them

so what I'd what I did about 15 times

today I kid you not I went 15 for 15 on

this

I asked folks who were disagreeing with

me on my assessment of Georgia versus

the AJC I said hey what was your biggest

takeaway from that AJC article and these

are 15 Folks by the way coming at me who

in some form or fashion think that Kirby

Smart needs to answer for this or this

or that should happen to Kirby Smart I

said what was your biggest takeaway and

they said oh man they're letting folks

guilty of sexual assault off easy up

there I said be specific what is your

biggest takeaway and they beat around

the bush about three or four more times

because they knew what I had figured out

about them they hadn't read the AJC

article because it's behind a paywall

and most of my friends are cheap they

hadn't read the AJC article

they took away exactly what the folks

who wrote that article wanted them to

take away and that was a headline a

screenshot kind of a snippet an idea

really more so than facts you were

supposed to take an idea away from that

I'm not necessarily sure what's

happening down there in my own home

state by the way between the AJC and

Georgia it's an editorial death wish but

that's their business I'm saying if the

AJC brings facts and you look at them

and they're irrefutable indisputable it

is what it is I'd probably be the first

one to lead his show as demanding

answers from the head coach at the

University of Georgia what they brought

the other day

truthfully guys I wasn't even going to

put on the show until you asked me to

put it on here what they brought the

other day was was a lot more frustrating

to me than anything

and I'll tell you the other folks their

voices won't be heard

but I'll speak for them the other folks

who get extremely mad at this

are people who have actually been

involved in in those kinds of

allegations where it was real and

parents of recruits

you want to talk to folks who get hot

about this

talk to a mom of a prospective athlete

that's either on the team right now at

George or is going to be on the team at

Georgia they they're the ones who look

around and say hold on a second now if

if my kid screws up if my kid's guilty

of certain things he deserves to be

punished I would hate it as his parent

but he deserves to be punished that's

not what scares me because I mean I

think I raised him to no right from

wrong what scares me is what if he gets

himself into a similar situation is

thousands of other people do every day

in this country and nothing illegal is

necessarily done maybe some poor

decision making but nothing illegal has

done and yet you got like an in-state

media apparatus that sharpens their

knives and comes at him and they're

really not coming at him they're coming

for the dude who leads the program for

some reason he's just kind of collateral

damage is that where I want to send my

kid you talk to parents I've had this

experience this week I've talked to a

couple of mothers that's that's their

sentiment their sentiment is what in the

world are we walking into we think we

think that that big capital G there that

may be the best program in the country

and

based on what they control I would agree

with them at the moment but

they don't control everything they don't

control the media in the state which is

a good thing obviously but in this case

it's really it's really interesting to

watch how that works

again I've tried to explain it I am from

the state of Georgia I mean we subscribe

to the AJC and I there's been something

that's changed in the past year and a

half to two years now Georgia fans would

tell you oh they've always been out to

get us

but every fan base thinks the media is

out to get their team I'm saying there

is a threshold that is met where even

I'll take notice of it and that

threshold has been met in the state of

Georgia so my my anyway my argument back

and forth respectfully with some of you

today has been okay so you say that this

should happen or that should happen well

what would you do we've already

established you didn't really read the

article so you're just taking away

really suggestions that you were

supposed to take away what would you do

though

and I want to address this and I'll move

on

some of you said well any kid who even

had a whiff of those sexual assault

allegations around him would be off my

team

you're lying about that

you've just never been in that position

before if you were in that position

you'd have all the details and you'd

learn how muddy some of those situations

are

and for a young head coach this is where

you got to be really careful I I still

classify Kirby smart as a young head

coach but he had a guy who was a

defensive coordinator for him up until

two years ago Dan Lanning who is a big

friend of this program Landing goes to

Oregon

he had a kid accused of something

similar a few months back

and Landon kicked him off the team

the allegations didn't stick

they were dropped didn't happen

and Landing had to let him back on the

team

now

I'll ask you

what could that potentially do to your

locker room your kids

see you not wait to get the full story

and you make a move I don't know Dan

lanning's heart I'm saying some guys

would be tempted to make a move to

appease the media types and the ones out

there with the Torches and pitchforks

not knowing a fraction of the details

and you appeased them for the moment

here's the problem then the facts came

out

you know what that can do to your

internal culture see because if your

internal culture is strong and if a lot

of what's being reported about you is BS

it won't take you down but you can take

you down you can take you down when you

don't have your guys back when they've

done nothing wrong you don't have your

guys back and instead

you're willing to move a little bit too

quick in some cases these are lessons

you have to learn there is no microwave

quick easy route to learning these

lessons that's why it's different call

in plays you can get there faster you

can get to an advanced level call and

play is an understanding and diagramming

x's and knows faster than you ever have

because technology gives you access to

thousands more mental and physical reps

than it ever has but to manage people

it still largely works the same way it

always has dealing with outside issues

it still works the same way it always

has and the consequences of success

still work the same way they always have

I doubt Kirby Smart ever thought this

was going to be an issue I doubt he ever

thought that out of all the things that

could go wrong after they've won a

couple of titles this is how it would

work that's the way it's always going to

be when you're on top that's the way

it's always going to be now let me give

a little disclaimer at the end of this

because just as I said a lot of people

didn't actually read that AJC article a

lot of people didn't listen to what I

just said so I know what we're going to

deal with I dreaded even doing this

tonight because I know what we're going

to deal with there is a little group a

little cabal of writers out there

who will take what I just did as

dismissing very serious allegations and

they will take it as victim blaming and

they will take it as me essentially you

know if I rotated in this chair you'd

see a big SEC or a block G on my back I

know that's going to happen nothing I

can do about it and so I'll take the

same advice that I would give anyone

else make what other folks think about

you none of your business and just move

on

and that's where we are

um so again I reserve the right if they

were to come out with a more explosive

report tomorrow and all the eyes are

dotted and T's are crossed and it's

indisputable

I'll sing the same course as the rest of

you are right now the difference are the

difference is I don't think the sheet

music says what you think it says at

this point in time according to the

refrain I've been listening to

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