The dust cloud in Lubbock surrounding Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Mark Adams has all the hallmarks of a Culture War battlefield. But no matter how loud partisan voices get in the coming days, the reality is probably a lot more complicated than they admit.
Adams, who is approaching his second full year at the helm, apparently referred to the Bible in a one-on-one conversation with a player to encourage that player to be humble and trainable. He was suspended because the school called “an inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive comment”.
According to a school press release, Adams spoke about “Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters.”
In the coming days we will no doubt face overreactions. One side will say the Bible is being banned, Christians are being persecuted and Texas Tech has “woken up,” an accusation the school is particularly vulnerable to after they reverse some of their DEI policies in light of a recent Wall Street Journal investigation had to month.
The other side will note how deaf it was for a 66-year-old white man to tell a young black man to be humble and use a scripture about slavery to back up his message. (So far, the race and identity of the athlete in question have not been revealed, but according to the school’s website, at least 10 of the team’s 13 players appear to be black.) Humility can become a bludgeon, and many black Americans are through with its overemphasis well-familiar with white authority as a counterweight to black progress: Don’t speak. Don’t ask for justice. Don’t rock the boat. Sit down. be humble. Rapper Kendrick Lamar won a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for, among other things, his song “HUMBLE,” which seems to mock this cultural trope. (Though I don’t think Lamar officially endorsed this interpretation of the song’s meaning.)
When the Mark Adams situation explodes into a full-blown cable news shoutfest, which seems highly likely, these will be the sides going head-to-head.
But specifics are important. We need to know exactly what message Adams conveyed here. I contacted Tech Monday morning to ask for details, but athletics spokesman Robert Giovannetti didn’t return my call. The school has launched an investigation and it’s doubtful Giovannetti will be able to divulge any details until that investigation is complete anyway.
Based on previous reporting, the two passages that are most likely here are Matthew 8 and Ephesians 6. Here’s what they say.
Matthew 8 contains a story about a Roman military commander, a centurion, who came to Jesus to ask for healing for his sick servant. Adams’ comments hinted at this passage when he told a Stadium reporter, “I said that in the Bible Jesus talks about us all having superiors and we all being servants.”
In response to the centurion’s request, Jesus offered to come to his house, but the Roman said he did not deserve a visit from Jesus. If Jesus would just say the word, the soldier was sure, his servant would be healed.
“For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, “Go,” and he goes; and this one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant: ‘Do this’ and he does it.”
Matthew records that Jesus was “astonished” at the centurion’s attitude. The passage was widely taught as a lesson in humility and faith. The centurion respected authority. He realized that Jesus had authority that he did not understand but trusted.
Perhaps Adams’ message was similar: I have coached many young men. I know how to develop players. If I call a play, you have to direct that play. If you follow my example, we can win games and your skills can improve. But for this to work, one of us has to coach and the other has to be coached.
The other Scripture is more problematic. In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul seems to advocate a social order in which workers, children, and slaves obey the authorities, as described in the school’s press release. Paul exhorts wives to submit to their husbands, husbands to love wives, children to obey their parents, fathers to discipline their children, slaves to obey their masters, and masters not to mistreat slaves. Theologians have long debated whether Paul is here condoning slavery or simply encouraging virtue rather than self-realization, even under unjust circumstances. Elsewhere Paul encourages slaves to gain their freedom if they are able. And he writes on behalf of an escaped slave named Onesimus, who he befriended. So Paul’s track record on the subject of slavery is mixed, but he certainly fails to condemn the institution in the passage Adams may have been referring to.
If the first guess as to Adam’s motives seems benign, this passage certainly seems darker – more in keeping with an overtly offensive attitude. Something a text by Kendrick Lamar would exclaim.
Coaches play a unique role in the development of young adults. Many of us who play sports can attest that a coach can delve into personal issues such as ethics, ambition, character, hard work and sacrifice that are off-limits to other teachers. And certainly, many collegiate athletes need to hear a message about respecting authority. Almost every young adult does, especially those who have achieved the kind of success that can easily inflate an ego.
But it is also easy to see how poorly conceived Adam’s sermon was. Maybe he didn’t mean to offend him, but he did anyway. White men have long told black men to know their place in this country. Adams should have been wise and compassionate enough to avoid this dynamic.
However, there is another angle in this episode about the place of the Bible in schools, sports and locker rooms. As the recent Seattle Supreme Court ruling in favor of a praying coach made clear, there is a protected place for faith on American ballfields. This should also be the case in classrooms. College students should know what the Bible says about slavery, humility, and other subjects, even those who are not studying religion. The Bible had too much of an impact on Western thought to be ignored in universities. But this study should be conducted with seriousness and rigor. The Bible deals with delicate ethical issues and serious social failings. It’s not an inspirational meme generator for trainers to use in pep talks.
In fact, the problem here could be even more basic and psychological than all of that. Adam’s team loses. With 16-15 overall and only 5-13 in the Big 12, the Red Raiders are unlikely to play in the NCAA tournament this year. As casualties mount, tensions rise and unity dissolves. Teammates and coaches lose the ability to decide each other when in doubt. In that way, given America’s collective losses in Afghanistan, inflation, transfer of power, and other issues of late, the Lubbock storm might yet be an insightful proxy for our broader cultural conversation.
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