The dust in Lubbock about Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Mark Adams bears all the signs of a culture war battleground. But however partisan votes may rise in the coming days, the reality may be more complex than they let on.
Adams, who is about to complete his second full year at the helm, apparently referred to the Bible in a one-on-one conversation with a player in an effort to encourage that player to be humble and approachable. He was suspended for what the school called “the use of inappropriate, unacceptable and racially offensive commentary”.
According to a press release from the school, Adams spoke on “Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters.”
In the coming days, we will no doubt be dealing with overreactions. One side will say that the Bible is banned, that Christians are being persecuted, that Texas Tech has “woke up,” a charge the school is particularly vulnerable to after having to reverse some of its DEI policies in light of Wall Street Journal investigation last month.
The other side will notice how silent the 66-year-old white man is when he tells a young black man to be humble, and he uses a slavery Bible to support his message. (So far, the race and identity of the athlete in question has not been disclosed, but it appears that at least 10 of the team’s 13 players are black, according to the school’s website.) Modesty can become a cudgel, and many black Americans are all too familiar with the excesses of white authorities. In emphasizing it as a counterbalance to black progress: don’t talk. Do not demand justice. Don’t rock the boat. Sit. Be humble. Rapper Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017, in part for his song “HUMBLE,” which seems to disparage that cultural trope. (Although I don’t think Lamar has officially endorsed this interpretation of the song’s meaning.)
If the Mark Adams situation explodes into a full-blown news scream-fest, which seems entirely likely, it will be these parties that are lined up against each other.
But the details matter. We need to know exactly what message Adams was sending here. I reached out to Tech Monday morning asking for details, but Athletics spokesperson Robert Giovanetti did not return my call. The school has launched an inquiry and it is doubtful Giovanetti will be able to reveal details until the review is over anyway.
Based on the reports received so far, the two passages most likely presented here are Matthew 8 and Ephesians 6. Here’s what they say.
Matthew 8 includes a story about a Roman military commander, a centurion, who came to Jesus to ask that his sick servant be healed. Adams’ comments are alluded to in this segment when he tells a stadium reporter, “I said that in the Bible Jesus speaks of all of us chiefs, and we are all servants.”
In response to the centurion’s plea, Jesus offered to come to his house, but the Roman said that he did not deserve a visit from Jesus. If only Jesus had said the word, the soldier was sure that his servant would be healed.
“For I am a man under power, and the soldiers are under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to this one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this, and he does that.'”
Matthew records that Jesus was “astonished” by the centurion’s attitude. The passage was widely taught as a lesson in humility and faith. The centurion respects authority. He realizes that Jesus has an authority that he does not understand, but that he trusts.
Perhaps Adams’ message was something similar: She coached a lot of young people. I know how to develop players. When I call a play, I need you to play that play. If you follow my lead we can win games and your skills can improve. But for that to work, one of us has to do the training, and the other has to be trained.
The other passage of the Bible is more problematic. In Ephesians 6, the Apostle Paul appears to be calling for a social order in which workers, children, and slaves obey those in power, as stated in the school’s press release. Paul urges wives to submit to husbands, husbands to love wives, children to obey their parents, parents to train their children, slaves to obey their masters, and masters not to mistreat slaves. Theologians have long debated whether Paul is condoning slavery here, or simply encouraging self-fulfilling virtue, even in unfair circumstances. Elsewhere, Paul encourages slaves to gain their freedom if they can do so. He is writing on behalf of a runaway slave named Onesimus with whom he had befriended. So Paul’s record on slavery is mixed, but he certainly fails to condemn the institution in the passage to which Adams may have referred.
If the first guess about Adams’ motives seems benign, this passage certainly seems darker – more in line with the obviously aggressive stance. Something lyricist Kendrick Lamar would call out.
Coaches have a unique role to play in youth development. Many of us who have played sports can attest that a coach can delve into personal themes about ethics, ambition, character, hard work, and sacrifice that other coaches just can’t. And certainly many college athletes need to hear a message about respect for authority. Every young adult does it, especially those who have achieved the kind of success that can easily inflate their ego.
But it’s also easy to see how ill-considered Adam’s sermon was. Maybe he didn’t mean to offend, but that’s what he did nonetheless. White men have been asking black men to “know their place” for a long time in this country. Adams should have been wise and merciful enough to avoid this dynamic.
There is another angle to this episode, about the place of the Bible in schools, sports and locker rooms. As the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Seattle prayer coach made clear, there is a protected place for faith on American ballparks. It should be there in the classrooms, too. Even those students who don’t study religion should know what the Bible says about slavery, humility, and other topics. The Bible has had such an impact on Western thought that it cannot be ignored in universities. But this study should be conducted seriously and rigorously. The Bible deals with thorny moral questions and serious societal failures. It is not an inspiring meme creator for coaches to use in pep talks.
In fact, the problem here may be more elementary and psychological than all of that. Adams’ team loses. At 16-15 and only 5-13 in the Big 12, the Red Raiders are unlikely to make the NCAA Tournament this year. As losses begin to pile up, tensions run high and unity dissolves. Teammates and coaches lose the ability to give each other the benefit of the doubt. In this way, given the combined American losses in Afghanistan, inflation, devolution, and other issues of recent times, The Storm in Lubbock may serve as a poignant stand-in for our larger cultural conversations after all.
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