“We’re Not John Does for a Reason”

Multiple players agreed to be interviewed following the season

Of 8 total, 7 interviewees were ex-teammates of the original John Doe’s 1, 2, and 3, and a common quote kept coming up when asked how they would describe them…

“The type of kids who you could tell had never been told ‘No’.”

“Delutional”. “Entitled”. “Just not a good person”. These are the memories that get shared about the John Doe’s by their former teammates instead of a sympathetic offering. It seems reasonable to think that based on the daily horror depicted in the lawsuit that it is likely each and every teammate would have witnessed abuse – so why aren’t they helping them? It is clear that the ex-teammates of the John Doe’s do not share the same stories of how incidents at practice went down according to the lawsuit. “They just didn’t want to be coached.” one teammate says. “It’s that simple. And then when things didn’t work for them they had to blame someone else besides themselves. That was obvious”

What champions call ‘coaching’, entitled people call ‘abuse’.

Another ex-teammate says “if anything they were given more of a shot that most would because they were all scholarship players. But I never really remember them doing anything but complain about not doing well.” Some people don’t want to be coached. Some people want a coach just to blame them for when something doesn’t go right.