North Carolina A&T head coach Shawn Gibbs was as candid as ever after the Aggies’ lopsided 62-20 loss to rival North Carolina Central. While the defeat stung, it was the way his team carried itself that left the deepest mark on the head coach.
“Saturday was, without a doubt, the most disappointing day of my career in football as a player or a coach,” Gibbs said. “We were out-coached, we were out-played, and out-cultured.”
A Call for Culture Change
The Aggies’ head coach said the problems go beyond missed tackles or blown assignments. To him, the real challenge is a mindset issue. Gibbs pointed to pre-game antics where one of his players squirted Central’s head coach Trei Oliver with a water bottle. That — among other things — led to a decision not to shake hands after the game.“When those guys would come to the sidelines, that’s when we chose to be tough,” Gibbs said. “I was not going to turn a bad day into something worse. We just went down to the band and I went over and congratulated Coach Oliver and his staff. The main thing that has to change is our culture.
“That’s not how we’re going to do stuff,” Gibbs said bluntly. He also confirmed that the player involved in the incident is no longer on the roster. “Anybody that’s going to act like that will not be a part of this team.”…