Todd Graham
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Of all the coaches I interacted with at TU (Graham, Blankenship, Wojcik, and Manning), Graham was always the most social and easiest to talk to.
3 of those 4 were pleasant in the settings I interacted with them in but he was definitely the most personable. Blankenship was always very cordial but was quieter. And Manning wasn’t as interested in talking with students/young alums as the rest. The Wojcik that everyone loathed is how he was in less public settings too.
Graham sustained winning football at Tulsa with a definite upgrade in player and coaching talent .
While circumstances didn't go well for Todd after he left Tulsa I appreciated the entertainment his
teams gave us during his tenure .
So Graham and his family really inserted themselves into the total TU experience when they were here. Penni and his youngest son both did a lot of stuff in terms of attending on-sports related events at TU. So they treated it like their dream job....until the next one came along.
As for Blankenship...I never had a bad interaction with him. And he remembered people's names, not just his immediate circle and I felt like he had a gift of always making people feel like they mattered and were cared for regardless of how long you talked or interacted with him.
Wojcik and his brother were complete dicks. Cason had to pick up that slack because Wojcik turned a lot of people off, fans, players, players' parents. I seriously wanted to punch him the first time I met him.
My favorite coach of all time at TU to talk to was Mack Butler. He worked for Rader and then Burns kept him on as Director of Ops. Dude was hilarious but seriously valued those he interacted with and I am lucky enough to be in that group.
As for Blankenship...I never had a bad interaction with him. And he remembered people's names, not just his immediate circle and I felt like he had a gift of always making people feel like they mattered and were cared for regardless of how long you talked or interacted with him.
Wojcik and his brother were complete dicks. Cason had to pick up that slack because Wojcik turned a lot of people off, fans, players, players' parents. I seriously wanted to punch him the first time I met him.
My favorite coach of all time at TU to talk to was Mack Butler. He worked for Rader and then Burns kept him on as Director of Ops. Dude was hilarious but seriously valued those he interacted with and I am lucky enough to be in that group.
Manning was always cordial to me as a student around the program. No idea in more public settings / around alumni.
Wojcik was fake as hell.
Nice characterization of the coaches . Dave Rader and Bill Blankenship are both quality people
who cared for TU ... unfortunately For Rader he came at a bad time when the administration was
at it's worst in terms of athletic program support .
Kragthorpe didn't come in at a great time either for football. The reverence for Rader is amazing.
In light of the recent clip where Rader dogs on African Americans and Asians, maybe it's time for TU to dissolve any relationship with him.
Oddly enough, I had a really good relationship with both JD Barnett and Doug Wojcik. I think it was because of our similar interests in AAU summer basketball. Nolan, Tubby, and Self were always hanging around us and great to visit with, but I had very little contact with Buzz, Rob, Manning, or Haith. All four were hard to interact with and Peterson and Manning never really unpacked all their moving boxes.
This has got to be false. Forget the fact that he's been elected and re-elected as an OK St. Senator from Tulsa, I've never heard of any of his African-American players claiming he was a rascist. Just ask people like Barry Minter, Mike White, Dan Bitson, Chris Penn, Chris Hughley, Ron Jackson, Billy Cole and many, many more.
Of course, the guys named above were all a big part of one of the greatest seasons in TU football history....1991. And coached by Dave Rader.
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I get that but he is clearly heard on this clip...maybe he's just old and ignorant to PC terms, but this isn't the first time and he supports lots of legislation that intentionally targets and harms POC and minorities.
But it has happened before
He's referring to the clip in which Rader said Yellow families don't have the same injustices as black americans.
“It wasn’t ’til well into your presentation did you go to yellow families. You left yellow families out for quite a while,” Rader said.
Shade corrected him: “You mean Asian Americans?”
“You use black term, white term, brown term so I was just gonna jump in there with you,” Rader replied.
“I was just making sure,” said Shader. “Making sure I understood.”
“Asian distraction,” Rader added.
“Asian Americans,” Shade repeated.
“Because their experience has been totally different than many um, than many others that have come over,” Rader continued, perpetuating the “model minority” myth, a broad stereotype casting all Asian Americans as likely to achieve socioeconomic success and less likely to experience negative effects of racism and inequality.
Because their experience has been totally different than many um, than many others that have come over,” Rader continued, perpetuating the “model minority” myth, a broad stereotype casting all Asian Americans as likely to achieve socioeconomic success and less likely to experience negative effects of racism and inequality."
If you don't think Rader is a good man you're wrong... Graham gets dogged on here alot but my dad was one of the Railbirds who went to every practice etc etc not a big donor at all but got go on the team plane every year to one away game..his wife was at two Railbirds funerals I went to.. good people..
That classic Todd Graham photo reminds me of Sargent Carter on the Gomer Pyle Show.
I enjoyed his coaches show. He gave me some insight into football. Such as phrase "He eats up grass".
Got a signed picture of him. Thought a major disappointment of his was our poor fan turnout at the home game after the Norte Dame win.
Got a signed picture of him. Thought a major disappointment of his was our poor fan turnout at the home game after the Norte Dame win.
That was the most disappointing fan turnout I have ever seen at TU.
The players deserved so much better after that ND win.