Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey spoke of something much bigger than college basketball following his loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Eagles rookie coach pleaded for government and parents to act soon to prevent further massacres like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults.
“I know this microphone’s powerful right now, because we’re playing the (seventh)-best team in the country,” he said. “I’m not going to have a microphone like this the rest of the year, maybe the rest of my life.”
He admitted that he didn’t have the answer. But asked the powers that be to find one.
“I don’t know what needs to be done. I’m not smart enough to know what needs to be done, OK? I know this country’s got issues. Is it a gun issue? Is it a mental illness issue? Or is it a society that has lost the fact, the understanding, that decent human values are important?”
“I didn’t vote for President Obama. But you know what? He’s my president now. He’s my leader. I need him to step up,” he said. “Mr. (John) Boehner, the Speaker of the House … OK, he needs to step up.”
He also called for everyday citizens to get involved:
“Parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches – everybody needs to step up. This has to be a time for change. And I’m going to be an agent of change with the 13 young men I get to coach every day and the two little girls that I get to raise. But hopefully things start changing, because it’s really, really disappointing.”
To read the whole transcript of what he said
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