I am a current 3rd year female student-athlete at UTSA. After reading various articles from The Paisano based on athletics at UTSA, I am displeased with the representation of athletes by The Paisano newspaper. The previous article focused on UTSA vs Baylor football game displayed multiple accounts of false and misleading information. The information published is a strong account that can be put towards the reasons why the school spirit at UTSA is near to none when it comes to athletics.
“Beating Baylor in Waco two years ago was a fluke and may never happen again” (The Paisano 2019). Up to the 2019 season, UTSA and Baylor were 1-1 in games. The game this year put Baylor to 2-1. It is false to state that the first win by UTSA in 2017 was a ‘fluke’ without credible evidence and sports analytical reasoning. If this type of generalization was to be put towards all teams with losses of 2-1 then the majority of teams in the NCAA would all be just a ‘fluke’.
The article then stretches to mention the presence of Athletic Director Lisa Campos’ assumed wants and not wants. “Lisa Campos … to hire the coach that she wants instead of inheriting someone else’s choice.” Not only is this a very political statement but the statement is very false and misleading, bordering the lines of insufficient truth. The statement implies that Ms. Campos indeed has a problem with the chosen coach and she up to now has no say. This is improper to say without verbal/written accounts from the Director herself. There is none to say or not to say what the current agreements of Ms. Campos and Coach Wilson are. It is unethical to imply the director did not ‘want’ the chosen coach.
Lastly, the article promotes misleading information to the UTSA public about the football program’s success up to now. The article correctly states that UTSA’s football program is only nine years old. However, by mentioning this fact, the program is still defamed and put down aggressively by the article. These statements put into question what is the credibility of the writer at hand and what is his sports analytical experience. The importance of mentioning the age of the program is significant because one must not forget that our young program is competing against programs who are 50-100 years older meaning they are way more established. “Trickle down recruiting” is an inaccurate term to represent the athletes entering the UTSA football program. A young, growing program will find it hard to capture the top tier recruits in the country because as mentioned the program is still working to be established first. Despite the young age of the program, UTSA has achieved many accolades. The article mentioned that Coach Wilson brought UTSA to it’s first Bowl Game, (New Mexico Bowl), but it mentions this to downplay the significance of the program currently. However, the article did not mention that at the time UTSA tied the NCAA record being the fastest growing program to reach a bowl game. Not to mention, in the last 5 years, UTSA has drafted three NFL players, one being drafted in the first round in 2018, Marcus Davenport, New Orleans Saints.
UTSA is a young and growing football program. When compared to other young programs, UTSA is on the come up. The Paisano must remember that greatness can not come in a short time span and small victories must be recognized first to later turn into bigger victories. The public must know this in order to appreciate athletics at UTSA.
Editor’s note: The article in reference, ‘UTSA football in jeopardy?’ was written by Jose Bouquett and does not represent the views of The Paisano.
