Denny Thompson

Dont know him. But his sister Tessa is really nice.

 

Denny is a Gator.

 

Please give us a link to the conversation in which he said what you quoted so we can all hear or read it in context.

 

Wasn't Kadarious Toney an aspiring rapper?

 

Never mind. I found it myself. The original quote is partial and misleading. Here's the video from when he starts discussing it:



Listen to his full answer . . . which is long and admittedly biased for a kid he works with.

His personality seems to match that of a small business owner in his highly competitive niche. @tommyvee says Denny is a Gator and I believe @tommyvee but in this case Denny is addressing something fresh and hurtful involving one of the kids he teaches.

Do not turn this into a political thread please. Those posts should go in the Too Hot thread on Marcus Stokes.

 

After listening to the whole audio track I can understand what he is trying to say. If we want to keep the topic on Denny Thompson without getting into the specifics of Marcus Stokes, I will say that I am disappointed in the way he talks up Anthony Richardson and his other clients, only to see something very different on the football field or out there in the real world. He has talked about coaching up his clients on public engagements and social media, but I do not see it. He has talked about the mental and physical growth in his clients, but I do not see it. Denny makes more money than I do coaching high school and college athletes, but I think he needs to augment his training curriculum and start caring about the high schools and colleges that "own" the athletes he is coaching. Even if UF had not withdrawn the scholarship offer, there is no guarantee that his high school would not have reprimanded him "over nothing". Well, it is SOMETHING to high schools and colleges who are protective of their image and their alignment to social issues. All around the country we hear about high school kids getting in different types of trouble for social media posts about race, sex, drugs, politics, etc. This the world we live in, and these are now things a private coach needs to consider.

 

I had not heard about him before this year when I first learned about him as "AR's personal QB coach." Therefore, I have no history beyond a few weeks ago. I agree with your post and especially that we need to see actual results instead of only what, until then, could be seen as merely self-serving hype. I'm also concerned that a kid plays for Florida and has coaching at Florida and how do we know (or, more importantly, how does Coach Napier know) what this guy is teaching is compatible?

For example only . . . what if Coach Napier is telling AR one thing and this guy is teaching him something much different and AR is thoroughly confused? Surely there is a safeguard in place for Coach Napier and Florida.

I somewhat agree with @gainesvillegreen44 . . . that him saying all the schools could drop off the face of the planet and he wouldn't care could come back to bite him in the rear. I'm interested in others' thoughts.

 

It’s a tough situation…but you have to think about your locker room in a situation like this, and I’m sure there’s guys in your locker room that are gonna have a real problem with what Stokes did (even if he was just sing lyrics from a rap song and the kid meant no harm). That being said, the only choice Napier really had was to pull the scholly so as not to allow the situation to potentially stir up trouble in the locker room and have a PR nightmare. Nip it in the bud from the get go.

Any school Stokes goes to now is going to have to deal with it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up at a lower level school now because of this situation.

PS I’m not a fan of this whole cancel culture/woke crap…that is all

 

I’ll take your word for it, line her up

 

I support BN as he supports good character, UF, and the UF players.
All recruits should do the same.
This is a fine example that character matters.

Im not saying Marcus doesn’t have good character… I don’t know him personally.
But when you represent an organization you should watch what you say and do.

 

Well, Denny said it himself… it’s a gator podcast. If he doesn’t give a crap about UF, then Hacker needs a new podcast partner.

 

I was waiting for this post after hearing the pod today. I was put off by it at first then cooled on my opinion later.

At first listen, I thought to myself, this is why gator fans get turned off by people who cover the Gators, why do we have people on a Gator POD who would say repeatedly I don't give a crap about Florida.

Denny has been so careful all year not to criticize the UF staff or criticize AR for his play. Then today, he made the point not once but twice, to say that if the same scenario comes up with another recruit, the staff better handle it the same way. As if to say, he actually is pissed off at the staff for pulling the offer. He then went on contradict himself about 3-4 times the more he spoke.

I understand he's a small business owner who trains kids to play QB. So to do that, he has to have the parents trust that he has the kids best interest in mind. So from that perspective I get it, he's got a reputation and a business to protect. Would it have killed Hacker to talk to him prior to this pod, get his opinion on the situation and then not bring it up or at least direct it so he doesn't just go off on a F the Gators type rant? It's Hackers show, so I honestly blame the host for letting a guest take over his pod with an emotional rant about a kid he obviously cares about.

 

I was initially mad when I heard the pod, because I just thought it was a bad look to have someone on a Gator POD, be so adamant he didn't care about UF any more than FSU or any other school.

Then I tried to put myself in his shoes and I could see his side. I thought it was a poor choice by Hacker to have him on and basically give him the floor to take it in any direction. It's Hackers show, and he's supposed to be biased in favor of the Gators. He could of directed the questioning or stepped in at any point to stop the bleeding and he just let Denny go on and on. Denny is obviously emotional about a kid he cares a lot about, and spent hours with getting him his dream offer and now he's trying to have the kids back so he can get his next offer.

 

He’s a bit arrogant but I think he’s a gator and was just proving a point and sticking up for his guy. I get it. I’m a gator through and through but my career, the way I provide for my family, will always come first. That’s essentially what he was saying.

 

Ride for the brand…

 

I have very little issue with what Denny said. His clients, and their parents, need to know he has their back.
And, Billy is wise enough to see that for what it is and not be too bothered by it (he has far larger issues to worry about than what Denny says about UF). I wouldn’t be surprised if days before this podcast Denny let Billy know that Denny would have to try to walk the tightrope of taking Marcus’ side publicly. And he also isn’t completely wrong in doing it. A 17 year old kid’s dreams are crushed and he’s apologized. It’s a complex issue.
Regarding Denny talking up his clients… what else is he going to do… publicly say that John Doe just doesn’t have what it takes?

 

I haven’t listened and don’t intend to and will instead make my response around something I didn’t see or hear personally. Lol

I’ll only comment that outside of coaching qb skills, Denny should also be coaching the kids on life skills, public speaking, actions and consequences, etc. qbs are high profile and schools like UF are high profile and in this day and age and environment- fair or not agree or not- all high profile schools would likely have made the same decision on Stokes scholarship. At this time Denny should be speaking to Stokes about consequences and over coming adversity and using this as a lesson. Stokes put himself and thus UF in a bad situation- people have to accept consequences and learn from them.

 

Exactly. He has stated on the 1010XL Gator Bytes podcast that he does coach up public speaking and social media, yet at the same time he uttered a statement on a rather popular show that was easily turned into a polarizing soundbite. In the show he acknowledges that Marcus screwed up royally. He also went over a discussion he had with the UF administration where he says that UF made the decision solely on the video, and that he understands the decision. What Denny Thompson is missing here is the pressure that large universities and large corporations are under when it comes to reacting and over-reacting to any issues related to...contemporary social issues. I cannot use the exact words that I want to use without pushing this into "Too Hot".

• Marcus Stokes put himself in a bad situation and he has to accept the consequences.
• Denny Thompson needs to learn from this himself if he wants to remain relevant in today's high school and college athletics.
  
• UF has no choice but to do this given today's social climate.

 

I can understand Thompson’s perspective. I didn’t get that he was necessarily being negative against, or bashing, UF. His point was that UF/Napier has established a precedent that has to be applied evenly, moving forward. His suggestion being, as i take it, that will be difficult to do.
I listen to this podcast frequently and, if nothing else, you can always be assured that Denny will just call it as he sees it. It’s a very raw situation for him, and a young player that he has a long-standing coaching/personal relationship with. Given the circumstances, I thought Denny was measured in his statements and really said nothing that wasn’t fair to all parties involved.
I think a lot of OUR emotions, as fans, are raw over the situation, too. Maybe some are taking this out of context?
Also, Thompson has had lots of praise for Napier on this show. The entire segment, or statement in question, started with Thompson saying he understood the decision by UF.
The op is misleading imo