In the aftermath of a recent incident in which a BYU fan allegedly yelled racial slurs at a Duke volleyball player during a match, the South Carolina women’s basketball team has announced they will no longer face BYU to begin the season.
Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner issued statements Friday confirming the decision to cancel an upcoming home-and-home series scheduled to take place in the 2022–23 and ’23–24 seasons. The Gamecocks were set to host the Cougars in their season opener on Nov. 7 before traveling to Utah for a contest next year.
The program is currently working on finalizing another opponent for the opener.
“As a head coach, my job is to do what’s best for my players and staff,” Staley said. “The incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home-and-home, and I don’t feel that this is the right time for us to engage in this series.”
Tanner added, “Dawn and I have discussed her thoughts on the situation. I support Dawn and all of our coaches in their right to schedule games and opponents that are best for their teams.”
Brigham Young has been under fire in the week since the on-campus incident occurred on Aug. 26. During the match, Rachel Richardson, Duke’s only Black starter, became the subject of racial slurs that came from a fan sitting in BYU’s student section, according to the Associated Press; Richardson’s godmother also said on social media she was called a racial slur “every time she served” and “threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.”
The incident led to the school banning the fan, who was reportedly not a student, from all athletic venues at the school. BYU announced the decision in a statement, saying the university “will not tolerate behavior of this kind. Specifically, the use of a racial slur at any of our athletic events is absolutely unacceptable and BYU Athletics holds a zero-tolerance approach to this behavior.”
“We wholeheartedly apologize to Duke University and especially its student-athlete competing last night for what they experienced,” the statement continued. “We want BYU athletic events to provide a safe environment for all, and there is no place for behaviors like this in our venues.”
Two days after the incident, Richardson, a 19-year-old sophomore from Ellicott City, Maryland, issued a statement addressing the situation and her approach going forward.
“This is not the first time this has happened in college athletics and sadly it likely will not be the last time,” Richardson said. “However, each time it happens we as student athletes, coaches, fans, and administrators have a chance to educate those who act in hateful ways.”
She continued, “Although the heckling eventually took a mental toll on me, I refused to allow it to stop me from doing what I love to do and what I came to BYU to do: which was to play volleyball. I refused to allow those racist bigots to feel any degree of satisfaction from thinking that their comments had ‘gotten to me,’ So, I pushed through and finished the game.
“Therefore, on behalf of my African American teammates and I, we do not want to receive pity or to be looked at as helpless. We do not feel as though we are victims of some tragic unavoidable event. We are proud to be young African American women; we are proud to be Duke student athletes, and we are proud to stand up against racism.”
