June 21, 2017
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
?Rachel Baribeau believes in Matt Rhule.
? That's the biggest reason why the host of SiriusXM's "College Sports Nation" reached out to the first-year head football coach to share her "Changing the Narrative" message with the Baylor football team Tuesday afternoon.
?"He is a salt-of-the-earth guy," Baribeau said. "If he says he's going to do it, he's going to do it. If he says he believes in you, he believes in you. . . . One of the things I talk to the men about is being a man of your word. Coach Rhule is that. He's been successful wherever he's gone, but he's a man of character, and I love that about him. I was telling them, I don't go speak everywhere. I speak for coaches that I believe in."
?After an hour session with the players, and another half hour following her message when 40 of them hung around to visit with her, Baribeau said she also believes in the Baylor players.
?"I came here for Coach Rhule, I came here for that staff, but I came here for those players, because I believe in just the crazy amount of good that's in that room," she said. "I can't wait to see how they change the world. I'm like, `You guys go set the world on fire with your good deeds.' I want them to feel proud of who they are, to put on the uniform they have. I want them to feel proud of the education they're getting, who they're playing for, and they have every reason to do that under Matt Rhule."
?Baribeau, who has covered college sports for the last 10 years, said the genesis of her "Changing the Narrative" message came last summer when "this game that I've given my life to was breaking my heart."
?"I was looking at the media, and everything was negative, negative, negative, negative," she said. "And I said, `You know what, I can do something about this.' I can create a curriculum in which I talk about who are you way from the football field? How do we treat women? What does it mean to be a good man? What does chivalry mean? I knew I could create this curriculum, and I did, and then it caught fire. I never imagined that it would become what it has."
?In Baylor's case, Baribeau said the key is for each player "to be the man they were created to be, that God created them to be."
?"And we talked about how to do that. It's called the Power of One," she said. "I'm not expecting you to go out and change the whole world tomorrow. But, I am expecting you and the guy next to you to be accountable -- you to him, him to you. If he's not doing something right, I'm expecting you to call him out. Or, to be there if someone needs you to be their voice. You do that, and it becomes a ripple in the pond.
?"What I told them is let's bring back the pride of Baylor. I want you to be proud to be a Baylor man, a Baylor athlete. And you do that by setting the world on fire with your purpose. Football is just a platform for you to figure out your purpose. If that's to start a foundation or to go home and help at-risk youth, whatever it is, let's be about Baylor men trending for their good deeds. And not for the publicity, but just because it's your purpose, walking in your purpose."
?As an assault victim survivor herself, Baribeau was asked on Twitter, "Why would you go to Baylor?" in light of the sexual assault allegations that surfaced at the school a year ago. Her response was, "Why not?"
?"Why wouldn't I fight for them?" she said. "These young men did nothing wrong, and they've gotten lumped in and been viciously attacked on Twitter. Why would I not fight for them? There is so much good in that room. We talk about being a king, in every part of your life -- from your word, your time, your character, how you talk to people, your decisions. I knew, and I know now, that there are kings in that room. I literally felt drawn to Baylor."
?Rhule, who has seen tremendous progress in terms of academic success and community service in his 6 ½ months on the job, said it was exactly the message his players needed to hear.
?"That it's not just about sports, it's not just about this passion. Their purpose is far greater in life. Their purpose is to serve other people," Rhule said. "I think her call to them was to focus on the positives, to be excellent in your own life and in your own space, impacting other people and changing what people think about football and the way people even view themselves -- one person at a time, one random act of kindness at a time."
?While the opinions and perceptions of some people have changed regarding Baylor, Baribeau said there are still some that do not recognize all the action that has been taken.
?"That it's new coaches, that these players are not accountable for what other people have done," she said. "When you start to educate them, they're like, `Oh . . .' If one of my purposes in being here is to educate people on the good that is at Baylor and the good that's happened under Matt Rhule, then I will have walked in my purpose."
?After previous stops at Florida State, Clemson, Florida International, Minnesota and Ole Miss, Baribeau was speaking at Alabama on Wednesday and will visit Texas A&M and three other schools later this summer.
?One of her objectives is to teach others how to change the narrative "with their own story and let them go into their high schools. Fan out, more pebbles on the pond." Through corporate sponsorship, one of the Baylor players "who best exhibits the `Changing the Narrative' tenants" will receive a $5,000 scholarship to start their own foundation once they exhaust their eligibility.
?"It just keeps it going, keeps it growing," Baribeau said. "I'm one person, I can only be so many places. So, I want to teach other people do to it. I want to replicate it, and I want this to be lasting. And the way that it's lasting is to teach them how to fish, not just give them fish."
