A crushing blow to the mental health of college football players and coaches.

By now, you’ve no doubt read numerous articles, interviews, and social media posts excoriating the College Football Playoff committee for its unprecedented decision to leave out an undefeated conference champion. The palpable anger radiating from Tallahassee has been met nationwide from college football fans who see the devastating impact on Florida State and the sport in general.

Justified though it is, this article is not about that anger or the future ramifications on the field. It isn’t about the blatant walk-backs and hypocrisy from numerous ESPN personalities.

This article is about a dangerous precedent that was just set by the committee and supporting media. It is about the significant negative impacts that are often invisible on the surface.

It is about choosing money over the mental health of student-athletes.

My career revolves around working with college students, particularly those struggling with mental health. For those who do not work in higher education, let me briefly explain what we are facing.

By nearly every metric, student mental health is worsening.

The pervasiveness of mental health issues on campuses has reached an all-time high. In March, a national survey showed that rates of depression and anxiety among college students are at historic levels. More college students than ever before said that they are thinking about suicide.

Counseling centers on campuses nationwide are understaffed and overwhelmed, and numerous offices and departments have been created at many institutions to help triage and shoulder the significant caseload.

There are numerous subpopulations of college students who have high-risk factors for mental health issues, and among them are student-athletes. The immense pressure to perform at a high level and stay healthy on top of all the other stressors from college and home can build into a storm of stress. Multiply that by a ton when you play at the highest level and your sport takes in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Despite the severity of cases and the historic rise in the need for mental health services, the positive aspect of this situation is that college students are more ready to talk about their challenges and seek help rather than suffer in silence. A primary factor in this behavior is the number of professional athletes, entertainers, and other public figures who are speaking up about mental health services. They’ve proved vital allies to those of us working to connect distressed students with the resources they need.

This is why the committee’s justification for leaving Florida State out of the College Football Playoffs is particularly devastating, and dangerous, to those of us who work in mental health and wellness services.

Eugene “Boo” Corrigan, chair of the CFP, said the following in an ESPN interview:

“Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks. And Coach Norvell, their players, their fans, you know, an incredible season. But as you look at who they are as a team right now without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings to it, they are a different team and the committee voted Alabama 4 and Florida State 5… But looking at the player availability was really important to what’s going on. And I think someone said there, you can lose a running back, you could lose a wide receiver, but a quarterback as dynamic as Jordan Travis, it changes their offense in its entirety. And that was really a big factor with the committee as we went through everything.”

This was a tweet from Jordan Travis, in response to the decision and justification:

Essentially, you have the chair of the committee that not only determines the fate of numerous programs, but also the significant monetary fate of the sport, blaming FSU’s exclusion on the injury to Jordan Travis. The committee blamed Jordan Travis for breaking his leg.

His tweet above is heartbreaking. Travis has overcome so much in his young life, much of which was documented and shown by ESPN in segments for their own ratings benefits. He has wrestled with injuries and with internal factors he has thus far declined to discuss. In 2023, he mentioned how he was putting way too much pressure on himself, resulting in him not having fun on the football field before a sit-down with Norvell.

And Boo Corrigan dumped the blame on Jordan. Talk about kicking someone when they’re already down.

Can you imagine being in Jordan Travis’ shoes at that moment? Knowing that ESPN is filming your locker room to show the nation your disappointment, then leaving that video clip in a prominent spot on its website for days afterward?

Because of the committee, Jordan Travis literally apologized for not breaking his leg sooner in the season. Think about that.

With the reasoning given by the committee, they’ve now set the precedent that they will leave a team out of the playoffs because of a star player being injured. The financial benefits to the school? The TV exposure and recruiting benefits? The incredible experience for the players and coaches?

All of that now falls on a young man, or young men, who had bad injury luck. Let’s hope that they have strong support systems around them, because this is the kind of stuff that can result in tragedy.

Mike Norvell released a blistering response to this absurdity, including the following:

“What is the point of playing games? Do you tell players it is okay to quit if someone goes down? Do you not play a senior on Senior Day for fear of injury?”

On top of all the litany of other things college coaches at power programs must deal with, the committee just added a new beast. Do you hold out star players to avoid injury, thereby helping your chances of being selected? Do you take away from the small amount of games in their college careers, knowing they’ll never get those moments back? Do you explain to your team that it’s no longer about the collective, but rather about the players you can’t afford to lose to injury? That their efforts don’t matter if an injury happens to their quarterback?

And my goodness, how will this impact those star players mentally? I can guarantee you that what happened to FSU and Jordan Travis is now in the back of every star quarterback’s mind. The ripple effects of this decision are immeasurable at this stage and there’s no doubt that those of us who work with student-athletes will be dealing with these ramifications for a long time.

• Chris Ault.
• Mitch Barnhart.
• Eugene “Boo” Corrigan.
• Chet Gladchuk.
• Jim Grobe.
• Mark Harlan.
• Warde Manuel.
• David Sayler.
• Will Shields.
• Gene Taylor.
• Joe Taylor.
• Rod West.
• Kelly Whiteside.

All thirteen of you, regardless of what you may have said behind closed doors, are responsible for this dangerous precedent set. Those of you who are former coaches? Shame on you. Every player who ever gave his all for you should now question everything you ever said.

Do any of these committee members have children? Do they care about their mental health? Or do they care more about monetary gain? Based on this decision, it would appear to be the latter. How can they look their children in the eyes after doing this to Travis? Will they tell their children that their teams aren’t good enough to achieve their ultimate goals because they get hurt? That their group projects don’t deserve the best grade in the class because they missed some time with illness?

This precedent of valuing money at the cost of mental health, of dumping an unfathomable amount of misplaced blame on the shoulders of one young man, is something that should, and hopefully will, follow every single one of you forever. Shame on every one of you.

And to the media heavyweights and talking heads at ESPN who have suddenly done 180’s on past opinions and are gutless shills for their employer? I don’t need to identify you, because everyone already knows who you are and sees you for what you are. Kudos to the very few who’ve chosen to speak out about the injustices done to Jordan Travis and FSU. I just wish more of your colleagues had your integrity.

Jordan, I don’t know if you’ll ever read this. I assume you won’t but if you do, please know that you have so many people out there, some you’ve met and many you haven’t, whose support for you is unwavering. We know that what happened is reprehensible, nonsensical, and flat-out despicable.

YOU are not the reason FSU was left out of the playoffs. THEY, the thirteen people named above, are.

YOU have absolutely no reason to apologize to anyone. THEY do.

YOU are a shining example of resiliency, persistence, strength, and everything else it means to be a Seminole legend. THEY represent everything wrong in a sport so many of us once adored.

If you’ve made it to this point of the article, please know that these views are my own, and not necessarily those reflected by Tomahawk Nation. Whether it’s by joining The Battle’s End, shopping at the NIL merchandise site, donating in other ways, or showing up and showing out, please also consider supporting this team, other Seminole teams, and the university in whatever ways you can. The student-athletes and coaches need it now more than ever.