Minnesota High School Football Coach Gets Crushed For Anti-Fun Mouthguard Mandate
As July starts to wind down and August quickly approaches, football is just a few weeks away. NFL training camp has begun in some parts of the country, fall camps will start to pop up for college football programs looking to get a jump on the season, and high schoolers will start reporting to summer workouts, two-a-days and padded practices if they haven't already.
High school football is almost here!
Out in Minnesota, the athletes at Woodbury High School will be arriving with a very specific type of mouthguard. Rather, they won't be arriving with a specific type of mouthguard.
Woodbury High, a grades 9-12 school located in a southeastern suburb of Saint Paul, has just under 2,000 students. Its football team, the Royals, is run by head coach Andy Hill.
Head coach Andy Hill(Image courtesy: Woodbury H.S. Athletics)
His self-proclaimed purpose is "to pour love and positive influence into my players to help them become difference makers not only on the football field, but in the classroom, at home, and within their community. As we build championship people, the winning will take care of itself."
Apparently, part of that vision does not include self-expression or fun. Boo!
Woodbury high school football's official Twitter account, presumably run by Hill, recently tweeted out instructions to its prospective players. If Hill was not the one typing the keys, he had to sign off on the message.
Either way, Woodbury made it abundantly clear that flashy mouthguards — like D.K. Metcalf's pacifier — or backplates will not fly. No further reasoning was given. It will not be tolerated.
Woodbury's tweet immediately found its way onto high school football Twitter and the response was overwhelmingly negative. There were a few people who agreed with the mandate, but they were the overwhelming minority.
The tweet, and its principal, got absolutely roasted.
Oof. Tough look for Woodbury high school football.
The Royals will get their season underway on August 31. It doesn't sound like their players will be wearing a mouthguard or backplate that isn't bland and boring.