Sports and the work of antiracism

Almost five years ago, Colin Kaepernick used his platform and knelt on the field to shed light on racism and injustice. Five years later, where are we? Where is the world of sports when it comes to the racial reckoning happening in America?

The College of Communication and the Boston University Alumni Association hosted a discussion surrounding the relationship between sports and antiracism.  Expert panelists answered the questions on how we continue to build on the momentum and foundation that Kaepernick, Lebron James, and several other athletes have created. Learn what this monumental shift means for sports journalists, team owners, fans, and more.

About the panelists:

Marisa Moseley (CAS’04), Women’s Head Basketball Coach, Boston University

Marisa Moseley (CAS’04), a standout on Boston University’s 2003 NCAA Tournament team and a two time captain during her playing days with the Terriers, was named the head coach of women’s basketball in April 2018 after a nine-year stint as an assistant coach at UConn. Moseley is the eighth head coach, and first alumna, in program history.

Moseley led BU to its best Patriot League finish in program history during the 2019-20 season as the Terriers finished conference play with a 12-6 record and a second-place regular season finish. Furthermore, Moseley guided Maggie Pina to be named Patriot League Rookie of the Year and a third-team all-conference honoree along with Katie Nelson on the second-team. Under Moseley’s tutelage, Pina, Maren Durant and Sydney Johnson became the first trio from the same program in Patriot League history to earn All-Rookie status, and Durant additionally earned all-defensive honors. Moseley led the team to finish with the 36th-ranked scoring defense nationally, surrendering a mere 57.6 points per game.

In her first season at the helm of the Terriers, Moseley was named the first Patriot League Coach of the Year in program history, and was just the second coach in the program’s 45-year history to be named the conference coach of the year. Additionally, she was one of two NCAA DI women’s basketball first-year head coaches to collect conference coach of the year honors in 2019. Working with eight returning student-athletes and a squad that was predicted to finish ninth in the preseason Patriot League poll, Moseley thrust BU to finish fourth in the regular season standings and post its first winning season in five years with a 15-14 overall record.

Prior to being named head coach of the Terriers, Moseley was on Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma’s staff in Storrs since 2009, helping the Huskies claim five national championships (2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) while reaching the Final Four all nine seasons. She coached three National Players of the Year and 11 All-Americans while assisting UConn to an overall 331-14 record, which included two of the longest winning streaks in NCAA basketball history (111 and 90 consecutive games).

Her primary responsibilities at UConn were coaching the post players, creating individual and skill development workouts, preparing scouting reports, and working with marketing and video services on digital media platforms, presentations and highlight films. In 2012, she assisted in scouting for Coach Auriemma and the gold-medal winning U.S. National Team at the London Olympics.

Prior to serving as an assistant coach at UConn, Moseley filled the same capacity at Minnesota (2007-09), where she led the Golden Gophers to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances while posting an overall record of 40-24. While serving in her role as academic liaison, a total of 11 student-athletes earned selection to the Big Ten Academic Honor Roll.

Moseley first broke into the coaching ranks during the 2005-06 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Denver, helping guide the Pioneers to a 20-11 record, marking their first 20-plus win campaign in six years. Her responsibilities included assisting with the Pioneers’ recruiting and team travel, as well as monitoring the players’ academic progress.

In addition to her coaching duties, Moseley served as a member of the University of Connecticut Diversity Council and was on director of athletics David Benedict’s Leadership Team. Furthermore, she was a member of the Student-Athlete Development Diversity Committee and was the athletics department’s liaison to the Office of Diversity.

She was also a member of Denver’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. The committee was instrumental in the establishment of a new associate athletic director position overseeing diversity and community relations.

Prior to joining the staff at Denver, Moseley worked a one-year stint as a production assistant at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she served as a creative contributor to shows such as SportsCenter, ESPNews and ABC NewsOne.

A native of Springfield, Massachusetts, Moseley completed her four-year (2000-04) playing career as the Terriers’ third-leading shot blocker (114 blocks). The defensive specialist earned All-America East Conference Third Team honors in 2002-03 after leading BU in both steals and blocked shots.

Moseley helped the Terriers win the 2003 America East championship and make their first and only appearance in the NCAA Tournament. She was voted the defensive player of the year by her teammates and was also a four-year member of the America East Honor Roll.

Moseley graduated from BU’s College of Arts & Sciences in 2004 with a degree in sociology and returned to campus in 2012 to serve as a panelist for the “Pass It On: A Celebration” event that honored milestones and accomplishments in women’s athletics.

Kevin Merida (COM’79), ESPN senior vice president and editor-in-chief of The Undefeated

Kevin Merida (COM’79) is a senior vice president at ESPN and editor-in-chief of The Undefeated, a multimedia platform that explores the intersections of race, sports and culture. Its content portfolio ranges from award-winning journalism to original music videos, from television specials and digital talk shows to poetry, live events and two bestselling children’s books..
Merida arrived at ESPN in November 2015 and launched The Undefeated in May 2016. During his tenure at ESPN, he also has overseen the Investigative/News Enterprise unit, the television shows “E:60 “and “Outside the Lines,” and chaired ESPN’s Editorial Board.

Before joining ESPN, Merida spent 22 years at The Washington Post as a congressional correspondent, national political reporter, longform feature writer, magazine columnist, and senior editor in several roles. He led the national staff for four years during the Obama presidency, and was managing editor overseeing news and features coverage for three years. During his tenure as managing editor, he helped lead The Post to four Pulitzer Prizes, and the newspaper embarked on a digital transformation that made it one of the fastest growing news organizations in the country.

Prior to The Post, from 1983-’93, Merida worked at The Dallas Morning News as a special projects reporter, local political writer, national correspondent based in Washington, White House correspondent covering the George H.W. Bush presidency, and assistant managing editor in charge of foreign and national news coverage. In 1990, Merida was part of a Dallas Morning News team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in explanatory journalism for a special report on the world’s “hidden wars.”  Merida began his career at The Milwaukee Journal, where he worked from 1979-’83 as a general assignments reporter and rotating city desk editor.

Merida is co-author of “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas” and “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.” He is a contributor to and editor of the anthology, “Being A Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and Peril,” based on an award-winning Washington Post series.

Merida’s honors include being named “Journalist of the Year” in 2000 by the National Association of Black Journalists, receiving the Missouri Honors Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 2018, and receiving NABJ’s Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Merida is a 1979 graduate of Boston University, and of the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at the University of California/Berkeley. He serves on the boards of Boston University, the Pulitzer Prize, WBUR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, the Wallace House at the University of Michigan, and the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities at Simmons University. He lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife, the writer Donna Britt. They have three sons, Skye, Darrell and Justin.

About the moderator: 

A. Sherrod Blakely, University Lecturer at Boston University 

Sherrod Blakely is a Lecturer at the Boston University College of Communication and is the co-host of the A-List Podcast after having spent 11 years as the Boston Celtics Insider for NBC Sports Boston which is the flagship station for the 17-time NBA champions.

Winner of Boston.com’s A-List Celtics Reporter of the Year in 2011, Blakely has established himself as a leading voice on the Celtics and the NBA which includes appearances on national sports networks such as NBA TV.

Prior to Boston, Sherrod covered the Detroit Pistons for the award-winning Mlive.com website whose digital traffic consistently outperformed the websites of both Detroit daily newspapers in page views and unique visitors, combined. He also covered ACC football and basketball for the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer whose award-winning sports department was ranked among the top-10 nationally in Daily, Sunday and Special Sections three of his four years on the job.

Sherrod, who taught a journalism course for high school students shortly after college, continues to do his part in helping shape and develop the next wave of journalists as the Chair of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Sports Task Force which awards scholarships and internships to exceptionally talented journalists.

In addition, he is a member of the APSE Scholarship Committee.

Sherrod also received an all-expenses paid academic scholarship to Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and graduated with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Newspaper Journalism. While at SU, he spent a semester in London studying International Relations and Global Communications.