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Former MLB pitcher Seth McClung had some strong words for a professor at Anna Maria College after an email about an upcoming midterm was sent his way.
That message was belittling to student-athletes, diminishing both their desire to play college sports and their dreams of a possible professional career.
McClung reposted the email on his X feed, saying, “This is Bad. D3 Students deserve better! A student athlete reached out to me yesterday. He didn’t know how to respond. This is bad. This is really bad. If I was a baseball coach (any type of coach) at Anna Maria College, I would be having a very firm conversation with James Duggan and his inappropriate way to speak to and belittle student athletes. Sorry you didn’t go pro, Dugga. Don’t take it out on the kids. Dear Internet, please do your thing.”
This is Bad. D3 Students deserve better!
A student athlete reached out to me yesterday. He didn’t know how to respond.
This is bad. This is really bad. If I was a baseball coach (any type coach) at @AMCAT_Baseball I would be having a very firm conversation with James Duggan… pic.twitter.com/hrMVjh7Ke4
— Seth McClung (@Seth_3773) February 26, 2024
That message was one of disparagement, particularly the comment, “I am quite confident you will not make a living as an athlete.”
It seemed a rather unnecessary slight for an email about midterm scheduling, and even worse considering the professor is an admitted former D3 athlete himself!
A simple, “I realize many of you will be travelling with your respective sports teams, please keep that in mind in regard to the midterm exam,” would’ve more than sufficed.
Instead, he decided to minimize the ambitions of the student-athletes in his class.
Many around the college baseball world took note.
Former FIU player Josh Anderson wrote, “Seems to me someone killed this professor’s dreams when he was a young adult and he’s continuing the chain of dream crushing.”
Former UVA pitcher Stephen Schoch said, “The only course he’s qualified to teach is Intro to Pound Sand.”
Over the last three years, six D3 players have been selected in each MLB Draft class, while 23 were picked in a record-setting 2010 class according to MetroLeague.org.
Pitcher Keifer Lord was the first D3 player picked in 2023, going in the third round to the Baltimore Orioles.
Joker Mag says there were nine active MLB players from the D3 ranks in 2022, and a number of professional stars have come through Division III programs including Billy Wagner, Joe Nathan, and Tony Womack.
Imaging if their dreams had been crushed by someone during their college tenures!
A terrible look for this professor.