(Writer’s note: I recognize ahead of time the humor in referencing tweets in a post about banning Twitter)
Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher is trying to regroup his team after their third straight loss of the season Saturday to Wake Forest. The Seminoles are now 2-3 overall and have yet to win an ACC game. Hopes of getting back to a BCS national championship are out the window, but the ‘Noles can still salvage a conference championship.
That’s going to require total re-focus by everyone from Fisher on down, and the head coach is going to try and eliminate at least one possible distraction as he tries to get his team back on track. Warchant.com, FSU’s Rivals-affiliated site, reports that FSU players have been banned from using Twitter indefinitely. Fisher and quarterback EJ Manuel have since confirmed the move.
Fisher had been concerned about the use of social media with his players for some months now; various reports claim that players were tweeting in the locker room before the game Saturday, and that some were dealing with “hate tweets” from fans after the loss.
For the players, though, that’s part of the territory. Because of their status, what they say and do on social media is going to be monitored and scrutinized.
With that said, Fisher’s team is at a crucial point right now where there needs to be some serious fat-cutting. Is tweeting directly related to a three-game skid? No, but if Fisher wants to cut social media access, then that’s his prerogative. Often times, and as Manuel alluded to today, it’s part of a bigger plan to get a team on a fresh start.