Why Will Muschamp brought a national voice on sexual assault to speak to his Gamecocks

South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp has a tradition of bringing in a speaker every night of training camp. They talk about a range of topics, some small in life, some highly important.

On Monday night, the Gamecocks will hear from Brenda Tracy, a national advocate and national voice on sexual assault, especially when it comes to college sports and football.

“In training camp, we have every night a speaker, whether it’s someone from Columbia, someone from campus, a motivational speaker to talk to our players about life and how you’re supposed to lead your life,” Muschamp said. “Her story, I’ve never met her personally, I’ve never talked to her, but I obviously saw her story and wanted her to bring in and share her story with our players. I think that’s important.”

In 1998, Tracy was sexually assaulted by four men, including three college football players, two from Oregon State, one from Cal. The story was brushed off, and the players received minor punishments at the time, and she wasn’t even publicly identified until sharing her story in 2014.

Since then, she’s grown into an advocate and speaker with a national presence. She’s spoken to numerous teams, including Cal, Montana State, Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska just in the past few weeks.

She founded an organization called #SetTheExpectation, which according to its website aims to combat “sexual and physical violence by supporting coaches, young men and boys to become part of the solution through direct outreach and engagement in high school and collegiate athletic programs.”

Part of that is the #SetTheExpectation pledge, which players pledge to play a role in not only by avoiding harmful behaviors and actions but also combat the culture of sexual violence.

“Treating women with respect it very important,” Muschamp said. “And our guys need to hear her story.”

This story was originally published August 13, 2018 at 6:45 PM.