Mike Hopkins, Jimmy Lake and Jennifer Cohen pledge major gifts to UW Huskies athletic department
In addition to the cost-saving measures announced by the University of Washington athletic department on Friday, three high-profile figures have waived their incentives through FY21 and pledged major gifts.
Head football coach Jimmy Lake and head men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins have pledged $100,000 each to assist the athletic department in funding a newly-created senior level diversity and inclusion staff position. The associate athletic director position will be filled before the end of the summer.
Athletic director Jennifer Cohen pledged $50,000 to the Competitive Edge Fund, which supports the holistic development of student-athletes. That includes medical/mental health services, academic and student-athlete development and sports performance.
Like the rest of UW’s head coaches, all three have already committed to a 5% voluntary salary reduction.
In early June, Hopkins participated in a parent and child panel on racial injustice and police brutality. The event was organized by assistant coach Will Conroy after George Floyd’s death on May 25, which ignited ongoing protests across the country,
Hopkins spoke about the importance of listening to his players in the wake of Floyd’s death. The men’s basketball staff also invited Alexes Harris — a UW sociology professor with focuses on social stratification processes and racial and ethnic disparities — to talk to the team.
“All the players were able to speak and I was surprised at what I was hearing,” Hopkins said while addressing the crowd in Renton’s Liberty Park. “I felt out of touch (with) things I should know about my players. That goes back on the next thing. I wanted to come here to listen and learn. I’m talking about education. Learning. Understanding.
“I’ll never understand how Will actually feels, but I can learn why. And most importantly, I know I can make a difference with my platform. This is all about leadership, right? This is all about standing up and making a difference.”
Both Hopkins and Lake, the second black head football coach in UW history, released statements after Floyd’s death. Speaking with the Pac-12 Network this month, Lake said issues of racial injustice would be an “ongoing conversation.” He also said plans were being made to educate his players on voting and arrange for open dialogue with law enforcement.
During a phone interview in June, Cohen was preparing to bring athletes back to campus — they started returning to June 15. She stressed the importance of the services UW could provide, not only physically but mentally. Both are supported by the Competitive Edge Fund.
“We have a lot of concerns that we’re very worried about and focused on for our student-athletes,” Cohen said in June. “Their mental health issues is obviously one of them, and their physical well-being when they’ve been remote for this long.
“Now, you add impact that has already existed: What racism does in and of the lives of our student-athletes in and of itself is a massive a challenge to their health and well-being. We want to provide an environment that is healthy for our student-athletes because a lot of our student-athletes across the country don’t have access to the same environment that we’d be able to create for them. And so that’s our goal.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
