Weeks after one HBCU band asked to be removed from the ESPN Red Lobster Band of the Year rankings, another band’s director expressed the same position.
Donovan V. Wells, director of Bethune-Cookman’s Marching Wildcats, shared a post on Facebook Tuesday, accusing ESPN of “forcing” institutions into the contest.
“Despite my repeated requests to exclude the Marching Wildcats, since the event’s inception, my requests have been ignored,” Wells wrote. “Instead, it feels as though we are being forced into competition. I cannot, in good conscience and as an educator, accept this rule of thought for the young women and men I represent in this band program.”
Jackson State Director of Bands Dr. Roderick Little posted on social media Sept. 22 that a decision to remove the Sonic Boom from the rankings “was made with thoughtful consideration and is rooted in internal priorities.”
