Looking back at UK's football season, it is clear that UK played virtually the entire season with a divided locker room. Players formed factions, picked which players and coaches they were willing to play for, and may have even dogged it when they were on the field with those they didn't like. In short, it was the worst case scenario for team culture: a group of players and coaches that were actively working against each other, not for each other.
The comments of Phillips and Towles in the aftermath of the season point strongly toward a case of narcissistic triangulation a passive-aggressive tactic where co-workers, teammates, or family members pit people against each other in a backhanded attempt at gaining power, prestige, or some other type of advantage over those around them. Narcissistic triangulation takes many forms, from the manipulative girlfriend that complains to others about you because she knows it will eventually get back to you, to the co-worker that undermines his boss by fomenting discontent among his co-workers. It is especially "effective" when used in competitive situations (FDR famously pitted his own aides against each other) and even more effective when used on young people, whose insecurities and fragile egos are vulnerable to the type of manipulative back-biting engendered by triangulation.
Somewhere along the 2015 season, the metal of UK football team was broken into shards that could not be reforged. We had the Towles vs. Barker faction, the pre-Stoops vs. post-Stoops faction, and the Stoops vs. Dawson faction. Someone on the team and/or coaching staff (perhaps more than one person) was the underlying cause of this diseased dynamic. But who was it?
Was Mark Stoops, as a first time head coach, so insecure that he created a rift between his own players and offensive coordinator? Was Shannon Dawson attempting to undermine the authority of his own coach by pitting Towles (and his faction) against other coaches/players? In an effort to keep his job, did Towles band together the upperclassmen? Or did Barker come after Towles, taking advantage of his recruiting ties with the younger players? Will we ever know?
The comments of Phillips and Towles in the aftermath of the season point strongly toward a case of narcissistic triangulation a passive-aggressive tactic where co-workers, teammates, or family members pit people against each other in a backhanded attempt at gaining power, prestige, or some other type of advantage over those around them. Narcissistic triangulation takes many forms, from the manipulative girlfriend that complains to others about you because she knows it will eventually get back to you, to the co-worker that undermines his boss by fomenting discontent among his co-workers. It is especially "effective" when used in competitive situations (FDR famously pitted his own aides against each other) and even more effective when used on young people, whose insecurities and fragile egos are vulnerable to the type of manipulative back-biting engendered by triangulation.
Somewhere along the 2015 season, the metal of UK football team was broken into shards that could not be reforged. We had the Towles vs. Barker faction, the pre-Stoops vs. post-Stoops faction, and the Stoops vs. Dawson faction. Someone on the team and/or coaching staff (perhaps more than one person) was the underlying cause of this diseased dynamic. But who was it?
Was Mark Stoops, as a first time head coach, so insecure that he created a rift between his own players and offensive coordinator? Was Shannon Dawson attempting to undermine the authority of his own coach by pitting Towles (and his faction) against other coaches/players? In an effort to keep his job, did Towles band together the upperclassmen? Or did Barker come after Towles, taking advantage of his recruiting ties with the younger players? Will we ever know?
