Baribeau shares ‘Changing the Narrative’ message with Vols
By Grant Ramey | 24/7 SPORTS
Each night as fall camp continues, Jeremy Pruitt brings in a speaker to stand in front of his Tennessee football team and share an important message.
On Monday night that speaker was Rachel Baribeau, a host on Sirius XM’s ESPNU radio channel. She wasn’t there to talk sports radio.
Baribeau, 38, once a victim of domestic violence, has traveled from campus to campus the last two years talking to athletes about finding their purpose, treating women with respect, being a good teammate and a good person.
“That’s important to us,” Pruitt said Thursday afternoon. “It’s important to our society.”
It’s important to Baribeau to change the narrative. “Changing the narrative,” as she describes it, is a movement sweeping the country, with 31 teams so far serving as her audience.
“We talk to these young men about purpose, passion, platform,” Baribeau said. “How do we view women? How do we treat women? How to be a king every day of your life. If you do that, you’re going to get a queen.
“How to live an extraordinary life, breath rarified air.”
The message to the Vols on Tuesday also touched on selflessness. Losing the focus on yourself to gain focus on everyone else, on your team.
“She said it’s not about you,” Tennessee long snapper Riley Lovingood said. “She’s right. It’s not about me, not about any individual person. It’s about the team.”
During her speech, Baribeau shares the details of when she became a victim of domestic violence, including some of the graphic details, like being drug down a hallway by her hair.
“She made a huge impact on our team and each player,” Lovingood said. “Because the time we get to knowing it’s not about each individual person but about each other, and accountability, that’s when our team will really strive.”
Pruitt, on the job at Tennessee since December, has already had to deal with once incident involving domestic violence.
Ryan Thaxton, a freshman defensive lineman from Alexandria, Va., was arrested on July 15 and charged with domestic assault and false imprisonment. He was suspended on July 16 and dismissed from the team a week later.
“We’re not going to condone it,” Pruitt said last month. We’re not going to tolerate it.”
By spreading her message, Baribeau is trying to eliminate those kind of incidents among college athletes.
“Man, I’m just blown away by these football players today,” Baribeau said, “and feel so blessed and honored to share with them and pour into them.
“And hopefully help them find what sets their soul on fire, to find their own ‘Changing the Narrative.’ I want them to be kings in everyday of their life.”
But Baribeau said it’s more than that.
“It’s the way we look at women,” she said, “deep down how we feel about women, because eventually that is going to come out.
“I encourage them to be kings; to respect, protect and treasure women. It’s really how we talk about them, how we view them, especially when they’re not around.
“We want to encourage men, and inspire men. That’s what happened (Monday). To go out and treat women with the utmost respect.”
