ESPNU radio host Rachel Baribeau travels to various college campuses to give motivational speeches to football teams. She shares her personal story of being a victim of domestic violence in order to connect with players and encourage them to treat women with respect. Baribeau challenges the players to find their purpose beyond football and to use their platform to create positive change. Many players find her story authentic and are inspired to improve their behavior and serve their communities. Baribeau hopes to help change negative narratives surrounding college athletics programs.

1. 3/30/2018 ESPNU's Rachel Baribeau is battling bad behavior in college sports, one school at a time
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/2018/03/23/espnu-rachel-baribeau-battling-bad-behavior-college-sports-one-school-time/386923002/
ESPNU radio host wants to wipe out bad behavior in
college sports — one school at a time
Brad Schmitt, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee Published 8:00 a.m. CT March 23, 2018 | Updated 11:56 a.m. CT March 23, 2018
ESPNU's Rachel Baribeau travels the country to speak to football teams — and makes her biggest impact by
revealing she's a domestic violence victim
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Sports radio personality Rachel Baribeau — feet constantly moving — jokes, cajoles,
cries, laughs and rants in front of 100 football players at least twice her size.
Find your purpose! Fulfill it. Be the good guys you were made to be! Treat all women with respect and be the
kings your queens need you to be.
Baribeau suddenly stops, pauses and locks eyes with some of the men who are riveted by the powerhouse in
front of them.
“On a night, many moons ago,” she said, voice softening, “I needed a king.”
Baribeau tells the players she was in a house with six couples; things got ugly.
“I was dating somebody,” Baribeau said, and he got angry.
“He dragged me from one end of the house to the other by my hair. I screamed bloody murder and no one came to help. Three men, and none of them
were kings.”
She pauses.
“If you were in the house that night, would you have helped me?”
Baribeau lets that sink in. After a few seconds, two guys in the front rows answer quietly: “I would’ve helped you.”
“Thank you,” she says, tears in her eyes.
'She wasn't shy at all'
Sports radio host tries to wipe out
bad behavior in college sports
Fullscreen
(Photo: Morgan Timms / The
Jackson Sun)

2. 3/30/2018 ESPNU's Rachel Baribeau is battling bad behavior in college sports, one school at a time
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/2018/03/23/espnu-rachel-baribeau-battling-bad-behavior-college-sports-one-school-time/386923002/
SIUC senior wide receiver Darrell James, of Fort Worth, Texas, and senior quarterback Sam Straub, of Ames, Iowa, listen intently as sports radio personality Rachel
Baribeau, of Nashville, gives a presentation to the SIUC football team Monday, March 19, 2018, at the SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill. "[Baribeau's] talk was different than any
talk I've been a part of in the four years I've been [at SIUC]," Straub said. "A lot of people will come in and talk about things that maybe they haven't been through and it
doesn't sound as authentic. ... [Baribeau] has those personal experiences." (Photo: Morgan Timms / The Jackson Sun)
Two years ago — sickened by story after story about college athletes and rape, cheating and doping — Baribeau came up with an audacious plan:
She would change the narrative about college sports.
A narrative that includes a 2016 lawsuit charging a UT basketball player and four UT football players with rape; a narrative that includes three former
Vanderbilt football players being convicted in a 2013 gang rape of an unconscious female student on campus. (A fourth player is awaiting trial.)
Sports radio host Rachel Baribeau, of Nashville, addresses the Southern Illinois University football team on Monday, March 19, 2018, at the SIU Arena at the SIU Arena in
Carbondale, Ill. During her speech, Baribeau encouraged the young men to use football as their platform, not their purpose, and to treat all people with respect, courtesy,
service and kindness. (Photo: Morgan Timms / The Jackson Sun)
Baribeau, 38, a Nashvillian for three years, wanted to take back the headlines and change America’s perception of college football players. And she
would do it by challenging those players, one campus at a time.
A host on Sirius XM’s ESPNU radio channel, Baribeau has spoken to 23 college football teams. She has stayed in touch with hundreds of athletes and
handed out thousands of “Change the Narrative” rubber wristbands.
In many cases, it’s her story of being a victim (she calls herself a “victor”) of domestic violence that really connects with players.
“She wasn’t shy at all about revealing pieces of herself. That started to get through,” said Craig Kanyangarara, 25, a linebacker at University of Alabama-
Birmingham.
“She was authentic.”
Frank talk
Darrell James, a senior wide receiver at Southern Illinois University, agreed.
“When she mentioned her life and domestic violence, I didn’t expect it,” James said. “For someone who’s been through that in her life, she’s strong.”
Baribeau uses frank language to confront players and challenge them to be better men. No more “hit it and quit it,” she tells the guys.
But treatment of women is just a part of her speech.

3. 3/30/2018 ESPNU's Rachel Baribeau is battling bad behavior in college sports, one school at a time
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/2018/03/23/espnu-rachel-baribeau-battling-bad-behavior-college-sports-one-school-time/386923002/
Rachel Baribeau Plays Football
She starts out making fun of herself by showing a video of her working out with an arena football team. Turns out Baribeau isn't a very good wide
receiver; she drops or misses about a dozen passes.
Turning serious, Baribeau also speaks of:
► Finding true passion and purpose because football is only a platform;
► Serving others, at any cost (Baribeau once climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa to help raise money for ALS research);
► Confronting others, in appropriate ways, when bad behavior, degradation or bullying is happening;
► Forgiving those — deadbeat dads, abusers and others — who have wronged them.
Dubious at first, most players respond enthusiastically to her message.
More than half of them stick around afterward for quick hellos or pictures or hugs.
Rewarding — and draining
Sports radio personality Rachel Baribeau, of Nashville, talks with SIUC freshman defensive back Charles Benton, of Atlanta, on Monday, March 19, 2018, after her
presentation to the SIUC football team at the SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill. (Photo: Morgan Timms / The Jackson Sun)
And at least a dozen or two spend several minutes each with Baribeau sharing stories of growing up with neglect, poverty or abuse.
Her presentation often turns into a three-hour visit, which Baribeau finds exhilarating – and emotionally draining. She often finds herself taking in their
pain, unable to shake it for days.
“I sometimes sit in my rental car after with my head against the steering wheel,” she said.

4. 3/30/2018 ESPNU's Rachel Baribeau is battling bad behavior in college sports, one school at a time
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/2018/03/23/espnu-rachel-baribeau-battling-bad-behavior-college-sports-one-school-time/386923002/
Baribeau charges a few thousand bucks for each presentation, in part to cover costs and in part to build a pot of money – with the NCAA's blessing – to
help athletes start their own foundations.
Such is the case with Bradley Bozeman, 23, who just finished his college career as a center at Alabama.
Bozeman said he always wanted to do some motivational speaking. And he got inspired and focused after hearing Baribeau’s talk.
“She helped open that up for me,” he said. “She helped me start an anti-bullying campaign. It was really cool to me.”
Baribeau said she loves when athletes share with her, months after meeting her, that they have changed their behavior. She is even happier when
players like Bozeman want to pay it forward.
“I’m constantly amazed that God lets me do this work, that I got chosen to have this platform,” she said. “It’s life changing.”
"How are you going to be a king?" Rachel Baribeau asked SIUC freshman offensive lineman Calvin Francis Jr. on Monday, March 19, 2018, after her presentation to the
football team at the SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill. "I want you to be a king in every facet of your life," Baribeau said in her speech. "With your word, with your effort, with
your time. Not just in how we treat women, but how we're talking about them when they're not around." (Photo: Morgan Timms / The Jackson Sun)
Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-613-4815 or on Twitter @bradschmitt (https://twitter.com/bradschmitt).