Texas football coach Tom Herman discussed fans' "double standard" toward black student-athletes in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing.

In an interview with the Austin American-Statesman's Brian Davis, Herman said fans might cheer on black players on game days and then treat them differently away from the field:

"Can the average fan relate? No, they can't. There's a double standard maybe a little bit. We're going to pack 100,000 people into DKR and millions watch on TV that are predominantly white — not all of them certainly, but most of 'em white. We're gonna cheer when they score touchdowns, and we're gonna hug our buddy when they get sacks or an interception.

"But we gonna let them date our daughter? Are we going to hire them in a position of power in our company? That's the question I have for America. You can't have it both ways.

"And if you're going to cheer them and love them for three-and-a-half hours a Saturday in the fall, you better have the same feelings for them off the field, because they're human beings. They deserve the same amount of respect and human rights that all of us do in this country when we agreed on the social contract to be a member of the United States."

To some extent, Herman's comments echo those of North Carolina Central men's basketball coach LeVelle Moton, who was instead referring to his coaching colleagues.

Moton said on ESPN Radio's Sunday Morning that coaches will recruit black athletes to their teams, and those players help the coach potentially earn millions of dollars. He went on to say too often the coaches then remain silent in the face of larger societal issues their players face:

In major cities in the United States and across the world, demonstrators have protested to end police brutality and systemic racism.

On May 25, four officers from the Minneapolis Police Department approached Floyd at his vehicle while responding to a report of an alleged forgery in progress. After they removed him from the vehicle, one officer, Derek Chauvin, was seen in a video kneeling on Floyd's neck.

Despite Floyd telling the officers he was struggling to breathe, Chauvin kept his knee there for almost nine minutes. Floyd died later at a local hospital. Prosecutors charged Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.