Four weeks into the season, some high-priced college football coaches are already lashing out and taking a familiar path after disappointing performances by their teams.
They’re blaming the media.
Take Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, whose team was bullied 45-24 on its home field by Ohio State last week. The Buckeyes were extra motivated after Oklahoma backup quarterback Austin Kendall said prior to the game the Ohio State defense was basic and that Sooners starting quarterback Baker Mayfield would light them up.
Mayfield instead was left battered by an Ohio State defense that intercepted two passes and scored a defensive touchdown.
“I don’t know what he could have been watching,” Stoops said of Kendall. “There’s no place for (his comments) and sadly, for you guys, there will be a bunch of guys not available anymore.”
The directive includes tradition media members, who had nothing to do with Kendall’s ill-advised comments. His tough talk appeared on Sooner TV in a rah-rah session produced and edited by the school’s media outlet.
Ironic, isn’t it, OU got burned by an in-house organization that attempts to control the message and restrict negativity?
At Tennessee, Vols coach Butch Jones is compiling a list after his team escaped Appalachian State in overtime and held on against Ohio University.
“I’m charting each week what the media blows up,” said Jones, whose team started the season ranked No. 9 in the country. “Each week, there’s something that is a major issue. It’s a catastrophe, it’s blown out of proportion. We spend so much time creating things that really aren’t there. At the end of the year, I’m going to go back and relive those.”
Never mind that coaches often fuel expectations with glowing reports of players to media members who are deprived of seeing practices for themselves. Les Miles insisted for example that quarterback Brandon Harris had improved greatly from last season. Over 30,000 LSU fans traveled to Wisconsin for the season-opener and saw another poor performance by Harris, who threw a late interception that sealed the Wisconsin win.
First-year Georgia coach Kirby Smart released his inner Nick Saban during a press conference before Saturday’s game with Ole Miss. He was combative when asked even the basic questions coaches get from the media on a weekly basis. Smart obviously prefers the format on his weekly radio show, when questions are submitted via social media and selected by the host. Oh, and no phone calls please.
I get it that the average fan doesn’t give a rip about access with the teams we cover. You’re probably saying, ‘hey, I’ve got my own problems. I don’t care about yours’ and you’d be absolutely correct. But when a college coach restricts the media, he’s shutting out the fans who support a large athletic department and help pay his enormous salary.
A week leading up to a big game like Arkansas vs. Texas A&M would be pretty dull without the feature stories and analysis that trained journalists provide. Butch Jones, for sure, should be flattered there is so much interest in his program, especially when it appears undeserved. Tennessee has done nothing in recent years, yet the Vols were a popular preseason pick to win the SEC East.
The volleyball and soccer coaches at most universities would love the media attention college football coaches receive each year. So, quit whining, Butch.
Coaching college football at a Power 5 school is a high-risk, high-reward business, where a guy like Gus Malzahn could be fired three years after his Auburn team played for the national championship. But that’s the trade-off for coaches who make millions of dollars.
“I don’t feel sorry for any of them,” my friend, Rickey Wood, has said on more than one occasion. “If they don’t like it, if they can’t stand the pressure, they can join me here in the factory. We’ll even turn on the air conditioner for them.”