Mike Gundy threatens local media

If you expose the farce by simply reporting that someone is trying to manipulate your coverage over asking a question, they usually back down after it makes them look like petulant idiots.

Remember when Florida International tried to play hardball with the Miami Herald? That turned out well. Different circumstance, but still a case of a school restricting access because it didn't like a reporter or their line of questioning.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadsp...l-miami-herald-beat-writer-for-1628859468/amp

 

In this age of social media, if there's a ban, why not just go around the SID and the coach and contact the players directly? DM them through Facebook and Twitter.

If the coach and SID complain, just tell them that if they're not going to provide access directly, you'll go around them.

 

This is related to absolutely nothing, but that combination of words is delightfully aesthletically pleasing. The F's and J's just roll off the tongue and click together. It's like poetry.

 

We used to do this in college. An SID would try to restrict our access because we were an independent student publication that didn't need to have our coverage approved by the school. So, when they denied us certain interviews, we found a way around it and they never revoked our credentials as a result (despite being pissed about it).

 

I can see this taking everyone by surprise and not knowing how they should deal with it in the moment, and not wanting to screw it up for everyone else.

I'm very interested to see if there are any questions about it after several days to think about how to handle it.

 

Guerin Emig: Mike Gundy threatens media and makes a bad situation worse

Stuck in the middle: How OSU's handling of McCleskey's transfer started an avoidable media storm

 

I'll take this in a different direction: Maybe this did happen, but it hasn't been made evident in the coverage I've seen, so I'll throw it out there: I'm surprised one of those writers didn't politely tell the SID "Hey, I appreciate your role in this, but we're going straight to Gundy." I've been in a couple of those eons ago, and that's what you try to do.

Because of part of the deal is if you defy Gundy's order, you tacitly know you're screwing the SID, too, making his life hell. So you just circumvent him - do it up front - and work it out with Gundy.

And I'm guessing something there could have been worked out. Maybe a couple captains offer their unscripted-but-measured thoughts and you move on. Maybe nothing would have changed.

Again, maybe this happened.

These deals are always tricky, because, when it's a large group of reporters, you know, some will do anything the coach wants because they don't want to lose their precious recruiting scoops. Some don't think the kid leaving is a big deal. Perhaps one or two think it's too big of a deal and treat every dust-up like a First Amendment fight. And then you have the students, not sure what to do, so their professor pops off about it.

 

Just seems like such a strange and petty thing to go wacky over. A dissident player quits. Big deal. Makes me think there's a backstory that's really embarrassing.

 

Yeah, it involves an epic rant about being a man and 40 years old, and a stupid, ugly mullet...

Oh, you mean an embarrassing backstory about the player who left. Nevermind. Carry on.

 

I don’t think so. But maybe. My sense is it’s just a coach who doesn’t want his team - after just getting its ass kicker - fixating on a guy who quit because he wasn’t getting the ball enough.

 

I appreciated this side of it, not only does he say ask and you’re done, but he also says if you report the edict, there will be consequences.

This is a man, who is well over 40, who probably tells all sorts of folks to take responsibility for his actions 20 times a day. You wanna try that bullshit, at least own it.

 

If less than an hour of talkingn to shlubby looking folks gets them fixated, the coach isn’t doing his damn job.