Coaches vs. student reporters

Nonsense, Coach K is a saint. That noted journalist, Dick Vitale, tells us so every week.

 

Were they student reporters?

 

Yes.

Coach K. Gives Stately Duke an Undignified Jolt - NYTimes.com

 

That's Auriemmaesque.

 

Thomas had written an article about how many players were leaving Stewart's program, voluntarily or involuntarily. Stewart did not like that, and he told Thomas that he knew some people in Detroit who could take care of his kid.

It was first reported in the Missourian by a graduate student reporter. But this reporter was a non-traditional student, having been a lawyer for years before deciding to get into journalism. She wasn't intimidated by Stewart one bit and pointedly asked Steward about it. That's how it became a big deal. I wish I could remember her name because we later had the same beat for a while.

Edit: To add, I don't think Stewart was serious about having Jim's kid hurt, but he was nasty enough to suggest he could have it done.

 

Is that Jim Thomas from the Post-Dispatch you're talking about? The guy who covers the Rams now? One of the nicest, most unassuming guys in the business?

 

One and the same. He had the Mizzou beat before Vahe, although they both tackled it at times back then. We're talking late 1980s.

 

Wow. I can't believe anyone could be that big a dick to that nice a guy.

 

You never dealt with Stewart. He is and he would.

 

My buddy was SE of the student paper and covered football and hockey and I covered some of the "non-revenue" sports, but I remember he was always a pain in the ass of the hockey coach and football coach and got into tons of "disagreements" during interviews. Most just were terse responses for a while or refusing to let us talk to a certain play for a few weeks, just to dick with us.
The football coach was gone soon after we graduated and the hockey coach left around the same time and ended up winning a national title a few years after leaving, but I have to give it to him, he thanked the local media for their efforts and pointed out my buddy by name for holding his feet to the fire at times.

 

Class act by the hockey coach.

 

I like how Duke officials went out of their way to talk about how dignified Coach K was after that incident. Duke sounds like it was run by a bunch of pricks.