Lane Kiffin Pre-Press Conference Drama

No not over a coach that's left, but if an SID tells you something/anything then you "ignore" him and do whatever you please, that turns the deal away from Kiffin to pissing down the SID's back.

It doesn't even have to be this particular instance. If you tell someone you're going to do one thing then turn around and do the exact opposite you've pretty much screwed yourself for a very long time.

 

In this case I would not say I agree to the rules. I would say I understand the rules.

Hell, SID departments get mad and threaten stuff all the time.

Bottm line. SIDs don't get my cooperation on stuff like this because of what they might do in the future. They get my cooperation on crap like this because they have been good to me in the past.

 

Most TV people I run into keep a piece of black tape over their "ON" light for purposes such as these.

I wouldn't fault a TV guy for doing what Ace says. When they ask if everyone agrees you look busy and don't make eye contact. Film it, tell your news editor and let them make the decision. It's a stupid rule, Lane knows it and tomorrow he's gone.

I don't know why the AD would give a fuck. What the hell does he care about Lane?

I don't think it's necessarily unethical as long as you don't outright lie. I put it up there with me giving a tape recorder to an invitee to a closed door session and then using the recordings to write a story.

 

Except there were some things that happened before during and after that video that you didn't/couldn't see. You're only getting one view. A fair story would have been better at putting it into context - and you wouldn't have come on her with all your assumptions, many of which in your first post have been proven incorrect.

You probably believe everything you see on reality TV.

 

I might also liken it to certain functions where students or stakeholders were welcome but reporters were not "allowed". I've been told to go anyway, just don't identify yourself as a reporter unless you're asked.

Their rules are not always our rules. Just don't break an agreement or else you're lying.

 

By the way, check the comments under the video at YouTube. News reporters are equated to pedophiles. Good times.

 

I didn't bother reading everything posted up to here, and maybe this angle has been covered, but doesn't it bother anyone at all that someone was (secretly, I presume) filming Bud Ford through all that and then posting it on Youtube? That really sucks, and is evidence in itself that the TV guy playing hardball upfront is just part of a scumball brigade of TV "journalists".

 

I think the most lucid point here is that these weren't Bud Ford's rules. They were Lane Kiffin's rules. Bud was the messenger. And considering Kiffin didn't have to give them anything, the media was not in a particularly good spot in terms of leverage. You gotta pick your spots and the TV guy didn't pick his spot very well here. That said, Bud's "You're in our building" comment is incredibly douche-tastic.

 

It should be noted, too, that Bud Ford/Tennessee *has* pulled credentials in the recent past. IIRC, it was over reporters calling an athlete on his cell/dorm phone without going through the SID.

rb

 

Well, this is the nut graf, to me. If it were me, I wouldn't think that this particular issue -- the gap between on camera and on the record -- was enough of a reward to take the risk of getting nothing.

I still believe that Kiffin was within his rights to talk in whatever forum he chose. (Yes, he's manipulating the situation to make himself look better. Why shouldn't he?) Which is why I just didn't think the media had enough leverage to pick this fight.

That's just me. I guess I respect that he was standing up for what he believed.

By the way, no surprise that Poynter supported him. They are the very definition of Ivory Tower, Theoretical Journalism.

 

Hey, Shory was honest here:

Bill Shory: There was certainly a competitive issue. We wanted to make sure the playing field was level for television.

The Poynter guy lost all credibility when he wrote these grafs, because it shows that he's out of touch with reality on the ground:

I say bravo to Bill Shory. Bravo to any journalist willing to stand up to one of the biggest employers in his town, willing to risk reprisals, willing to take the scorn of competitors. Kiffin should have answered questions. Anybody who wanted to should have been allowed to air it live. It is a public school and it is the public's business.

By the way, if you've never read a coach's contract, take a look at Kiffin's [PDF]. In addition to the salary, there is a shoe endorsement deal, TV contract and more.

...

In any event, on camera or off, it's not like Kiffin would've come clean and given these reporters what they wanted, which was either a confession that he's a lying jerk, or that he never gave a crap about Tennessee and was only using it until the USC job opened.