Ever get threatened by a coach?

[scribbler357]

I had to call a coach for a story from afar (they were eight hours out of town and on the bus ride back). Coach refused to answer his cell - four times - after the loss.
The GM was on the bus, though. And he answered his phone and said the coach "was too busy analyzing video-tape." I asked for five minutes with the coach and was told "no" several times.
The following sentence appeared in the story: "Coach So-and-so refused comment because he was too busy analyzing video-tape," according to GM blah-blah.

The first the thing the coach did at practice the next day is apologize for not taking my call.

Imagine if all your stories from here forth said "coach refused comment several times, despite being asked to comment."

The public will wonder what HIS problem is. Not yours.

Something similar happened to me during the hoops playoffs last season. The coach of the losing team refused comment after the game and then went into the stands to speak with the fans. Since I was on deadline, I had to go with, "coach what's-his-name refused comment after the loss."

Well, Coach what's-his-name called me the next day to say he didn't refuse comment and that he didn't like the angle I chose for the story (the losing team rarely does). He then tried to paint an uglier story when he called my ASE after he talked with me. My ASE didn't bite though...

I plan on pretty much ignoring Coach what's-his-name this season -- either that or maybe I'll take BigPern's Keyser Soze approach:

"BigPern's ruthlessness is legendary, having enemies and uncooperative coaches, players and SID's brutally murdered, along with everyone they held dear, for the slightest infractions."

 

[Tom Petty]

nice post tenacious.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I was delving into the local high school's deal with Nike and what the hoops coach got out of it. He got really pissed and threatened all kind of access limitations. I just told him fine, there were other schools in the area that would love to have me there, then I ran the story, and I didn't hear another word out of him.

 

[skippy05]

I had Mike Martz give me the staredown and provide some smart-assed comment to one of my questions once. 'Course, if you worked in STL for any length of time and Mike DIDN'T bust on you in front of everyone, you weren't doing your job. It was almost a badge of honor to have him give you The Glare. I was demoted from sports editor to staff writer at a newspaper once because the head coach of the local JuCo (it was a small town and this guy was treated like King Turd of shirt Mountain) called my publisher and my ME and told them that I said I wouldn't cover them if they were losing. In reality, what I told the stupid ass was that I wasn't the kind of reporter who went after the negative; if they were losing, I wouldn't dwell on it and we would move on. A couple years later, I find out that he was nailing a student (he was married), got fired, lost everything in the divorce, and got out of the coaching biz. Karma can be a bench...

 

[skippy05]

I was delving into the local high school's deal with Nike and what the hoops coach got out of it. He got really pissed and threatened all kind of access limitations. I just told him fine, there were other schools in the area that would love to have me there, then I ran the story, and I didn't hear another word out of him.

I love when HS coaches decide they won't talk. That's always fine with me. When the parents and boosters call wondering why their kids' sport isn't featured in the paper, I just innocently tell them I can't get the coach to talk to me. Usually, that ends the issue pretty quickly. A coach may be able to be a deck to the local press, but he usually can't act that way to the parents and the people giving money to the school where he's coaching.

 

[Omaha]

Scribbling,
I know exactly who you're talking about and it's the idiotic football staff at Texas A&M.

Those guys are more worried about what's going on in the stands and what's bein written in newspapers than they are producing a championship-caliber football team.

They are on their way out, so I say you tell them to shut the fork up and win some games.

 

[Longtime Reporter]

If the team's losing and you're writing about it, readers and advertisers will pick you every time.

 

[Point of Order]

Is Fran's bio complete yet? I'm waiting on my pre-order to arrive.

 

[Lester Bangs]

I have found that we often do not realize just how unpopular many, many of the higher profile coaches are within their own organizations. Big-name guys are usually viewed as over-indulged by the rest of the AD staffers and I know many, many places where staffers high-five when anybody calls out the Million Dollar Babies.

Wrote a nasty (yet undeniably accurate) rip piece on one coach and the AD who was enabling him about a decade ago and braced myself for the heat I was going to take. The AD ignored it -- he was a boob who knew I was right -- but the coach initiated SpittleFest 95 on my ass. Just went batshirt. It was actually kind of shocking how mad he was. A friend of his wife's even called and told me how much I had hurt their family even though it was all on-court content, but whatever.

The next home game I am sitting on press row and three of the school's non-rev coaches come up to me and discreetly say, "great column." Usually when these assclowns resort to the "you'll never work in this city again" it's the dying words of a paper tiger.

 

[Kaylee]

Sometimes, a coach's wrath is undeserved.

But I've been insituations when perhaps the writer overstepped some boundaries.

Bottom line: Good or bad, you get what's coming to you.

 

[Running Bear]

I've been threatened or argued with more than my share of coaches on all levels, but some of the best stuff happened when I was doing preps.

I had a baseball coach threaten to kick my ass for misquoting him in a story that got him in a lot of trouble. I played the tape for his AD, the league commissioner and even offered to play it for him -- you know, in case he forgot I was holding it under his chin at the time of the quote.

Another coach told me I ruined his life and his kids were asking me what I had against their school. I explained to the coach that I wasn't the one who shoved a player from another team ... during the playoffs ... in front of about 800 people.

Had an AD call and tell me they didn't like a column I wrote and that they didn't want me covering their school ever again. I called him back and told him no problem, but if any parents asked, I would tell them they weren't getting covered because well, that's what their AD wanted. Took him less than 30 seconds to say he was only kidding earlier.

But ... one of my all-time favorites. Podunk High beats No-Talent High 83-0. Podunk High coach keeps his starters in for most of the game and they even block a punt in the fourth quarter. I write a column ripping him and he calls me all ticked off, saying he's going to start getting his spell checker out and writing a letter to the editor every time he finds a mistake.

Me: "Thanks for the heads up, but I've gotta warn you I'm going to start using some really big words and you're going to be spending a lot of time with your spell checker. Tell you what, just to make it easy on you, I could always add an extra letter to word. How would you like an extra 'O' in your name, Bob?"

The guy never gave me any trouble after that.

Don't back down. Do your job. But make sure your paper has your back.