Worthy and Unworthy Coaching Outbursts

“I’m a man…I’m 40!”

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve heard that one over and over. You probably have heard it even if you’re just a casual observer.

It’s Mike Gundy’s famous 2007 diatribe at Daily Oklahoman writer Jenni Carlson, after her article about Oklahoma State’s quarterback switch from Bobby Reid to Zac Robinson.

As a reporter, the thought of being verbally attacked by a coach is admittedly a scary one. The reporter’s job is to dig deep and pull out quotes that are not of the flowery, press release variety. But this too may be stuff the coach does not want dug up and printed in the newspaper.

It is not the reporter’s job to appease the coaching staff. But it is also not the reporter’s job to demean an amateur athlete. In the case of Jenni Carlson, Gundy had all the right to stand up and defend his player.



In her article, Carlson crosses the fine line between commenting on the athlete’s on the field play and off the field demeanor. The crux of Carlson’s piece focuses on Reid’s mother feeding him chicken. She tries to explain her argument of the connection between Reid being fed by his mother and the quarterback switch at Oklahoma State. Seems problematic, right?

She uses one quote about Reid’s pre-game nerves to justify her statement that Reid has the talent but not the toughness. Boundless accusations are made about Reid based on body language and unnamed “insiders.” Carlson comes off more like a psychoanalyst than a reporter.

And she goes way over the line in doing so. I do not have a problem with reporters judging college athletes for their play. They have put themselves into the limelight and although they are young, have become public figures. The problem I have with Carlson’s piece is that she criticizes Reid as a person. Carlson writes, “The scene in the parking lot last week had no bearing on the Cowboys changing quarterbacks, and yet, it said so much about Reid. A 21-yeard old letting his mother feed him in public? Most college kids, much less college football player, would just as soon be seen running naked across campus.”

This paragraph is unbelievable to me in two facets. One: When taking a statistics class, one of the first things you learn is that correlation does not equal causation. To even make a correlation between Reid’s being fed by his mother and play on the field is a reach. To imply that there is causation is borderline ridiculous.

Two: this is wholly personal and to me inappropriate. Why is it Carlson’s place to not only judge but put down Reid based on a family relationship and then say that he is not “tough” because of it?

Gundy’s outburst: over-the-top but still worthy.

A more recent coaching outburst (with less vitriol) comes from uber-successful Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer. In Jeremy Fowler’s notebook piece on Deonte Thompson, he says Thompson has not lived up to potential but is looking to do so in his third year. The source of controversy here is Thompson’s quote about playing with John Brantley rather than Tim Tebow.



In this case, I believe the outburst has more to do with Meyer’s feelings toward Tebow than Fowler’s article. Fowler simply quotes Thompson as saying Brantley is a real quarterback and explaining the differences between him and Tebow. Unlike the Carlson incident, Fowler is not personally attacking Tebow. He is simply quoting Thompson.

From all we know, Tebow and Meyer had a very close relationship at UF. It seems as if Meyer is still going to bat for his player but is doing so unnecessarily. Tebow is not even with the Gators anymore and Fowler does nothing to put down Tebow. He uses statistics to explain how Tebow did not spread the ball around, as a lead-in to Thompson’s and WRs coach Zach Azzanni’s quotes.

Meyer’s outburst: unworthy.

But a bigger question with these outbursts is...how do you handle them if you are the reporter at the center? In some cases (Carlson’s) it is a matter of accountability; in others (Fowler’s) it’s that of oversensitivity. Though I have not had to deal with this, I think it is important for reporters to not fall prey to the fear factor of a coach. It seems that a lot of college coaches want to control every aspect of their program and would like reporters to act as a mouthpiece for their regime.

But the reporter covering a team is there to find interesting angles. I think the best way to handle these situations is to keep yourself out of them and be careful what you write. The outbursts for good TV but to be the reporter in the middle of the controversy could be nightmarish.