Jerk coach or me making a big deal?

We once had a coach get mad at us for some unknown reason and start refusing interviews. So we quit covering his team. They weren't that important to us to begin with.

When parents began calling, wondering why there was no coverage of the team, we directed questions to the coach. "Your coach doesn't want us to. Ask him." It didn't take long before the coach and AD requested a meeting with us, wanting to know what they could do to get back in the newspaper.

My advice: There are hundreds of seniors at hundreds of schools. If you have to do a feature, pick another one. And don't think twice about it. More than likely, you'll be at your job longer than that coach will be at his.

 

This is what I have decided, actually. Every last one of his seniors this season plays (and are good at) baseball or track, and all his seniors next season play in the fall and/or spring. After that, if he still is like this, he's just hurting the kids. He's not hurting me any.

 

It ABSOLUTELY is asking for permission. Some mentioned this isn't Nick Saban. That's right, and that's exactly WHY permission needs to be asked. I'm not saying it's right; I'm saying it's a flat out fact that high school coaches can tell reporters to take a hike whenever they want and NOBODY DOES ANYTHING. If it's Nick Saban, national media, Romenesko, Poynter, this site, all go crazy and usually someone relents. That's not going to happen at the high school level.

Illino is in a lose-lose situation. "FIGHT" this, and he's going to be ostracized from covering that school (the coach is the AD too, i believe he said) at all.

Anyone who thinks you can "go around" the coach is far removed from having to cover high schools on a regular basis. Coaches have the say, and it sucks, but it's the way it is. It's same thing as at the college level. How many of you go around the SIDs to talk to kids? Tell me how that worked out for you...

I've covered a high school team here where the coach has not allowed a player to talk to the media for SEVEN YEARS. Nobody did anything to cause this (he admits that), it's just his way of keeping it about "team". It's worked, in his eyes -- three state titles, two championship game appearances. He allows you to cover the "team," but will never mention a player by name when he's talking to you himself.

We finally gave up and said we'll leave them alone. We cover them in the state tournament, but before that (because we do mostly features and fewer games) we gave up. Parents constantly complained, and we told them the deal. They say they'll go talk to the coach, and we assume they did and the coach tells them his opinion and that's that.

I remember specifically the first state championship game we covered of his team; they win, and I go up to a player after -- a senior, last game played, the state player of the year -- and he says he can't talk to me because coach won't let him. I have to BEG the coach to let his seniors who won't be coming back talk to me now that the season's over. He relents and lets one of them talk to me (the POY). That's it.

In later years, he was more open -- after championship games -- but still NEVER during the season.

Does it sound like I'm being pushed around? yeah, of course it does. But tell me a better way to go about it?

Illlino - you're right on the money --- find the kids in other sports. It's not worth your time to play journalistic freedom fighter because this one coach is a dip. If you go to leave the area and won't be coming back someday, kick and scream then. But you have to worry about the rest of your access being cut off if you try to fight this. I know that's a tough pill for some to swallow, but it's the utilitarian approach to this issue... best good for the most people...

 

Zona hits on an annoying trend -- many coaches are instructing parents and kids ahead of time that they control media access and they decide who or if their kid talks to the media or not with reprisals if they violate that policy. Colleges, of course, have been doing this for years.

If it's a choice between their kid getting a feature done on them or the (likely idle) threat of their kid losing team privileges or even playing time, parents will buckle under 90 percent of the time. Add in the parents' natural predilection towards being "part of the team" and an aversion to the media in general and it makes the "go around" proposed by many here not as easy as it sounds.

 

I had a coach like that and calmly, repeatedly made the point that high school sports actually are NOT about the team and winning. High school sports are supposed to be about educating kids -- you want these kids to become leaders of the future, you can't teach them that the media is a mysterious big, bad, monolithic force that can't be trusted and must be avoided. Otherwise you're doing them a major disservice that will harm them long after that team's season record is forgotten.

It took a couple years and a little testing of the water, but he came around. All he asked was that you told him who you wanted (basketball) and he would send the kid out or over. I never heard of him blocking our path after that. To hold up our end, we talked to several kids over the course of the season -- not just the same one every single game -- to give many kids the experience of seeing their words and thoughts in print.

It would be nice to be able to say that a track record of extremely fair, interesting, insightful coverage would pave an easier path for you, but the truth is the coaches who would notice that usually are the ones who are already cooperative.

The thing that REALLY burns me up is when a coach like that builds a wall around access to his kids all year long, but then the state tournament rolls around and he's willing to line up three kids for some TV dolt to ask, live, "You just lost the big game. How do you feel?" And they stammer and cry because they have no idea how to do this interview thing.

 

I just do not understand the idea of depriving your readers of something they want to read, just because a coach is being difficult.

It's our job to report the news.

If I were Illino, I would still go back to the coach to ask why.

If I had a coach who would not let his kids talk, I would go to the AD and principal and wee what happened from there.

(I understand that in the case of an outlying school that is just might not matter because of the number of readers.)

 

Back to the issue of "permission," SF_Express raises an excellent point about courtesy. The issue of "permission" is not about suspending the rules of professional or personal engagement. We should all strive to be polite and professional and nice and friendly and courteous whenever possible. We're all people. Just because you're a reporter doesn't mean you should be a big shot and demand action, chop-chop.

But, that said, if you allow someone else to be in the position of deciding whether you can do your job, there's a chance they're going to say no. So why put yourself in that position?

Instead, much like the first rule of doing interviews, avoid "yes" or "no" questions as often as you can. Chances are better that the original poster would have been able to proceed as planned if he/she had simply said, "Coach, we're going to do a story about Johnny Smith. Would it be better to grab him before practice or after practice today?"

If the coach had a reason for not wanting the interview to happen, that's when he would have had to explain why. At least, the original poster then would have either (A) additional background information about Johnny Smith and/or (B) an answer to the question about whether the coach is simply being a jerk, as the subject line asks.

Because of the way the request was phrased, the coach had an opportunity to declare "no," cut off all further discussion and walk away. End of discussion.

Reporters are taught not to take "no" for an answer ... at least not without a good explanation. But the original poster set himself/herself up to be told "no" without an explanation, and it simply didn't have to happen. In an industry where reporters already are being asked to do too much and don't have time for speed bumps, it doesn't make sense to create your own potential obstacles.

 

Longtime reader of the SJ board, first time poster.

If I were to do anything in this situation, I would talk with the coach. I don't know if you are overly familiar with this coach but he may just not know you and therefore not trust some random stranger with a press pass. He may be a jerk. He may just be overly protective of his players and program.

Two of the programs that I cover (and I have a decent relationship with both coaches) don't allow postgame/practice interviews unless a coach is either present or knows that you are interviewing that kid. I believe that one of these programs does it because with all of these internet/recruiting websites sprouting up, you just never know who is talking to these kids and where these quotes are going to end up. One of these programs just doesn't receive a lot of media attention so their kids have never really been taught how to speak with the press.

School also can just be overprotective. I also cover a school that rarely allows individual interviews unless you are doing a "team" story (rare exceptions: Player of the Year articles) and I've seen this school's administration kick a TV crew off campus for not calling before they showed up to interview a few kids. I also have a school in my coverage area that used to only allow its head football coach to speak without permission from the school (so no cold calls to the basketball, baseball, etc coaches) though they have relaxed that policy recently.

So I would just talk to the coach. He may not know you and your publication. He may be overprotective of his program. He may know that the kid you want to interview is a kid who shouldn't talk to the media because there are some kids who just aren't that smart. The coach may just be a jerk. But a phone call/e-mail probably wouldn't hurt.

I'd also be a bit weary of the "go around the coach" advice. If you are writing a profile on a mysterious recuit who showed up on campus, this advice is golden. If you are writing a routine senior story, I'd just pick another subject because bridges probably aren't worth burning over a story like that.

Just my two cents.

 

FWIW to those following along, the coach said he wants to "keep the focus on the team," and when pressed for more, he continued to give variations of the "I want to keep the focus on the team." I also talked with someone close to the player I had requested, and there is nothing off-court happening there that he knew of.

Like I said, the coach isn't hurting my feelings any, just taking away positive pub from his players.

Thanks to all who responded with suggestions.

 

It might not sound like it won't hurt the coach to know that, but the coach is a jerk here. Plain and simple. Johnny's advice is perfect. I might add talking to his Jr. High coach if the kid played the same sport there. That coach can tell you, maybe, about the qualities the kid had before he entered HS, which have shown themselves, now that he is in HS. You would at least get some sort of coach's perspective on the kid, too.

But, I repeat, yes -- the coach is a jerk.

 

Then do a feature that talks about all the seniors on his roster. You just would talk less about each kid since the space is divided. Would he have a problem with that?

 

No, you don't cave in to meeting the coaches "needs" on something like this. I go the other way. If you don't grant access to talking to the kids about their season, we have other schools in town that we can cover. Of course, that only works if your coverage area allows that, but most do.

Start covering Eastside High and don't show up at this coaches games for a couple weeks. When complaints roll in, explain that the coach has limited access to his team so we are relying on call-in reports for his squad this season.