Coaches who won't let players speak to the media

Kid once hit a half-court shot at the final buzzer to win the state championship against a local team. Douche bag coach wouldn't let the kid talk in the interview room afterwards. So everyone just waited outside the arena for the kid and talked to him then.

 

On the other hand, I had a high school football coach who took a sabbatical to Australia for a year. Next year he was back, he told me he got the paper mailed to him in Australia and, no offense, the stories were always the same and pretty boring. Team wins, coach says this, key plays, coach says this.
He INSISTED that we talk to the players after the games. In my cocky phase, I said that I can't build a story around quotes like "It's cool." He promised me it wouldn't be like that and he would suggest who I should interview. He was right.

 

Dealt with a football coach who wouldn't allow his kids to talk. This was at a school which that year, had a lineman who later went on to West Virginia and then had a long NFL career, including a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots. Not too long after that kid graduated, the program went 7-23 in the next three years and the coach was gone -- but not before he barred any access because we dared to pick his team to lose.

 

Chapel Hill has a similar policy, which made it difficult for Harrison Barnes to say anything when he was named an AP preseason All-American before he had played a game in a baby blue uniform.

Worked in an area that was polarized on letting players talk to the media. Knew one SE, not mine, who basically his writers to talk to players. Also knew coaches who got highly upset at any player who spoke on record to the media, and those whose policy varied depending on how their team did the night of a game.

 

Iowa football has the same rule.

As others have said, you never ask for a coach's permission. And if the kids tell you they can't out of fear of reprimand, there's not much more you can do. Write "Coach X does not allow his players to speak to the media" and move on. It's no sweat off your back.
Hell, a lot of the time you can get just as good if not better stuff from the opponent anyway. Instead of a coach being cautious to not give his kid too big a head (eyes rolling) or a player being humble, you often get a more honest viewpoint from the other bench.

 

I get the opposite. There's a couple of coaches who'll say "HanSen, I don't know what to say, why don't you talk to Little Jimmy, who got the game-winning goal" and he'll pick him out of the post-game mob.

 

Yeah, that guy...well, that family, was a real piece of work. Was the head boys basketball coach for like 40-some years. Only let his players speak to the media during the postseason. Never during the regular season. When his dipshit son took over for him, same deal.

I used to talk to parents and other assorted random fans all the time, and while some agreed with the coach's decision, most thought it was retarded. I'd talk to the players (off the record or during other seasons) and they thought it was dumb, too. Most of those kids were decent quotes during other sports seasons.

No way you can pull the "Well fuck them! We just won't cover them!" line. Sounds fun, but it's very, very dumb. At least in my case it would have been. I'm guessing in most cases.

 

You don't ignore them until it comes to having to make a 50/50 call. Then, oh, look at what just became 51/49.

 

Had a prep football coach once, who has now mellowed, decide one year not to let his kids speak to us. Team went 10-0 or 9-1, then was upset in the first round of the playoffs. So the next day, one of our prep writers started calling seniors who had played their last game for reaction. Two or three talked, then the fourth wouldn't and called the coach. Coach called me having an absolute fit. "You cannot talk to my players," he screamed. From me: "Uh, coach, you lost last night. They're your former players." For whatever reason, he has never had that policy again and we've had no problems interviewing his players.

 

Back in my Southside VA SE days there was a coach from one of the baseball programs who told me and my boss that he was starting a policy that players couldn't talk to the media.

This team was a decent big-school program and it sucked, but what could you do? His drinking buddy AD backed him and the principal was no help.

A few weeks later, as we're getting ready for regionals, I turn on the local TV station and there are several players being interviewed on the 6 o'clock news.

I call the coach the next day and ask if the policy has been changed. He said no and hung up.

I called the AD and kept him on the phone for a while while trying to stay professional. He finally admitted that the policy was only for my paper and it was because the coach didn't like the reporter I sent to cover them.

The next spring the reporter was gone and had a new prep baseball writer. Policy was still in place.

Next to the country club golfers who would yell at me for not kissing their butts at their summer tournaments, this was probably the most frustrating part of my tenure there.

 

McCarron was a redshirt sophomore, and Saban still severely limited his availability (he talked like three times all year).

But with Saban, it's usually just true freshmen. Once a guy gets past his first fall on campus, he's generally made available.

Just another thing you can blame Plaxico Burress for. His popping off about Michigan and Notre Dame his freshman year at Michigan State is why Saban instituted the policy.

 

I'd say it's more just Nick Saban being a dick. But that's my opinion.

You're right about McCarron. Maybe it was last year (2010) when I kept seeing it mentioned in stories that he wasn't allowed to talk, or maybe it was about someone else on this year's team. Either way, I know it's been pointed out, often, in the last year or two.