Coaches who won't let players speak to the media

exactly

 

In a case like this I think I would stop talking with the coach too...just use opponent's quotes or go quoteless until the policy changes.

 

Flex: I understand what you are saying, but I think in order to do the best you can for the reader, you talk to the coach and use good stuff if you get it.

I wonder if the OP took it to the principal.

 

That's the time to maybe start writing columns ... about the poor coaching job he did every week.

 

yes, I suppose it largely depends on your coverage area...

If you're a one-horse town, you have to go through the channels to try and improve communication even with these guarded coaches. If you have 10-15 schools in your area, then write typical gamers on the rest and notebook stuff on the rest. When complaints roll in simply explain that the program doesn't make its players accessible to the media, thus they don't get as much space. Tell them to complain to the AD if they would like that to change.

 

First person I thought of when I saw this thread was Bobby Gonzalez, who shielded his Manhattan players the week of the NCAA Tournament one year. Said it was to keep them focused. Yes. And to keep everyone else in the media focused on a complete fucking lunatic coach begging to turn a tournament trip into a bigger job.

A coach not allowing his kids to talk to the press is OK once in a great while, if his (or her) team has completely shit the bed and the coach is bonkers furious. One of the best coaches I ever dealt with did that at the end of a long losing streak and I never gave it a second thought. But if the coach does this regularly, or has a policy in place, it's b/c he's an egomaniacal prick who needs to remind everyone he/she deserves all the credit.

 

It's more about being a control freak than being a dick, although a coach can definitely be both...

 

Had one coach who told us his players decided not to talk to the media because his team got a shitty seed in the basketball playoffs. He claimed that the league used the newspaper rankings to seed the playoffs. Of course, my paper didn't do rankings. It was our competitor, but he wouldn't relent.

Just lasted for the tournament and he called it off when they won, but it was still annoying.

Also had a football coach who was so pissed off about his team's performance in a loss that he barely spoke to me and told me his players had other things to do and couldn't talk. As I walked away, his wife stopped me and apologized for his behavior (which really wasn't that bad aside from being uncooperative).

Odd part is he was always great every other time I spoke to him.

 

Started off covering prep football outside our metro area and had a game that first year where small-ville high pulled a big upset on a perennial state power.

Went to get quotes from the losing coach only to be told 3-4 times on my way to the goal post that he wouldn't talk. Get to the coach in-person and he was bummed about the loss, but gracious in defeat and didn't brush me off in the least.

I moved jobs part-way through that school year and have been dealing with that big-school contender coach ever since...and he's one of the most cooperative coaches in my coverage area.

 

On the flip side, I finished interviewing a high school hockey coach, and before I even had a chance to ask, he pointed me in the direction of couple players. Said they were always pretty pumped about seeing their name in the paper, even if it was just a quote or two.

 

The vast majority of HS coaches I've dealt with in every sport have been like that.

Also, not allowing freshmen to talk to the media was SOP for John Chaney and John Thompson for years and years. I seem to remember it being a big to-do when Mark Macon blew up into a star at Temple but wasn't allowed to do interviews.

 

I once had a guy who did that as a passive-aggressive way of avoiding talking to us. He'd send wave after wave of kids over, most of whom had nothing all that interesting to say (being 16 and shy and not used to public speaking and all that). He figured at some point I'd cry uncle and leave, so it was fun patiently wading thru the kids and then going up to him when he'd run out of kids to send over. He wasn't a bad guy, just didn't like speaking all that much.