Mistake

So I made a mistake. I covered a HS football game, and afterward one coach was pissed about the other keeping starters in and throwing the ball with a big lead (four touchdowns). Didn't think it was a huge deal, but the losing coach said something about it, so I included it in the gamer, near the end, one sentence and a quote. Monday morning here and the other (winning) coach is pissed. Said it was not true, and was mad because I didn't ask him about it.
Long and short, I think now that it was a mistake not to ask the winning coach why he was still throwing the ball and playing starters. He did have starters in and was throwing the ball, so it was true. Still, I'm feeling like this is going to be a problem. I have to deal with both coaches for the rest of the season and beyond.
For my own satisfaction, how big of a deal is this? It didn't seem like much when I wrote it, but now I'm concerned. Also, what would be the recommended recourse? I'm kind of lost here.

 

Write a folo saying winning coach is mad and disputes accusation of piling on. Not a big deal.

 

Well, you probably should have asked why the winning coach had his starters in the game throwing passes.

But in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a career-killer. Learn from this for the next time. And there will always be a next time.

 

In general, if you write something or quote someone critical of another person -- even if it's true -- you should get reaction from the party being criticized.

If you can't get reaction, you should consider whether it is worth including anyway.

In this case, I don't know that the sour grapes stuff is worth the hassle. A four-touchdown lead is not at all unusual in high school football.

Bottom line, I would save the sour grapes comments for when they are really unusual and if you run them, get both sides. You might have a good pissing match for the readers.

 

On a scale of big deals of 1 to 10, this is about a 1.

Yeah, you should have asked the winning coach about it. Like someone else already said, you learn and move on.

If you have a weekly prep notebook or weekly football notebook, perhaps you can address it in that?

 

I'd start by not quoting coaches at all. Kids don't want to read words from 40-year-old gym teachers, they want to read about their peers.

 

You're hired.

 

This makes absolutely no sense.

 

Blanket statements aside, making an attempt to talk to the players in addition to the coach makes perfect sense. And if the players' quote(s) are better than the coach, don't use one from the probable gym teacher.

 

Just be sure to ask the players, "How big is this win for you guys?"

 

Except he didn't say that, he said don't talk to the coach at all, which is just stupid.

And then, as a line of reasoning, he said that kids don't want to read comments from 40-year-old gym teachers, as though high school kids read newspapers or newspapers covered high school sports because of high school kids, neither of which are close to true.

 

Thread jack:

Such divergence of opinion on coach quote. Our place puts players' quotes secondary at the high school level. Why? The coach should have a better grasp of the situation and more comfortable to the media. The coach is also responsible for the game planning and the plays calls. The players just play.

I find coach quotes essential to any high school gamer. Half the kids have no idea what they are saying anyway. If the high schooler is smart and eloquent, or a huge star (major Division I prospect) then Joe Blow at the barber shop wants to read it. But unless the high school player made the game winning or game losing play, or put up monster numbers, then go to the coach.

Anyhow, on the problem. You got to learn to go back to the other coach. If not, call him at home. What's even worse is you buried the quote. It was a throw away line, and that's what you should have done with it.