Toughest interviews

We've surely all dealt with athletes/coaches who tested our patience and sanity to the max.
What would be your top 3-5 toughest ever interviews ever and why? Could be for a feature story or whatever, maybe a postgame interview, mid-week media luncheon, etc. And might be just one particular instance that you still remember (and detest) vividly.

 

Had blow-ups with both Bob Knight and John Chaney during NCAA regionals (as I recall, the same year). Had a clear-the-air meeting with Chaney about an hour after the incident and I came away with tremendous respect for the man. Bob Knight, not so much.

 

Cornelius Bennett, 1986.
Absolute torture.

 

Twoback...what made the deal with CB so tough?
just wondering.

 

My addition to the list: The local high school football coach who demanded I turn my recorder off during a postgame one-on-one because he "doesn't allow his voice to be recorded."

Yeah, his team lost. When I mentioned it to another writer later that evening, he suggested that I should have responded, "But you allowed that mess to be videotaped?"

Eh, he didn't say anything worth quoting anyway.

 

Bob Huggins, any number of times, 1998-2006. Huggs had his faves. If it wasn't you, acted like you just stepped in shit and walked across his carpet.

 

Ray Perkins, by a wide margin.

I covered a Miss State-Bama game when he was coaching the Tide and he was the most belligerent person I've ever seen. I'm standing off to the side watching in no small amount of fascination while he and Rick Cleveland started shouting at each other. And his team won the game, by a lot.

 

"I'll kill you! You remember that! When I see you, I'll kick your ass!"

 

i've heard others give horror stories on dealing with Ray Perkins.
in just a couple of instances--surprise, surprise--Wimp Sanderson was a headache when he brought his UAB team into the D-I school we were covering. both times, he just said to hell with postgame press conference. and his team WON both times. he just flatout didn't want to deal with the media.
pat hill of fresno state can be tough.
ditto for les miles.

 

Never dealt with him myself, but from everything I've heard Bob Knight deserves a permanent spot on the top of this list. Ask one wrong, stupid or simply bad question and you're toast.

Working in Podunk, any 8-year-old at a youth baseball tournament qualifies

 

This thread is the reason why I'm glad I never covered swimming, gymnastics, or figure skating. Any interview that begins with, "Where do you want to go to high school?" can't end well.

 

I've dealt with Pat Hill a few times and I liked him. Very matter-of-fact and candid, but he was fine.
Jeff Kent, not so much.