Coaches' misdirection: 'lying' to media a big deal?

[MNgremlin]

This is probably the wrong audience for this type of thread.

However, how do you feel when a coach 'lies' to the media because he doesn't want to tip his hand to the next opponent?

This topic came up after the Thursday night NFL game, as Vikings' coach Mike Zimmer 'lied' to the media about CB Terence Newman moving to S because "you'd tell the other team, and I didn't want to tell the Cardinals he'd be playing safety."

Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Vikings beat reporter said doing so broke the trust of the media:

Zimmer on why Newman started and why he lied to the media about it

I personally brush it off as not a big deal, but I'm not personally invested other than a fan of the team (is that okay to admit here?). I don't cover the Vikings, or any professional teams, so maybe I'm just too distant that my opinion doesn't matter.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Coaches lie all the time. It's part of their strategy and understandably so. It also goes with the territory. A good reporter finds other ways to get the story.

No coach is going to tell you everything and if you are depending on him to be completely up front and truthful, you're a terrible reporter. If you can't develop better sources, then you're not doing a very good job. Getting mad at the coach for not publicly announcing his strategy is a way of deflecting criticism off the real issue, which is lazy or just plain bad reporting.

Look, if you have that feeling that you 'know' something is going on, then figure it out and write it. If not, don't blame the coach for your own shortcomings.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Coaches should be held to the same high moral standard as cops/prosecutors/lawyers/municipal leaders/business leaders, who ALWAYS tell the truth to reporters. :D

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Only clumsy coaches lie outright. Clever ones find other ways to hide information.
Case in point. As Patriots' coach, Bill Parcells' policy on injuries was straightforward. No other member of the organization was allowed to discuss them. Not the player, nor his teammates and certainly not the team physician or trainer.
Parcells' stock response when asked questions on injuries. "I don't know. I'm no doctor."

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Steve Kerr approves.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I remember Nick Saban being asked about an assistant coach who was up for another job. He said something like "you'll have to ask him about that."

Assistant coaches are not allowed to talk to the media.

 

[Ace]

I think fans get mad if they feel coaches blatantly lie, but they accept it if they do it skillfully or are good at not really answering.

For example, you see coaches who are hated by their former fans bases years after they left because they straight out said they were not going anywhere.

Other coaches who left aren't reviled by the fan bases even though no head college coach ever said, "Yeah, I'm talking to Podunk U about their job. I really hope they hire me. But if they don't, I still love it here."

 

[boundforboston]

I remember Nick Saban being asked about an assistant coach who was up for another job. He said something like "you'll have to ask him about that."

Assistant coaches are not allowed to talk to the media.

Did anyone follow up with Nick you don't make them available so will you now?

 

[SFIND]

What Doc Holliday said.

 

[steveu]

Other coaches who left aren't reviled by the fan bases even though no head college coach ever said, "Yeah, I'm talking to Podunk U about their job. I really hope they hire me. But if they don't, I hope to renegotiate my contract and get a $500,000 raise."

Fixed, Ace. ;)

 

[Ace]

Other coaches who left aren't reviled by the fan bases even though no head college coach ever said, "Yeah, I'm talking to Podunk U about their job. I really hope they hire me. But if they don't, I hope to renegotiate my contract and get a $500,000 raise."

Fixed, Ace. ;)

Thanks for looking out for me.

 

[JohnHammond]

Lousy beat writer trying to blame to coach for his own ineptitude.

 

[steveu]

Thanks for looking out for me.

No problem! I was just laughing at the amount of times I heard a coach was being courted by another school and BAM! Instant contract extension!

 

[BTExpress]

Coaches provide lame quotes. They do not provide "information."

 

[Doc Holliday]

Lousy beat writer trying to blame to coach for his own ineptitude.

Nailed it, mother ****er. (Say mother ****er like you're Hank in Californication please.)