Coaches who won't let players speak to the media

[Johnny Chase]

So, I'm reading the Chicago Sun-Times website tonight for local basketball stories, and read a gamer about a small-school regional final — http://yourseason.suntimes.com/home/10864892-390/boys-basketball-mark-weems-goes-off-as-seton-tops-hales.html

Of course, there's one part of the story that stands out to me —

Thomas does not permit his players to talk to the media. Weems’ game spoke volumes.

This shocked me. Seton has a legit shot to win the Class 2A state title in Illinois. They won in 2009.

Has anyone else ever had to deal with a coach who refused to ever let his players talk? Luckily, I never have and it's unfortunate that coaches like this let their egos get in the way of common sense.

 

[spikechiquet]

Yes. A football coach never let his players talk after a loss.
They went 0-10 that season.
Parents were furious since all the other schools allowed kids to talk. So we had nice gamers, features, sidebars and whatnot all week on the 2 other main schools...and notebook stat pieces on the other.

 

[Football_Bat]

If you ask permission of the coach, it's your loss.

 

[GidalKaiser]

I've had the situation a few times, and I simply tell the coach "OK, I understand those are your wishes and it's your program. Do I have your permission to tell parents - if the call us - that you are the one who won't allow their players to talk?" I also write it in the article. I've only had one instance where a coach or an athletic director got upset at me about printing it.

 

[expendable]

I've had the situation a few times, and I simply tell the coach "OK, I understand those are your wishes and it's your program. Do I have your permission to tell parents - if the call us - that you are the one who won't allow their players to talk?" I also write it in the article. I've only had one instance where a coach or an athletic director got upset at me about printing it.

Just curious. Why would you ask his permission to tell parents about his policy?

 

[spikechiquet]

If you ask permission of the coach, it's your loss.

Not sure if you are referring to my post. I did try to talk to the kids...they said if they were quoted in a story, they would get in trouble.
It had nothing to do with asking permission.

 

[Harry Doyle]

I've had the situation a few times, and I simply tell the coach "OK, I understand those are your wishes and it's your program. Do I have your permission to tell parents - if the call us - that you are the one who won't allow their players to talk?" I also write it in the article. I've only had one instance where a coach or an athletic director got upset at me about printing it.

Just curious. Why would you ask his permission to tell parents about his policy?

Not to speak out of turn, but I would assume the tactic is aimed more at proving a point than actually asking permission.

I remember just once that a high school coach asked I not speak to his players. He said it would go to their heads, which he wanted to avoid. I told him that without talking to the players there wouldn't be a story. He relented. This was a mid-weed feature sort of thing, so I started with the coach. But after a game? No need to go through the coach, especially if it's football. Just grab the kids.

 

[dirtybird]

Once had a coach who did not talk the week before the game and asked me not to speak to his players becuase the team was facing a coach with ties to the town where the school was. He didn't want to start a bunch of small-town BS, as that had surrounded the other coach's tenure there. I accepted that, then used the fact that he didn't talk as fodder for a pointed preview and column on the day of the game.

Note: The guy was fantastic to work with outside of that one week.

 

[Stitch]

Someone stole smallpotatoes' thunder with this post.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Sonner can back me up on this, but once I dealt with a coach that wouldn't let his kids talk to the press. Tempting as it is to say "screw you, give us access or we don't cover you," it's very difficult to pull that off in a small community that already has a chip on its shoulder every time you give one of its two rivals anything better than roundup/agate coverage. You just work within the parameters you're given and do the best you can with it.

Stories involving the team always got the "Coach Jaberwoky does not allow his players to speak to the media" treatment. He had been doing it so long that I think most people in town accepted it, but then I wasn't really around that long.

 

[Kid Presentable]

Are douchebags.

 

[Batman]

Nick Saban thinks it's a fine policy.
Seriously, this isn't just a high school thing. I know Alabama, for one, doesn't let its freshmen talk to the media. That must've been a lot of fun this past season when they started a freshman quarterback.

 

[TwoGloves]

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.

 

[SoCalDude]

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.

 

[writingump]

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.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Nick Saban thinks it's a fine policy.
Seriously, this isn't just a high school thing. I know Alabama, for one, doesn't let its freshmen talk to the media. That must've been a lot of fun this past season when they started a freshman quarterback.

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.

 

[wisportswriter]

I know Alabama, for one, doesn't let its freshmen talk to the media.

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.

 

[HanSenSE]

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.

 

[JackReacher]

Sonner can back me up on this, but once I dealt with a coach that wouldn't let his kids talk to the press. Tempting as it is to say "screw you, give us access or we don't cover you," it's very difficult to pull that off in a small community that already has a chip on its shoulder every time you give one of its two rivals anything better than roundup/agate coverage. You just work within the parameters you're given and do the best you can with it.

Stories involving the team always got the "Coach Jaberwoky does not allow his players to speak to the media" treatment. He had been doing it so long that I think most people in town accepted it, but then I wasn't really around that long.

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 dip**** 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 **** 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.

 

[expendable]

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.