Sports Sunday: Whose fault is it? Coach, media or fans?

Posted by Justin Goldsborough | 2 comments

Mike Gundy is older than 40 now...and he's at it again. (Image credit: bleacherreport.com)

We’ve all crossed the line before. That said, people have different definitions of what is crossing the line. And some people just really don’t care. There always seem to be a few incidents like this each year with college football coaches when it comes to mentions of other teams. And this year is no different.

Here are three scenarios where coaches thought media or fans crossed the line. What do you think? And don’t hold back on the third scenario involving me. I can take being told I messed up .

Scenario 1

Contractor Brent Loveland of Choctaw, Okla., was recently hired to work a job at Oklahoma St. Coach Mike Gundy’s house. You remember Gundy. He’s a man, he’s 40. Loveland showed up the first morning at the job on time…wearing an Oklahoma Baseball T-shirt. When Gundy got home he wasn’t pleased. He said something like, “How dare you come into my house and offend my wife.” Then he used profanity when telling Loveland to get off his property.

The contractor apologized and offered to turn the shirt inside out and finish the job. But Gundy refused his apologies and told him to get lost. Loveland is suing Gundy for a portion of the cost it would have taken to finish the job.

Ok, you make the call. Was Gundy being a jerk or was the contractor being an idiot? Whose fault is it? Coach or fan?

Scenario 2

Kevin Wilson, the new football coach at Indiana, is from the Bob Stoops coaching tree. And he’s not used to losing. So when former college and NFL quarterback, now radio talk show host, Jack Trudeau, played the IU fight song before the interview and made some flippant remarks, it pissed Wilson off and he made it known.

The story went like this. Trudeau had Wilson on hold right before the interview started. This is common run of show for sports radio talk shows. The coach or interviewee sits on hold while the host introduces the segment. Anyway, Trudeau, who played at Illinois, played the Indiana fight song and then commented that he hadn’t heard the song much before when he played because, “The Hoosiers never scored on us.”

When Trudeau opened up the line and welcomed the coach, Wilson came out firing: “I remember putting 61 up on the Illini a few years back when I was at Northwestern and they kind of stunk it up, too. But anyway, I’ve got some things to do guys, what do you guys need?” He followed with: “I just don’t like being on here with guys cracking jokes about our program. I’m not an Indiana alum but I take a little pride in what we do.”

After Wilson hung up, Trudeau, whose kid goes to Indiana, went on this tirade: “”The fact of the matter is their program stinks and it has stunk. And anyone from Indiana who wants to argue the other side of that, you’re full of it. And for him to come on this show and act that way is pathetic. He’s a head football coach and he has to recruit and anyone who heard him would go, ‘That guy’s an ass.’ That’s just not right. I’m sad my kid is going (to IU). (Wilson) needs to call and apologize.”

So, you make the call. Was Trudeau or Wilson more out of line? Whose fault is it? Coach or media?

Scenario 3

This one is a personal story from 2001. Back then, I covered the football team for The Daily Northwestern. One day I headed up to the stadium to interview Coach Randy Walker. It was a cool day, but for some reason I only wore a T-shirt. When I got parked and out of my car, I was freezing. So I put on the only long-sleeved shirt I could find…my friend’s Missouri Tigers fleece.

I actually thought about whether it was wise to wear another team’s colors to the practice. But I decided to go with it because Missouri wasn’t a Big 10 school. Had it been a Michigan or Ohio St. fleece, I never would have put it on.

When practice ended, I walked up to interview Walker along with some other reporters. He didn’t say anything at first, but then he glared at me and raised his voice: “Why don’t you go interview Coach Pinkel (Missouri’s football coach)? We’re friends. I’ll call him and tell him you’re coming.”

Then he walked away with the other reporters. I took the fleece off and put it on the ground. Then I waited 30 minutes freezing my butt off until every other journalist and player walked off the field. Only then did Walker come back over and give me the interview I needed for my story.

So, you make the call. Was I an idiot for wearing another team’s colors or was Walker pulling a power trip? Whose fault is it? Coach or media?