Billy Hearts Jeannine

Coach G didn't exactly do the university proud with his "halftime interview" on ESPN. It was obvious that the man was a bit frustrated, in a hurry, and not exactly enamored with the whole idea of his walk to the locker room being so rudely interrupted.

If you haven't seen the clip yet, here's the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faoev1qI3KE

We could argue the merits of the whole enterprise-- this recent phenomenon of grabbing a coach just before tip- or kickoff (or on his way off the field or court at the break), shoving a microphone in his face, and then asking for his thoughts on strategy/ game developments/ an injury situation, right "in the heat of battle".

Believe me, I watch a ton of sports, and I can't recall anything really earth-shattering being revealed by these snippets. It's not as if a coach is going to tell the four-letter network precisely what he is going to instruct his team to do, or what adjustments he's truly going to make. The best you usually get is the patently obvious, "We need to play better", or "Our team just needs to stay focused", or some such platitude.

I'd like to hear what Adolph Rupp might have told one of these sideline reporters.

Yet, that's the sports age we are living in, where the TV people call most if not all of the shots, and so a good coach learns to play the game of being gracious and putting up with the ridiculosity of it all. (I learned that word at UK, don't bother looking it up.) It's just part of the package. You play along. Brother JC cited Mack Brown and Pete Carroll as being two of the best at this type of thing. You smile, you throw the audience a bone, and you move along and get back to coaching.

What you don't do, in my most humble opinion, is try to embarrass the reporter. Especially a female reporter. It serves no purpose. It makes you look like a jerk. It just doesn't.... reflect well. This is different from breaking down some yahoo on a call-in show or getting a little testy at the weekly teleconference. This is a Big Tuesday, nationally televised game, with tons of fans, alumni, other media members, recruits, and recruits' parents all watching.

Just fake it, Billy. How hard is that? We know you're intense and you just care about your team, and that's great, we want your focus to be there. We love you for it. But they're going to put the mike in your face anyway, which means you're going to have to say something anyway, so how about you just do it without coming off like a jerk? Millions are watching.

Furthermore, I don't even agree with Coach that it was a bad question from Jeannine Edwards. Obvious, yes. I'll grant you that. But isn't that what makes it a good question? I'd venture to say it's the exact question that particular reporter had to ask under the circumstances. It's what everybody was wondering, after all. Your All-American candidate, who averages 26 per game, just went the whole first half without a field goal. What's she supposed to ask, "Coach, who do you like for Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire?"

Now, I don't mean to make a huge deal out of this. Rece Davis and the studio crew certainly laughed it off, and the only capital crime committed in Oxford last night was the Cats actually losing to Ole Miss. But it doesn't do much to elevate the program when you go out of your way to show up a reporter who is just trying to do her job. Where's the love, Coach?