Media Criticism

[ZooCougar]

People need to stop wasting their energy ranting and raving about the media not going after P and D with the same veracity as us.

For one, even the most rational people here are probably irrational. Secondly, they will not bite the hand that feeds them at least for a while.

Edsall treated the media like crap. He had a couple of "pets" but in general, he talked down to them, gave them limited access and probably worse. Pasqualoni has a different relationship, and this makes it easier for them to do their jobs. I don't see them risking the relationship until the ship is just about to disappear under water.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Not to mention we're 3-3. People here want you to think he's done a John L. Smith job on this program. He's been bad, but let's be a little more level-headed here.

 

[BlueMAB]

I agree with ZooCougar, I don't think the media should be going after Pasqualoni...yet.

But there is no problem with the fans doing it, and with the exception of a few, we are being level headed.

We are 3-3 with, arguably, 2 of the best teams on the schedule still to play. One of those on the road. We will not beat Ville or Cincy. We're going to be extremely lucky to be bowl eligible this year.

In 2 years we haven't won back to back games. In 18 tries, we've yet to string together consecutive victories. How bad do you have to be, to fail to win 2 games in a row with our schedule the past 2 years? The remainder of the schedule is

Temple
@ Cuse
@ USF
Pitt
@Ville
Cincy

Temple should be a win, Ville and Cincy are losses. That puts us at 4-5, with Cuse, USF and Pitt as toss ups, and 2 of those games are on the road.

We're looking at 5-7 and another bowl season at home, and Pasqualoni will likely coach his first 2 seasons here without recording back to back wins. If we're extremely lucky, 6-6 with a bowl game and Pasqualoni doing the unimaginable, winning consecutive games.

I just read Skiblets post from a year ago, and other than the comments on Don Brown's defense, he was exactly right. He's got horrible game management. He's got a record in close games. I don't see players getting "coached up", where's the improvement in the line play, the receivers, the running back?

If P doesn't cut ties with GDL he's going to have to go too. Let's make Pasqualoni the head coach of recruiting, promote Brown, let him find an OC who's as creative as he is, pray we can keep Foley on board as OL coach, and be done with GDL.

 

[ruskin]

Zoo/John, Im going to respectfully disagree on several points:
1) No question there are people here who are 'ranting and raving'. But there are folks who believe several tough but fair and level headed questions should be asked of PP, mainly if he's satisfied with the job GDL has done or should Foley go back to coaching the OL, or if he stands by his "we were in good shape there, there was no reason to use a timeout" comment now that he (and a lot of other people) have gone back to look at the replays. Again, I cite the Coughlin-Bill Sheridan example from the Giants 2009 season and the way that was covered. If you want to go the 'this is college' rout, then look at the in-season firings of coordinators at Houston and now Georgia Tech. No one expects PP to say "you're right, George sucks, I'm firing him at once" but if he thinks GDL is doing a good job he should cite some examples why.
2) In theory, the hand that feeds the media is not the people they cover, but the public who buys the paper/reads internet/listens to radio/watches TV. Yes, UConn has been masterful through the years of using subtle and not-so-subtle threats of restricting access to critical reporters to cultivate a compliant press. But when the guys covering the team become more subservient to the people they're covering than the people who consume their product, that gets you on the slippery slope that leads to horrendous worst-case scenarios like Penn State.
3) You gotta put this 3-3 in context (as well as Arkansas' 2-4). Poor offensive coaching/playcalling has had a direct hand in all three losses against the 70th-rated schedule in the country (Arkansas is 17, BTW). PP doesn't have all the personal baggage Smith does (bankruptcy), but given PP's nonconference record compared to his predecessor and other factors there's a case to be made that PP is
doing a Smith-style job on this program.

 

[junglehusky]

I agree our energies would be better focused on communicating coherently, cogently, persuasively and politely with Warde Manuel and also writing letters to the editor of various papers in the state. That, i think, would have a more lasting impact...

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

[RMS25CT]

People need to stop wasting their energy ranting and raving about the media not going after P and D with the same veracity as us.

Isn't there a difference between "going after" and asking tough or pointed questions? In yesterday's "Red Zone" article I thought a legitimate question would have been, "Coach, how do you feel about your team's ability to get into the red zone? Is getting inside the 20 an average of just over 3 times per game acceptable or do you think there is room for significant improvement on that front?" Maybe if that question was asked and depending on P's answer, some of us wouldn't think P is imitating an ostrich with his head in the sand.

 

[ZooCougar]

Isn't there a difference between "going after" and asking tough or pointed questions? In yesterday's "Red Zone" article I thought a legitimate question would have been, "Coach, how do you feel about your team's ability to get into the red zone? Is getting inside the 20 an average of just over 3 times per game acceptable or do you think there is room for significant improvement on that front?" Maybe if that question was asked and depending on P's answer, some of us wouldn't think P is imitating an ostrich with his head in the sand.

Those are all legitimate questions that should be asked. But I don't think we are going to get a 1,000 word indictment on the bad coaching from the media just yet.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Arkansas was a preseason top 10 team with a senior quarterback. We were ranked around 60th in the preseason. Completely different.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

People are looking to take out their anger on someone, and the media is always an easy target.

It's wasted energy. It's not the media's job to be the mouthpiece for the fan base. They know how to do their job and are doing it well. You want to commit career suicide as a journalist? Listen to the fans' advice.

 

[BG79]

The media should be asking relevant questions. There is a very real uproar right now where a significant portion of the fanbase is demanding a coaching change. For the media to put their head in the sand and ignore the single biggest issue going on with the football team is them being derelict in their duty. Regardless if they personally believe it or not, it's not (or it should not be) their job to inject their opinion on the matter but to just simply get the facts and let the coaches answer the questions. When they sidestep the biggest issue because they're either afraid to tackle it or even worse they don't agree with it that ruins their job credibility.

 

[huskymedic]

The media should be asking relevant questions. There is a very real uproar right now where a significant portion of the fanbase is demanding a coaching change. For the media to put their head in the sand and ignore the single biggest issue going on with the football team is them being derelict in their duty. Regardless if they personally believe it or not, it's not (or it should not be) their job to inject their opinion on the matter but to just simply get the facts and let the coaches answer the questions. When they sidestep the biggest issue because they're either afraid to tackle it or even worse they don't agree with it that ruins their job credibility.

I don't get the putting their heads in the sand concept. I have not seen any recent articles that do not question the offensive production, the play calling, the execution of coaches and players. They ask questions and get answers. The answers may side-step the question of not addressing it head on but you can't force anyone to answer a question that are not going to answer. Ask the same questions 6 different ways - you still get only what you are going get what they want to give-up. Watch any NFL or MLB press conference. Hell, watch an SEC press conference - you get what you get no matter how well your intentions of flshing out the issues are. I follow just about every beat writer for UConn and a numbr of other teams, these guys do a fair job.

 

[huskymedic]

Take a read of this diddy... sound familar?

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/20...journalism/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=CFB

Spurrier’s local media feud reveals cracks in the facade of sports journalism:

Published October 9, 2012 - 2:34pm

The difference between Steve Spurrier and Charlie Weis can be measured in goodwill. Spurrier has lots of goodwill with South Carolina fans, so when he blackballed The State columnist Ron Morris, it was the writer who suffered. In contrast, when Kansas coach Weis attacked the student newspaper for an unflattering cartoon predicting, correctly, the Jayhawks slaughter last weekend at the hands of Kansas State, nobody took the onetime Florida offensive coordinator seriously.

Weis is on his second doomed head coaching stint on his way to oblivion. Spurrier is the elder statesman of the SEC and may well lead the Gamecocks to a conference and national championship. When you’re at the top, you basically own the local media. This rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Will Leitch, the founder of Deadspin now writing for USA Today’s “Sports on Earth” website, claimed last week that Spurrier’s treatment of Ron Morris–who apologized to Spurrier for an earlier column and lost a side gig with a local television station–amounted to a full-scale assault on the institution of journalism–even though Morris’s credentials as a “journalist” are pretty weak:

Sure, the State hasn’t fired Morris (yet), but that “apology” column last week reeks of internal pressure. The sort of pressure you’re feeling when a coach who feels more powerful than ever because his team is winning starts to bring the hammer down in a small football-crazy town. And more to the point: The type of pressure you feel when your industry is weaker than it has ever been, covering an industry that is stronger than it has ever been.

Someone has to bankroll journalism, and as time goes by, teams and leagues are in far better financial position to do that than publishers are. So far, I haven’t seen any crossing of the streams at reputable organizations. But eventually, there will be fewer of these newspaper reporters, and thus fewer people remembering just how the separation of church and state should work. And the line will creep more and more toward “shill, or no paycheck.”

This is just a logical next step. This example is particularly brazen and ugly — a coach actually pulling weight to have a critical sportswriter fired — but that might brand it less as “an anomaly” and more as “ahead of its time.”

Leitch’s “separation of church and state” metaphor is typical of how established media members become unhinged the moment anyone calls someone out for being a troll. And there’s a pretty strong consensus that Morris is a troll–or, to put it more eloquently, a pundit who trades in controversial opinions.

By Leitch’s own definition, a “journalist” is a disinterested observer who strives to discover the truth, even if it’s unpopular. That excludes the majority of modern sports media. If anything, it’s the team- and league-funded new media that Leitch frets over that may well provide the salvation for sports journalism. While there’s a good deal of propaganda coming from such outfits, the producers of sports actually have a greater incentive to deal in impartial, fact-based reporting than traditional outside media that survive by selling ads to a fickle public.

But let’s get back to Spurrier. If there’s anything that defines the Ball Coach, it’s his frank honesty. He’s an anomaly in that sense among coaches. We’ve become so used to coaches speaking in meaningless football jargon–a function, ahem, of traditional journalists who punish any sign of original thought–that when coaches make a point of saying what they really think, it becomes a major story.

You can certainly criticize a man of Spurrier’s standing for picking a public feud with a lowly media troll. But it’s his time to waste. It clearly hasn’t distracted his team, as Saturday’s victory over Georgia proved.
More importantly, Spurrier talked about his problems with Morris openly. That’s really what seems to disturb media types like Leitch. In the post-Watergate culture, which sadly has infected sports journalism, the way you handle a problem is through anonymous leaks to favored reporters. The public has grown accustomed to anonymously sourced and unsubstantiated reports citing “sources close to the team” and the like. Transparency has always taken a back seat to the media’s manipulation of stories to make themselves look important.

It would be one thing if Spurrier worked behind-the-scenes to fire a reporter who was about to uncover some major scandal involving the Gamecocks. But Ron Morris isn’t Sara Ganim. And while Leitch may disagree, there is a difference. If you simply lump every opinion-spouting pundit in with the class of professional journalists, then “journalism” ceases to have any meaning. It’s a self-defeating argument.

There’s nothing wrong with publicly confronting a troll. Would it be such a terrible thing if a coach or team boycotted ESPN unless they fired Skip Bayless? Most consumers of sports and sports information would probably welcome such a stand.
The basic error folks like Leitch continue to make is assuming there has to be some large-scale “disinterested” group of journalists to act as an intermediary between sports teams and fans. Yet the entire history of new media, which Leitch himself pioneered, has been about eliminating such barriers. Coaches and athletes can now communicate directly with fans if they so choose. Simultaneously, independent writers can now pursue stories and scandals without having to work through the closed network of “professional” journalists–most of whom are now dedicated to reinventing themselves as multimedia celebrities a la Bayless.

And yes, with this new era comes more trolling and propaganda. Leagues and schools will publish their own splashy news portals with “everything is great” content, while the Bleacher Reports of the world will cull SEO data to create customized stories designed to inflame just about any fan.

Ultimately, Spurrier’s petty vendetta won’t usher in some new era of coach-controlled media. The successful coaches will continue to enjoy greater influence over their local coverage than the Charlie Weises–just as the successful troll like Skip Bayless will continue to grab ratings and Twitter followers while Ron Morris fades into obscurity. The larger sports media system will continue to operate normally.

 

[huskymedic]

Charlie Weiss continues...

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php...-intimidate-critical-kansas-student-reporter/

 

[businesslawyer]

People are looking to take out their anger on someone, and the media is always an easy target.

It's wasted energy. It's not the media's job to be the mouthpiece for the fan base. They know how to do their job and are doing it well. You want to commit career suicide as a journalist? Listen to the fans' advice.

The ironic thing, Jimmy, about what you just said is that it's more true about football coaches not listening to fans than the press not listening.

I have my opinion on where this regime is headed, and in frustration my working opinion may come out from time to time, but I do not need UConn to act like an SEC or NFL (in that order) team and fire people in the middle of the season, so I will see how we do in conference play and then talk about what should happen when the results for the season are in. I'd much rather be focused on beating Temple than complaining about the press.

 

[formerlurker]

The ironic thing, Jimmy, about what you just said is that it's more true about football coaches not listening to fans than the press not listening.

I have my opinion on where this regime is headed, and in frustration my working opinion may come out from time to time, but I do not need UConn to act like an SEC or NFL (in that order) team and fire people in the middle of the season, so I will see how we do in conference play and then talk about what should happen when the results for the season are in. I'd much rather be focused on beating Temple than complaining about the press.

Thank God you're just a lawyer and not a politician.

According to your model, no one should be accountable for the entirety of whatever job it is that they do, as long as they perform well when things are "meaningful".

Who gets to define "meaningful"? You?

If you lost 7 of 10 cases but won the three against the 3 law firms your firm considered "rivals", would you hire yourself?

Would you expect your bosses to sit back and endure the pain of you're losing the cases you should win only to hope you win the ones you shouldn't? Do the damages those losses cost your firm (our football program) no longer exist IF you win those few cases?

And you're way off Jimmy if you don't think it's the media's job to be the mouthpiece of the people. Let me know if you'd prefer living in a world where people like Hitler and the opinions of his victims were ignored by the press because it wasn't a reporters job to speak for the masses. In no way am I comparing UConn Football to the Holocaust but it's a pretty clear point to make if you don't think the most glaring reason the news media exists is to be the voice of the people.

If anyone who reports about this football team doesn't address the elephant in the room, they might as well write, tweet, blog or talk about their favorite cookie recipe.

 

[Nostical]

The media are in a tough spot, but I agree with you formerlurker. It's their job to spotlight problems and call for their solutions. But, as Jimmy implied, first they have to agree there is a problem of sufficient magnitude to risk access to the very program that provides them a forum for their livlihood.

 

[ZooCougar]

I think that the media is doing this the right way. They won't go fully critical until there is a complete body of work to be fully critical of.

 

[mattp]

The media's job is to report on facts as they happen. Opinion has no place in journalism. If a journalist wants to say an offense has been ineffective, it's their job to, but to say a coach should be fired should be strictly in the editorials. Would you really want Walter Cronkite saying that X politician isn't capable of doing his job so we should bring in somebody else? Attacking coaches should be left for fan blogs and other such nonsense. If fans want to start a firepasqualoni.com, then that's there prerogative, but to expect the media to do so is misguided IMO. Just because some hillbilly reporters down south don't understand the difference between journalism and editorial/tabloids doesn't mean we shouldn't. I think the problem is when you have a guy like Des that reports as a reporter, and then also has a blog. It's hard to operate both properly b/c they both require a different approach.

 

[ruskin]

Matt I think you're pretty spot on except the part about "hillbilly reporters". I think people would be happy to get the kind of college football coverage provided by the big papers in the SEC states. too bad P doesn't get the same scrutiny that Les Miles does for time management. And that has nothing to do with opinion. "Coach why didn't you use the timeouts at the end of the first half" is one example of an entirely reasonable question that at least Desmond asked Sunday. Not sure if it was addressed by other reporters.

 

[businesslawyer]

Thank God you're just a lawyer and not a politician.

According to your model, no one should be accountable for the entirety of whatever job it is that they do, as long as they perform well when things are "meaningful".

Who gets to define "meaningful"? You?

If you lost 7 of 10 cases but won the three against the 3 law firms your firm considered "rivals", would you hire yourself?

Would you expect your bosses to sit back and endure the pain of you're losing the cases you should win only to hope you win the ones you shouldn't? Do the damages those losses cost your firm (our football program) no longer exist IF you win those few cases?

And you're way off Jimmy if you don't think it's the media's job to be the mouthpiece of the people. Let me know if you'd prefer living in a world where people like Hitler and the opinions of his victims were ignored by the press because it wasn't a reporters job to speak for the masses. In no way am I comparing UConn Football to the Holocaust but it's a pretty clear point to make if you don't think the most glaring reason the news media exists is to be the voice of the people.

If anyone who reports about this football team doesn't address the elephant in the room, they might as well write, tweet, blog or talk about their favorite cookie recipe.

I'm curious -- do you have to fire people in real life? I do, and I work with others who do. And I am very pround that we do so slowly, after giving the person much warning about what they need to do better and, at the end, very slowly and only after we are sure it won't work in the long run.

As for the rest of the rant, what in the world makes you think I am urging a "free pass" for what has happened to date (which if I understand you is what you're saying) as opposed to judging on the season as an entirely when it's done.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Thank God you're just a lawyer and not a politician.

According to your model, no one should be accountable for the entirety of whatever job it is that they do, as long as they perform well when things are "meaningful".

Who gets to define "meaningful"? You?

If you lost 7 of 10 cases but won the three against the 3 law firms your firm considered "rivals", would you hire yourself?

Would you expect your bosses to sit back and endure the pain of you're losing the cases you should win only to hope you win the ones you shouldn't? Do the damages those losses cost your firm (our football program) no longer exist IF you win those few cases?

And you're way off Jimmy if you don't think it's the media's job to be the mouthpiece of the people. Let me know if you'd prefer living in a world where people like Hitler and the opinions of his victims were ignored by the press because it wasn't a reporters job to speak for the masses. In no way am I comparing UConn Football to the Holocaust but it's a pretty clear point to make if you don't think the most glaring reason the news media exists is to be the voice of the people.

If anyone who reports about this football team doesn't address the elephant in the room, they might as well write, tweet, blog or talk about their favorite cookie recipe.

Neither Dez nor any other member of the horde is your mouthpiece. You want the staff fired, fine. Not their job to make it happen. They should ask the tough questions. I don't consider asking P whether he has thought about replacing GDL a legitimate question. I have a feeling that's what you want them to ask.

A) He's not going to answer it
and
B) You've now lost credibility, goodwill, and access

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

The ironic thing, Jimmy, about what you just said is that it's more true about football coaches not listening to fans than the press not listening.

I have my opinion on where this regime is headed, and in frustration my working opinion may come out from time to time, but I do not need UConn to act like an SEC or NFL (in that order) team and fire people in the middle of the season, so I will see how we do in conference play and then talk about what should happen when the results for the season are in. I'd much rather be focused on beating Temple than complaining about the press.

You're right, but man, I wish just once.....that P listened to me when I was screaming at my TV for him to call a TO after Davis caught that ball over the middle last Saturday.

 

[huskymedic]

Thank God you're just a lawyer and not a politician.

According to your model, no one should be accountable for the entirety of whatever job it is that they do, as long as they perform well when things are "meaningful".

Who gets to define "meaningful"? You?

If you lost 7 of 10 cases but won the three against the 3 law firms your firm considered "rivals", would you hire yourself?

Would you expect your bosses to sit back and endure the pain of you're losing the cases you should win only to hope you win the ones you shouldn't? Do the damages those losses cost your firm (our football program) no longer exist IF you win those few cases?

.

Depends on how many billable hours those 3 wins brought in for the firm... . 7 throw away personal injury suits versus 3 class action suits - I'll take the 3 class action wins!

 

[Kgun7]

Neither Dez nor any other member of the horde is your mouthpiece. You want the staff fired, fine. Not their job to make it happen. They should ask the tough questions. I don't consider asking P whether he has thought about replacing GDL a legitimate question. I have a feeling that's what you want them to ask.

A) He's not going to answer it
and
B) You've now lost credibility, goodwill, and access

Who was the guy from NECN who asked Parcells a question when he was with the Pats. I didn't even think it was too difficult of a question but Parcells immediately went after the guy and later got him re-assigned or even removed. Somehow I remember his last name was Green. He and Mike Adams had a show together. I asked this in another thread and I don't think it was answered.