Are there any people on the planet who are bigger control freaks than college football coaches?
The latest example of power run amok comes from the University of Southern California, where head football coach Lincoln Riley (along with the university’s director of football communications) has banned a reporter who covers the team for two weeks over … well, over pretty flimsy excuses.
Actually, they’re banning him because they’re thin-skinned and petty. But let’s get to the official reason.
USC is claiming that Luca Evans, who covers the Trojans for The Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group, violated the program’s media policies. USC and Riley apparently were irked that in the lead of one story, Evans wrote about two players talking to each other about being nervous to speak to reporters. The conversation was held in front of the media, but before the official media availability started. And that, USC claimed, was a violation of policy.
The anecdote was pretty innocent stuff, it didn’t reveal anything embarrassing or give away football secrets. If anything, it showed the players in an endearing way. In fact, Evans reached out to the father of one of the players, and the dad thought the conversation was funny and accurate.
In a staff-written report, the Register wrote, “(Director of football communications Katie) Ryan had earlier in the season brought up concerns to SCNG editors about Evans, who is on his first season on the USC beat. They included asking a question when a press conference had been concluded and talking to players and coaches in areas on campus that weren’t designated as media availabilities.”
Oh my, the nerve of Evans for doing his, you know, job. And to think that USC actually complained about something that minor, for goodness’ sake.
The Southern California News Group believes the suspension is an overreaction and sent a letter this week asking Riley, USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen and USC president Carol Folt to reconsider. Cohen responded, in part, by writing, “As you know, our media policies exist to protect our student-athletes and promote a culture of trust that is critical to building successful programs. After careful consideration and in alignment with the sentiment above, USC supports the football program’s decision regarding Luca’s two-week suspension. We recognize this may be disappointing, but we hope you can understand the need to enforce our media policies as we strive to create a positive and comfortable environment for our players and coaches.”
There also was a report that Ryan was annoyed that Evans called the school president by her first name.
Seriously?!
The pushback from the media around the country was swift.
USA Today For The Win’s Blake Schuster wrote, “Lincoln Riley and USC have spent the first three weeks of the season proving how dominant they are on the field and the past few days proving how dumb and petty they are off of it.”
Jenni Carlson, the former Oklahoman columnist now with the new startup SelloutCrowd.com, covered Riley when he was the coach at Oklahoma University. She said, “I wish I could say I’m surprised Lincoln put a two-week ban on a reporter, but that tracks with what we saw during his time in Norman. He never did anything that harsh, though OU did cancel a day of media availability in 2021 after a couple of student reporters watched practice from the upper reaches of the journalism building across the street. But there was always a sense that Lincoln had a very tight grip on media access. Who was allowed to do interviews. Who wasn’t. He absolutely wanted to control the narrative, and really, that’s what he wasn’t able to do with the OC Register reporter. And Riley is throwing around his weight trying to keep anyone else from doing something like this in the future.”
Like I said: College football coaches — at least most that I’ve come across — are control freaks.
Brady McCollough, who covers college sports for the Los Angeles Times and has spent a lot of time around the USC program, tweeted, “USC has suspended a reporter from the beat for two weeks. Are you freaking kidding me? So *this* is the Lincoln Riley Oklahoma media were warning us about.”
Of course, all this ire from Riley, Ryan and USC is under the guise of “protecting the players.” But Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich tweeted, “This is not about ‘protecting players’ as Lincoln Riley contends — it’s about controlling them. Reporters have so little access to players as it is. We can’t reach out one-on-one. We’re threatened with being blacklisted if we do so. Let the kids talk. If a player is talking w/in earshot of a journalist, they know better than to let us hear them. They’re not toddlers.”
Chrsitovich added that USC is “ a joke” for this maneuver.
Veteran sportswriter Jeff Pearlman tweeted, “I know (Ryan) is just taking orders from yet another DI football coach who thinks he's God, but this is absolute (expletive) amateur hour from @USC. Beyond shameful. Would be nice to have media relations people stand up for the media. Alas …”
Jim Alexander — a columnist for The Press-Enterprise, part of the Southern California News Group — wrote, “… maybe he’s just resorting to the traditional college football coach’s playbook: Assert control, and steer the coverage of your team into friendly territory, by bullying the new guy on the beat and intimidating the others.”
Alexander added, “If you’re reading this publication, you are benefitting from independent reporting, again without fear or favor. And so we go back to the very beginning: The news source does not have the right to dictate who does — or doesn’t — cover the beat.”
Alexander also wrote, “And by the way, if Riley thinks I deserve a ‘suspension’ after this, he shouldn’t waste his breath. I’m ‘suspending’ USC football from this column for a while.”
And what did Evans, the reporter who was suspended, have to say? He showed professionalism by tweeting: “As the Orange County Register has reported, USC has suspended my access for two weeks. I will continue covering the program as best I possibly can, and have some exciting stories in the works. I appreciate the support of members of the media, and am determined to continue to tell engaging stories that capture these athletes as people.”
Bottom line: This is an embarrassing look from a university and college football coach who wants to control every aspect of their program — even the parts that don’t come under their authority.
Shameful and disturbing. But not at all surprising.
