DougSutton
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2017
- Messages
- 409
I have read you saying multiple times that you trust the NSU Coach because why would he lie about a ref telling him this, because the ref would obviously deny that he said it. Tell me when ANY ref has done a press conference or even had to publicly say anything. The coach never says the name of the ref, the refs don't have to answer to the press and are actually discouraged to do so. That ref relies on a reputation amongst coaches and if he were to "rat" out another coach, that reputation would be ruined. What would he have to gain to come out and make a statement that none of what the NSU Coach said was true. He has no skin in the game. He is BEST served to stay out of it completely.
As for your giving the NSU Coach the benefit of the doubt, you are entitled to that, but I ask on what grounds? Just because he is a College Head Coach? Is it because he is a POC? Because he is an adult? My observation of these events and his responses (well after the game) cause me to lean the other way. He has been changing his story, and adding to it every interview. He adds the previous incident at ISU (that he forgot about), he seems to add more "facts" each time he tells the story. He wants to play the victim and he is getting all the attention he has never had, he seems to have plenty to gain by embellishing this story.
My sense is if the situation was reversed and it was coach Pedon that said a ref told him something, every fan here would take coach Pedon's word for it. I have heard refs after games do press conferences, a few come to mind when they missed a call that obviously changed the outcome of a game. Admittedly, I've only heard very few press conferences from any person denying they said something.
But, I have absolutely zero doubt that after making such an accusation as coach Jones did, that he would know full well that a private investigation would start and that the refs would be interviewed as part of the investigation. No part of me believes coach Jones or anyone would blatantly lie knowing full well that person would be interviewed and would deny ever saying it. Regarding on what grounds I'm giving this trust, if it were any of you or anyone else making the identical claim, I would give you that trust until I was proven wrong. To be clear, I've been proven wrong plenty of times in my life and was surprised, just as I would be in this case.
None of this excuses coach Jones' other behaviors. I believe in the saying that there are not bad students, only bad teachers (the Cobra Kai series on Netflix comes to mind) and with him being the teacher/coach, the trash talking that his players displayed throughout the game are a reflection of poor leadership on his part. We've seen different coaches reflect poor leadership in similar ways in recent years, with Greg Marshall coming to mind as just one.
I will wait until the findings from the ISU investigation are delivered and hope that WGLT stays on top of this as well because they didn't hesitate to be on top of the early reporting.