DMN Blog: Commish Goodell to attempt to make asst coaches available to the media

[WoodysGirl]

Commissioner Goodell


Roger Goodell, the NFL's commissioner, did something that will curry favor with sports writers for a long time by attending the Pro Football Writers Association meeting before his planned speech in a few moments.

He took some questions and said he would do what he can to make assistant coaches available to the media. Under Bill Parcells, assistants were not allowed to speak to the press, and several coaches have such a philosophy as well.

Why should you care if assistants coach speak? The more voices we have in our stories, the more you will learn about the team. Assistant coaches can be a valuable tool for reporters in breaking down players and schemes and helping us understand things we don't understand.

Posted by Todd Archer http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/icons/email.gif at 10:07 AM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (0)

 

[Yeagermeister]

The media just wants too talk to more coaches to get more dirt.

After having our asst coaches pre BP tell everything that was going on I liked the fact the media had to work for info.

 

[JPM]

If the Pats made it this year Belicheck would have lost his marbles.

 

[WoodysGirl]

The media just wants too talk to more coaches to get more dirt.

After having our asst coaches pre BP tell everything that was going on I liked the fact the media had to work for info.

What's interesting to note is that even though they no longer work for Bill, you still haven't heard much from the assistants. Only person who's been more vocal is Zim. The rest of them, not a peep. Not even from the other ones who left.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

The media just wants too talk to more coaches to get more dirt.

After having our asst coaches pre BP tell everything that was going on I liked the fact the media had to work for info.

I don't because it gives the fans less insight. This is a game... it's not "war"... it's not a secret attempt by a pharmacutical company to cure cancer.

The media should have access to assistants.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I don't because it gives the fans less insight. This is a game... it's not "war"... it's not a secret attempt by a pharmacutical company to cure cancer.

The media should have access to assistants.

So you want to go back to the days of coach Joe giving away our whole game plan....not that it would have mattered?

 

[Cowboys22]

Screw the media, all they want is to dig for dirt and create controversies. Can you imagine what the media would have tried this year with TO if they had access to all the assistant coaches. Those coaches would have been grilled with nothing but TO questions and everything they said would then have thrown right in Bill's and TO's face. You think it was a circus this year? You think a single reporter would have asked a single positive question regarding TO?

 

[burmafrd]

Crap on that. The MEDIA has no RIGHT to anything; neither do the fans.

 

[lspain1]

I don't because it gives the fans less insight. This is a game... it's not "war"... it's not a secret attempt by a pharmacutical company to cure cancer.

The media should have access to assistants.

If the media were trying to "inform" us folks out here I would agree. However, most are trying to dig dirt and raise their own profiles. How would the TO circus have gone this year if everyone was talking? Did it lessen your enjoyment not to hear that so-and-so assistant (from an un-named source)didn't like Parcells game plans or thought TO was dogging it? Would Jen-Jen, Hansen and Galloway been less opinionated (and insufferable) if they were more informed. I doubt it.

I believe I would enjoy more inside information into what makes a game plan and how they work in a season. I would like more frank evaluations of players from coaches around the league. I like X's and O's and thoughts on the difference between good players and coaches and great players and coaches. I've seen media reporting when things were open and I've seen it when it was closed. I don't think I was any better informed when things were open because the media think that stuff doesn't interest the "public" and never report on it. The Dallas media is particularly bad about this. Nothing above a sixth grade level.

Until the advent of the internet and a willingness to provide some in-depth reporting all you got was feel good stories and very little nuts and bolts. What was wrong with our defense from the Saints game on? Did JJT ever ask anyone outside of the Cowboys what was wrong? How did the loss of one player derail what was supposedly one of the deepest areas on the team? Galloway? Jen-Jen? Buck Naked? Mac Engel?

To return to my point, all they want to talk about is how Jerry won't get along with (fill in the blank). The very first story after Jerry picks a head coach will be "Will Coach (Blank) Fire TO" or Can Jerry Share Power with Coach (Blank)." All personalities and no football. Make no mistake, one of the things the media should do is let us get to know the players. But there should always be a focus on football....and there isn't.

I don't hide the fact I don't like the media and feel they miss the boat much of the time. They do a poor job covering football and cover everything else instead. Instead we have to rely on "just plain folk" to chart plays and performances in camp and during the regular season. It's a shame and an outrage.

The "beat writers" do not deserve access to the assistant coaches,. They'll only screw it up.

 

[burmafrd]

We get more good info and insight and indepth research right HERE on this board then anything I have seen anyone of the so called EXPERTS or the other ****** in the media provide. And that happened this last year. So SCREW the media- they deserve NOTHING.

 

[superpunk]

Why should you care if assistants coach speak? The more voices we have in our stories, the more you will learn about the team. Assistant coaches can be a valuable tool for reporters in breaking down players and schemes and helping us understand things we don't understand.

The media just wants too talk to more coaches to get more dirt.

After having our asst coaches pre BP tell everything that was going on I liked the fact the media had to work for info.

Totally agree, Yeag. Even with just having access to Parcells, they ask questions about whether or not people screw up, he tells them, and they write the opposite. I'm prolly beating a dead horse here, but look at just Roy. The plays against Washington, where Bill flat out said that's not on Roy, explained why, still the media placed that blame. They asked if it seemed other team's were targeting Williams last year. Bill told them no - they're actually staying away from him. They ignored it and we get to see their antagonism on Roy still, and it's mostly personal, just like it was with Bill and is with TO.

They don't care about getting the facts straight, and we've seen as much with their responses to posters here who have gotten ants in their pants and written to them. The media at this point is mostly about entertainment, as I've come to realize, and I'm ok with that. I would guess that they wanted access to Parcells assistants to see if they could put the squeeze on them and get some discord going, which is why it's a good idea to not let that happen.

More access isn't going to get us more interesting journalism. It might get us more entertainment and controversy, but I doubt the writers will use that tool to get greater insight on the game. They could do that by asking the players serious questions when they get access to them.

 

[superpunk]

If the media were trying to "inform" us folks out here I would agree. However, most are trying to dig dirt and raise their own profiles. How would the TO circus have gone this year if everyone was talking? Did it lessen your enjoyment not to hear that so-and-so assistant (from an un-named source)didn't like Parcells game plans or thought TO was dogging it? Would Jen-Jen, Hansen and Galloway been less opinionated (and insufferable) if they were more informed. I doubt it.

I believe I would enjoy more inside information into what makes a game plan and how they work in a season. I would like more frank evaluations of players from coaches around the league. I like X's and O's and thoughts on the difference between good players and coaches and great players and coaches. I've seen media reporting when things were open and I've seen it when it was closed. I don't think I was any better informed when things were open because the media think that stuff doesn't interest the "public" and never report on it. The Dallas media is particularly bad about this. Nothing above a sixth grade level.

Until the advent of the internet and a willingness to provide some in-depth reporting all you got was feel good stories and very little nuts and bolts. What was wrong with our defense from the Saints game on? Did JJT ever ask anyone outside of the Cowboys what was wrong? How did the loss of one player derail what was supposedly one of the deepest areas on the team? Galloway? Jen-Jen? Buck Naked? Mac Engel?

To return to my point, all they want to talk about is how Jerry won't get along with (fill in the blank). The very first story after Jerry picks a head coach will be "Will Coach (Blank) Fire TO" or Can Jerry Share Power with Coach (Blank)." All personalities and no football. Make no mistake, one of the things the media should do is let us get to know the players. But there should always be a focus on football....and there isn't.

I don't hide the fact I don't like the media and feel they miss the boat much of the time. They do a poor job covering football and cover everything else instead. Instead we have to rely on "just plain folk" to chart plays and performances in camp and during the regular season. It's a shame and an outrage.

The "beat writers" do not deserve access to the assistant coaches,. They'll only screw it up.

Pretty fantastic post. I think they should get all the access they can get - you do what you can - but I agree the suggestion that they're doing it to get us better informed is ridiculous. Sex, dirt and discord sell, and so they just scratch the surface. Personally, I'd like to hear about some of the great things players do, and more personal stuff getting to know them, but the media screwed that up by the sensationalizing, so players are so guarded now all you get is stock cliches.

Will anyone ever trot out "He couldn't spell cat if you spotted him the c and the T" again? I doubt it. Noone could handle that backlash.

Case in point, we hear all the terrible things athletes do, especially in basketball, and we're pretty much desensitized by now, so that we watch the games and just don't care. You've got to dig to get the rare article about Gilbert Arenas basically adopting a young boy whose family died in a fire, providing for him, preparing his education, taking him under his wing. Instead, you hear about what a nut and coook Gilbert is, and how quirky he is.

But, that's their formula by now. You would think the economic struggles their industry is going through would alert them - instead they excuse it with "there are just too many outlets to compete with". Yeah. That's the reason.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Too bad that most you... Because it seems that the media will have access to to assistants-- even the commish agrees.

So to you folks, I say "hard cheese".

 

[FLcowboy]

Commissioner Goodell


Roger Goodell, the NFL's commissioner, did something that will curry favor with sports writers for a long time by attending the Pro Football Writers Association meeting before his planned speech in a few moments.

He took some questions and said he would do what he can to make assistant coaches available to the media. Under Bill Parcells, assistants were not allowed to speak to the press, and several coaches have such a philosophy as well.

Why should you care if assistants coach speak? The more voices we have in our stories, the more you will learn about the team. Assistant coaches can be a valuable tool for reporters in breaking down players and schemes and helping us understand things we don't understand.

Posted by Todd Archer http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/icons/email.gif at 10:07 AM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (0)

Yeah, more ammunition to "create" issues when none really exist.

 

[superpunk]

Winky, I'm convinced that if it was against Bill's policy to kill kittens, and Goodell suddenly declared open season on kittens, you would applaud that, too.

 

[WoodysGirl]

One thing I will say is that there are those in the media who do realize they need to provide more in-depth information for the more the knowledgeable fan.

The DMN Blog is the best thing they could've created last year...and the info they provided during training camp was great. Of course, it wasn't as in-depth as Grizz's reports, but you have to consider that their audience is still the casual fan. I find that they're at least trying to balance it out with info for the more hard core fan.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Winky, I'm convinced that if it was against Bill's policy to kill kittens, and Goodell suddenly declared open season on kittens, you would applaud that, too.

Actually I think their positions would have been reversed in real-life...


Parcells = Anti-Christ

 

[MichaelWinicki]

One thing I will say is that there are those in the media who do realize they need to provide more in-depth information for the more the knowledgeable fan.

The DMN Blog is the best thing they could've created last year...and the info they provided during training camp was great. Of course, it wasn't as in-depth as Grizz's reports, but you have to consider that their audience is still the casual fan. I find that they're at least trying to balance it out with info for the more hard core fan.

Exactly right.

Any fan that says they didn't have any inclination in learning more about the inner-workings about this club like say for example the infamous "December collapse" is quite frankly full of it.

 

[superpunk]

Exactly right.

Any fan that says they didn't have any inclination in learning more about the inner-workings about this club like say for example the infamous "December collapse" is quite frankly full of it.

Let's say they got this access

(a) Do you think the assistant coaches would reveal really anything more than what Parcells did? He told us it was the same two players screwing certain things up. That was enough for most of us to figure out who it was - a week later, Mosley or someone regurgitates what we already figured out by listening to Parcells and watching the games.

(b) Do you think they would use the information to inform - or entertain? Something tells me the axe-grinders and prominent guys aren't interested in accurately describing what went wrong - just how they can blame Bill for what went wrong.

They already have extensive access, and very few coaches give the access to the HC that Parcells does. By and large he's truthful with them. Maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt, but I doubt their focus will shift from sensational to informative just because they can talk to Todd Haley. Maybe some markets - but the guys in Dallas?

I don't see it.

 

[CoCo]

No one can make a coach divulge information that is off limits and like Bill many assistants will be real good at playing cat and mouse.

But there will also be coaches with a more "TO" style that couldn't be discreet if their life depended on it.

Thats an exaggeration of course but you get the point.

And in the end I'm not sure either policy has a significant impact on the ability of the media to do their job well. Its not the ingredients, its what you do with them.