Football coaches are weird dudes.
It’s a heavily superstitious industry, from Kalen DeBoer’s “black hoodie of death” to Nick Saban’s ritualistic consumption of Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies. Hell, new Arkansas football coach Ryan Silverfield had all the light bulbs changed in the football facility on his first day on the job just to brighten up the meeting rooms. With every coaching branch comes a unique perspective on how the ship should be steered.
Nowadays, everybody has a personal brand to build and protect, coaches and players alike. Some coaches, like LSU’s Lane Kiffin, relish the soap opera drama that most despise.
Others still hang onto the old adages, reciting fluent coach-speak when message board rumors are brought to the public sphere. With the carousel spinning at a historically blistering pace, it matters how coaches market themselves – or at least, how they’re allowed to market themselves.
One of the bigger splits in the head coaching world concerns how much coordinators get face time with the media.
The Chain of Command
The legendary Nick Saban, who bodyslammed Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek on national television on Saturday, is the most notable practitioner of the media relations orthodoxy. The head coach is a sponge to absorb all the blame in press conferences, falling on his sword and taking responsibility after both wins and losses. His coordinators, meanwhile, are shielded from such scrutiny once the season starts. They make press conference appearances only in fall camp.
Georgia’s Kirby Smart adopted this chapter of St. Nick’s teachings, as did former Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman, whose last assistant job was under Smart in Athens.
Ironically, when Pittman was an assistant at Arkansas under Bret Bielema, he endeared himself to fans and reporters alike with his jovial in-season interviews, where he would enter the room in flip-flops after a hard practice and prop his feet up on a chair to talk ball. He once even referred to himself as “King Kong Bundy”:
That likability later played a big part in him getting the head coaching job in 2019. Apparently his time under the watchful eye of Smart changed his tune.
Rick Neuheisel, a former Pac-12 head coach and current CBS pundit, deemed the closed-door philosophy “selfish” on the Chuck & Bo Show last week, arguing it can stunt assistant coaches’ media skills and job opportunities.
Silverfield is just one week into his overhaul of the program, and this is another area where he is set to split from his predecessor.
At Memphis, the 45-year-old allowed his coordinators to have regular media availability throughout the season. It’s likely he’ll carry this policy over to his new gig, allowing Tim Cramsey, his OC at Memphis, and reported defensive coordinator Ron Roberts to get their fair share of time in the limelight.
