SEC media days have always been a little bit of a circus. But boy, there must have been something in the water this week in Tampa that made first-year head coaches go from wired to absolutely insane.
Maybe it is the Curt Cignetti Effect. The Indiana coach became a household name two years ago when he bluntly said, “I win. Google me.” Cignetti has definitely backed that up, with the Hoosiers winning the national title last season as part of one of the biggest turnarounds in college football history.
Kentucky’s Will Stein stole a bit from the Cignetti playbook when asked why he thinks he can win in Lexington.
The Curt Cignetti Effect?
“I think because of me, to be honest,” he said. “I think ’cause of me. I think I know what it takes. I have seen it at the highest levels. I know what it takes to recruit at this level.”
Those are big words from a 36-year-old man who has yet to serve as a head coach at any level in football, much less the SEC and at a program that historically has been also-rans in the power sweepstakes that is the conference.
But Stein wasn’t the only man who seemed to need a Xanax or so. Florida head coach Jon Sumrall lost it when a reporter’s phone made the galling mistake of having an alarm go off. The first-year Gators’ coach could have ignored it like a normal person, but instead used it as a threat toward said reporter, saying he felt like throwing the podium at him.
We trust this guy to lead college-aged men why?
Arkansas’ Ryan Satterfield talked about his aura by describing how hot his wife is, a brag that most men would make after a few cocktails at the local bar, not when speaking publicly as the head coach of a major college football program.
And Pete Golding? Well, his transcript reads like a man who lost any filter in his head a long time ago.
Even Lane Kiffin seemed tame compared to these guys.
Granted, it makes great headlines and easy copy, and for some, puts confidence in their first-year coach. For others like myself, it seems like these guys are going out of their way to inspire, but in the totally wrong way.
Yes, media days have always been crazy, whether it be Les Miles going on a 10-minute tangent about crime in Baton Rouge or Jimbo Fisher speaking so fast that many keyboards heated up just trying to catch up. There were the few years we had the pleasure of having Mike Leach at the podium, and, of course, the many times a coach tried to filibuster his time on stage to avoid questions about ongoing trouble in their programs.
But this year was extra juicy, and it was the new guys who brought it to the front and center. Let’s hope that their coaching skills are as good as bragaddacio.
Add us as a preferred source on Google