Heather Cox does not appreciate her Rose Bowl interview being cut short
After Stanford's 20-14 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin, ESPN's Heather Cox failed in her attempt to get the obligatory sideline interview with the winning coach, David Shaw.
Shaw, however, was not exactly cooperative, trying to walk away multiple times before giving her the boilerplate answer - something along the lines of keeping the winning tradition alive - as he was whisked away by a staff member to the trophy presentation.
You can hear Cox say, "are you kidding?" as Brent Musberger tries to explain away the miscommunication.
Surely Cox knows that next time she should just body check anyone getting in her way to get the full interview like Holly Rowe.
Regardless, Shaw should probably know better than to walk away from an interview with ESPN and Cox should know the mic is always hot.
[H/T to the hundreds of you to alerted us on Twitter]
I dunno, I thought it was refreshing that she said something at the end which was completely extemporaneous, not dumb, not profane, not what she heard in her earpiece. As I understand it, there was a contractual obligation to do the interview for the viewers, not simply an "obligatory" interview. She was being real. Bravo.
Reasonable minds can disagree. I did not think her "are you kidding me" was refreshing in any sense. As intimated elsewhere herein, tell me, when has any post-game (worse still, going into halftime) interview ever been particularly illuminating? I think that is what made Cox' patent disgust so appalling, i.e., it is not like we all missed the game winning touchdown. Get real. Her questions were as generic and contrived as her self-importance was unfounded.
@drudown @MCulleton Okay, okay... you're right. Guess I was just giving her props for not saying, "I'm Ron Burgundy?" :)
So sick of Female Sideline Reporters,who think it's all about them. If YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, HEATHER, THE HEAD COACH (A) WANTS TO MEET WITH HIS PLAYERS FIRST AND (B) GO GET HIS HIS TROPHY. AN INTERVIEW WITH YOU IS IS WAY DOWN DOWN THE PECKING ORDER. OTHER THAN PAM OLIVER, HANNAH STORM AND GAYLE GARDNER (from the 80s) most of these women sports reporters are there for their looks, NOT their talent!! ESPN is really digging in the garbage for ratings. AND HOLLY ROWE LOOKED STUPID WHEN SHE DID THAT STUNT! OTHER THAN ROBERTS,BET NONE OF THEM EVER PLAYED ANY SPORTS AT ANY LEVEL!! YES, IT DOES HELP, CAUSE YOU UNDERSTAND THE MENTALITY OF ATHLETICS.
Concur.
An appreciable amount of the sideline reporters and sportscasters (e.g., Cindy Brunson) have no business in the filed of sports but couldn't get a regular gig. At least Rachel Nichols seems like she is actually passionate.
David actually Heather Cox played College Volleyball, so don't say that she dosen't know the mentality of athletics!!!
Who cares, IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME 3 QUESTIONS NO MATTER WHO THE COACH, NO MATTER WHAT THE GAME!
Stanford's SID needs to keep the coach very aware before the game of what the coach's pre- and post-game responsibilities will be (as came up w/r/t Joe Paterno at the Rose Bowl a few years back, these interviews are typically contractually mandated), and then the SID (or appointed media relations person) needs to be standing next to the coach after the game and guiding him along from appropriate spot to spot and telling folks to wait their turn. If Stanford doesn't do that, they need to fix it. And if David Shaw doesn't like all of that stuff, too bad - that's part of being a head coach of an FBS program (or, he might want to keep in mind, the head coach of an NFL team).
Oh please. You imply that the head coach of the winning team's superseding thought should be to answer to some sideline reporter? Get real. Based on what? He isn't under contract with ESPN.
post game interviews and halftime interviews are pre arranged and are part of the contract. Coaches know well in advance that they are required to do these interviews. Heather had every right to be pissed, although as a professional, she should have waited to express her anger. I'm sure ESPN officials had strong words to Stanford officials after things settled down.
The whole thing was rather silly. Not only did she finally get the interview, but two minutes later he was on the trophy stand being interviewed by Chris Fowler.
ESPN pays her to do a job. The coach was rudely yanked away. She has every right to be pissed.
Why were they in such a rush anyways, because they had a full Postgame show after the Rose Bowl on ESPN this afternoon because the game only lasted 3:06???
Besides when the game ended the Orange Bowl still didn't have the opening Kickoff scheduled untill 32 minutes later!!
Yeah, loved the "are you kidding?". Good grief, pardon the coach for not caring about giving an interview after just winning the game.
