Mar

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A look at the Calhoun press conference

Filed Under Sports PR 

On February 21, the post-game press conference with UConn head coach Jim Calhoun took an unexpected turn when Ken Krayeske, a freelance reporter, asked the coach about his salary amid the poor economic situation for the state of Connecticut.

PR in Sports, a new sports PR blog run by Brian Gleason, takes a look at this situation at what the UConn PR staff could have done to prevent this situation from getting blown up in the mainstream media as well as the blogosphere.

Whether or not the UConn PR staff was keeping an eye on Krayeske, they should have stepped in once the question was asked with, “Anyone have any questions related to the game?”.

This is always a tough spot for a PR person. It can be very difficult to know whether or not to end an interview or line of questioning, but this was a case where Calhoun needed to be protected. Even if you think Krayeske’s questioning was valid, the postgame press conference was not the time or place. Calhoun was right in that Krayeske’s questioning was something that should have been handled in a one-on-one setting.

Again, this isn’t to bash the UConn PR staff, it’s to learn from a situation that could have, and probably should have, been prevented. Krayeske probably shouldn’t have even received credentials, but the questioning definitely should have been stopped before it escalated.

Amy Mengel argues at Mengel Musings that Calhoun should have had media training (or more of it) to prepare for these types of situations and be able to respond in a better manner than telling the reporter to shut up. Perhaps the PR staff did have Calhoun go through media training, but just did not use that information in the heat of the moment. Either way, this incident does show why media training is important for not only athletes, but front office and coaching staffs.

The segment below aired during the halftime of the UNC-GT on Feb. 28 as Calhoun talked about the incident (via Awful Announcing).

NECN examines Krayeske’s background as well as the question he asked during the press conference. It certainly would seem that the freelancer’s goal was to bait Calhoun and get people talking about his salary — he got just that. While the question certainly would have been more appropriate in a one-on-one setting, Krayeske got his point across in the press conference and Calhoun’s reaction only fueled the fire.

The Hartford Courant has quite a few articles on the situation. The first by Jeff Jacobs, states that “Calhoun owes an answer, not a refund.” Jacobs gives his opinion on the question and coach’s reaction. Another article reports that two key legislators said Calhoun should be discipline for his poor representation of the institution. A third article discusses Calhoun’s disappointment from the lack of support from the University.

While I can understand Calhoun’s frustration at getting that type of a question after a basketball game during a press conference about the game, he obviously did not handle himself well at all. A no comment would have been better than telling the reporter to shut up. But this situation can definitely be a learning opportunity for us as Brian pointed out — should the PR staff have stepped in and said that they were only accepting questions about the game? How could UConn have handled the situation better in the days following the press conference when it became clear that this was going to become a viral video and story?

Comments

One Response to “A look at the Calhoun press conference”

  1. New Info on Jim Calhoun vs. Ken Krayeske « PR in Sports on March 3rd, 2009 8:40 pm

    [...] could have calmed the storm in the days following the press conference. Christy Hammond over at Sports PR Blog has a great interview from NECN in Boston with Coach Calhoun, and asks how the UConn staff could [...]

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