Schiano Says Media “Not Good For The Players”
December 3rd, 2012
From Day 1, Greg Schiano has made it clear that he treats every game as its own season and nothing else matters. It’s the Eagles season this week, and the only goal in the organization is to go 1-0 in that season.
Good luck even trying to get the leader of the New Schiano Order to acknowledge that future games, past games or bigger topics exist.
Tonight, a caller into The Greg Schiano Show on WDAE-AM 620, heaped loads of praise on the leader of the New Schiano Order for his unwavering focused mentality. And Schiano explained that the monstrous media scrutiny in the NFL almost forces him to take a hard line approach to an extreme single-game focus.
“It’s so hard in the National Football League. There’s so much media coverage,” Schiano said. “And the media, you know, has a thousand different angles that they want to portray things, which is great. It’s great for the game. It gives fans something to do all week long since we only play once a week. But it’s not good for the players. And, you know, if you just follow the National Football League, one week they have a team dead for rites, and the next week they’re back in the playoff hunt. And that’s what sells air time, that’s what sells Internet sites, that’s what sells newspapers. But as a football player and a football coach, the only thing you can affect is that one game that week.”
Joe’s not sure he buys into the coach’s philosophy. Joe’s confident players can handle practice responsibilities, film study, and engage media, and keep all the hype in perspective and perform on Sundays. In fact, there have been numerous examples of that through the years from teams under far more scrutiny than the 2012 Bucs in relatively small-market Tampa.
But Joe understands Schiano’s mindset and respects why he keeps a leash on his team’s interaction with the media.
Sadly, Joe expects this means that when the Bucs do make the Super Bowl one day, Donald Penn and Carl Nicks won’t be leading a modern day version of the Super Bowl Shuffle on MTV. That’s a damn shame.
December 3rd, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Thanks Joe. That video is such a freaking classic.
December 3rd, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Players interacting with the media also sells tickets. We develop a love/hate relationship with individual players and will pay to see them in person.
December 3rd, 2012 at 9:14 pm
I agree with the coach 100%. Young players will believe everything the media says or prints and will buy into the hype or cringe on the criticism.
December 3rd, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Schiano is absolutely right. The media is a major (potential) distraction for players and can indirectly affect a players confidence level.
We’re still talking about people here and these particular people have been coddled and fed compliments their whole lives. I bet criticism plays a much larger role than people think. Being a professional athlete has to be quite the emotional roller coaster.
December 4th, 2012 at 7:29 am
Control FREAK! Maybe this is why Sully is checkin his options at this time.
December 4th, 2012 at 8:35 am
Buccanay, I guess you’d rather have Rah Rah Morris?
December 4th, 2012 at 9:51 am
Honestly, I didn’t expect Joe to agree as he would be part of the group Schiano was addressing.
Schiano is right, of course. He was addressing media as it pertains to the player distractions. Yes, media coverage can help the team sell tickets…but it is a two-edge sword. It can also hinder ticket sales.
Ironically, negative press on sports teams can damage a local economy.
December 4th, 2012 at 11:00 am
Pete, we get plenty of that with the radio talent around here…they are negative win or lose.
December 4th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
The Little General is a control freak and his NFL is the No Fun League.