Shockwaves

Which happened first? A media outlet blew a story out of proportion and fudged the facts in the interest of a hot story? Or a coach fudged his or her interest in an open job and toyed with the affections of fans?

That is the chicken-or-the-egg place we are at with the Gregg Marshall-and-South Carolina story. He thinks the attention to the story is overblown and the media is treating him and his family unfairly. As far as I can tell, most of his gripe is with talk radio and TV. KGSO’s Chris Allison gave him a chance to identify the mistakes. Marshall declined, although he later said a report stated he is friends with South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier. In fact, they have never met, Marshall said Tuesday. I can find that reference here at the KWCH Web site. I don’t know if it has been repeated elsewhere.

I asked him about reporting in The Wichita Eagle after the news conference and he said he had no issue with the reporting. Is he thrilled with everything the Eagle has done? Probably not. My impression is that at least we have gotten the facts straight.

To a certain degree, this is the way things are going to go with these stories. Coaches want them to go away and they say they don’t understand the intense interest. The media is interested because the public is interested. Fairly or not, this deal has been the talk of Wichita the past few days. The WSU basketball coach is the No. 1 figure of the No. 1 sports story in town. WSU and Marshall benefit from that passion when Koch Arena fills up with 10,500 fans. This is the downside. Everybody wants to know, and it’s easy for a frantic tone to evolve. I’ve been around enough coaches to know that they love their gossip – when the gossip involves other coaches.

Marshall is paying the price for all the coaches who said they were not interested in a job, and then later took that job. It’s not fair, but the media and public are no longer inclined to believe coaches. Fans and the media have seen too many under-the-table deals and pledges of loyalty rendered meaningless. The media is paying the price for the reporters and commentators who made mistakes or say and write outrageous things with little regard for perspective or the facts. Coaches are not inclined to trust the media, in some cases, because of loose talk and sloppy reporting.

At this point, I think the story goes away until March. Marshall has addressed it, probably more than many coaches would. His statement won’t satisfy fans who want his unending devotion. It was a pretty standard statement. It also seems to accurately describe the situation. We don’t know much, and Marshall says there is not much to know.

I talked to Bill Stutz, father of WSU recruit Garrett Stutz, this afternoon. He talked with Marshall over the weekend and gives him a rock-solid endorsement for his handling of the situation. He is confident Marshall will coach his son next season, something that should give Shocker fans some relief. I write more about it in Wednesday’s Eagle.

The media gets to tell its side. Here is Marshall’s:

“Here’s what I’ve learned from this – you can’t believe everything you read in the newspaper,” he said. “You can’t believe everything you hear on the radio. You can’t even believe your local news. I have heard things that are not true, said about this, myself. Not true. Just simply not true. I guess it’s newsworthy. I don’t know why it’s still a story.”

Other tidbits from Tuesday’s press conference:

• WSU guard Matt Braeuer is making improvements on his concussion test. His basketball future remains uncertain. He is not practicing.
• LSU has asked to move next season’s scheduled meeting in Shreveport to the 2009-10 season. The game also might be moved to Dallas. No decision has been made. I would think WSU would love a move to Dallas. It has been trying to schedule games in Texas for years.
• Marshall is thinly disguising a feeling his team is not getting a fair shake from the referees.

An example from the SIU game in which two Shockers fouled out: “(SIU center Randal) Falker’s a pretty big, strong guy. We were just pushing him all around, getting all kind of fouls. Just pushing him too much.”

And one from Creighton, in which Marshall received a technical he thought was undeserved and the officials missed a Creighton player kicking the ball into the student section. “I had some discussions about breaks we didn’t receive in the Creighton game, and that was confirmed. That was confirmed. But you know what, they’re not going to change the L to a W.” When Marshall was asked for specifics, he looked to sports information director Larry Rankin, who advised Marshall not to say more.

• Marshall lightened up in practice as the losing and injuries mount. There is no point in hammering away at this team’s psyche, he said. “You can’t just press, press, press right now,” he said. “At a different time, I think we could have just run these guys right into the ground. Not just physically, but psychologically. I’ve tried not to do that. With the exception of a couple of games, I think we’ve competed very well. And even played pretty well, relative to what we can do. And it hasn’t been enough, except for the Bradley game.”
• His impression of the MVC continues to be that it is a grinding, physical conference. WSU does not have the bodies to play that way this season, one reason why it is plagued by injuries and foul problems, in my opinion.

After the news conference, Marshall went to watch film and practice and found out guard Gal Mekel was sick. Mekel did not practice. If he does not play against Northern Iowa on Wednesday, Wendell Preadom starts at point. P.J. Couisnard is the backup. My money is on Mekel playing. He is not the kind of person who lets the flu keep him out of a basketball game.

When I left Koch Arena at 6 p.m., Graham Hatch was shooting with manager Ryan Mahoney rebounding. The Shockers watched film at 2. Practiced at 3, followed by weights. Hatch is not the only Shocker who stays late. This team lacks many things, but the desire to work hard is not one of them.