A college football coach.
An individual who leads their team into battle every week. An individual who runs the ship and make sure everything is running smooth and sound. And an individual who likes to compare his team to some of the most hated people of the 20th century.
Well at least this guy did.
Yesterday, University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley decided to compare his struggling team to the Germans in World War 2.
Probably not the best idea, coach.
Either he had just watched a documentary the night before and was fascinated with the WWII topic, or he attempted to be a clown but ended up sounding really weird.
The fact is that Tennessee football is in the news today for all the wrong reasons. Because the coach said what was on his mind.
And this happens far too often in sports. A coach gets fired up after a loss and says whatever comes to his head. It can make that coach look like an idiot, and it can also make that team look really bad as well.
Sure this stuff is gold for journalists around the world, but the reputation of your team should always come before trying to make an intriguing soundbite.
What's Tennessee's reputation now? "Hey, that's the team with that Nazi coach" will probably be a popular thought among many fans for the rest of the year. Sad but true.
I'm not shooting down press conferences at all. A coach getting angry or excited is great theatre. But they have to be extremely cautious of what they say and who they say it to in today's age. Just remember, the reputation of a team can change with a slip of the tongue.
But that won't stop me from following the the University of TenNazi----oops, I mean----Tennessee.
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