Notre Dame Players Allegedly Threatened Reporter After National Title Game

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Regarding the incident in the Notre Dame locker room…

I’ll be happy to outline exactly what happened.

First of all, after the game, here’s the situation. The losing team is given a 10-minute cooling off period. When the head coach goes to his press conference, the locker room opens to the media. This happens more or less while the winning team is still on the field at the trophy ceremony. This is standard procedure at all CFP games.

I was going to write a piece about Jeremiah Smith’s game-clinching catch. I went to the press conference and asked Freeman about the play, it was something like the third question.

I dipped out of the presser after asking my question and went to the locker room, which by that point had been open for a few minutes, in hopes of getting Christian Gray’s perspective. (I believe it’s important to give players an opportunity to describe what they saw and experienced if they are willing, because it often has a lot to add to the story.) Keep in mind, Gray wasn’t coming into the press conference so the locker room was the only place he would be available. Again, this is standard procedure at all rounds of playoff games.

When I walked into the locker room, there were a small number of reporters in there. But some of them had already approached Gray and tried to ask about the play. As I walked in, a few players were shouting obscenities at the reporters who had been there and complaining about the fact that Gray was asked about Jeremiah Smith. I noticed that a staff member had walled off access to the locker and said that he wasn’t going to answer questions about the play. So I turned around to leave because there was no point wasting my time and was going to go over to the Ohio State locker room. As I was leaving, a few players said some pretty threatening and insulting things to me as well.

I don’t really care, but it was ugly and unbecoming and unprofessional. It was also seen something that a few other media members and people working for the CFP staff saw, so any suggestion that this didn’t happen is - quite frankly - complete and utter bullshite. It was also something I’ve never really seen in 20-plus years of covering these situations, even in some of the most distraught and heartbroken locker rooms you can imagine. The reality is, whether people like the locker room situation or not, this is the opportunity that is given to media members to ask questions of players who are not chosen to go to a press conference. Is there a better way to do it? Maybe, but that’s not something I have control over. I always feel like when a player is involved in the biggest play of a game, even if they are on the wrong end of it, giving them the opportunity to explain it from their point of view is the right thing to do.

So that was really it. I sent the tweet because it was completely out of the norm, and I think 100% of the blame goes to the Notre Dame sports information staff and the CFP staff for not preparing players for what they’ll face in these postgame situations.

Hope that helps.

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