What's Andy Katz's deal?

[RugbyBuck]

By Scott Springer - Clear Channel, Cincinnati

Rugby, yeah I'm sure Clear Channel, Cincinnati was a dead giveaways to some vinegar in the news article, but I don't know Scott Springer from Willie Wilson I would guess he's a clown with media credentials.

That was my thought as well, 3yards. Anybody who writes bull shit like that is at Clear Channel - Cinci for a good reason. Not exactly a journalistic peak.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

jesus christ....the media certainly stick up for their own. kornheiser says when you lie to the media you are lying to the public. so matta is just a big liar. thats a stretch.

he just didnt want the fucking story to break before he took the job....now hes a liar? god i hate it when the media does this crap. and you cant call them on it because they own all the outlets.

 

[Bucklion]

Well, Katz and Kornholer can go have a grand old time comparing notes on how much they hate Ohio State with Trevy Trev and Mark "arm-Pitt" May at the ESPN cafeteria.

 

[brutus2002]

Katz is a douchebag!!!!! Who cares if he changed his mind and wanted to become head coach for OSU. It's a big decision to leave a school you love like he did when he left Xavier. Katz needs to realize that he had to think it over a little. Journalism like this really pisses me off. ESPN has lost alot of credibility with in the last couple years.

ESPN has a large group of incompetents working for them(Alberts,Lemming,Kiper,May,Katz). Thats just a few of the idiots that these guys have out there ruining their reputation. ESPN better stop pissing people off like FSU and OSU fans or there will be people turning the channel to CNNSI.

 

[Oh8ch]

Eiser confirmed that Xavier athletic director Dawn Rogers didn't know Matta accepted the Ohio State job until 7 p.m. on Wednesday when she finally tracked down Matta. Matta said he kept Rogers aware of his status at every step.

This quote is purposely misleading. I watched an interview with Rogers after the announcement and she made it very clear that she knew what was going on every step of the way and had absolutely no problem with Matta taking the job. That she didn't know that he had actually accepted the job until sometime the same day that he was offered the job is nothing more than a description of the sequence of events - and the reporter knows this. Where is the statement in his article that describes how Rogers feels about Matta?

But aside from all that, what is the big freakin' deal if you say you aren't going to take a job - for whatever reason - and then go ahead and take it? He didn't make any extra money off Xavier in the interim. He didn't sign or sabotage any recruits in the interim. He didn't do anything to gain personal advantage or to harm Xavier in the interim. In fact, his statement would have worked in the best interest of Xavier had he not taken the job - which is why he said what he said. He got some hopes up and pissed off a reporter. BFD.

Matta is guilty of nothing more than a poorly worded non-denial denial.

 

[cincibuckeyenut]

I am a buckeye fan and live in Cincinnati, following basketball down here for the last 7 years. So I am seeing both sides of this. Here is my somewhat unbiased opinion on the whole matter.

OSU fans in Columbus love Thad, think nothing is wrong with how he handled everything because he is now their guy. They are also very biased.

Xavier fans in Cincinnati loved Thad, think he lied to them and are pissed. They think he handled it poorly and think he is the antichrist right now. They are very biased.

To put a few more words around this, when the OSU job came open, Xavier fans were petrified. Thad was the hot young coach who took them to the elite eight, the guy who really put X on the map. He was a natural for the job. When he came out and said he was not a candidate, the entire city breathed a big sigh of relief. Then, in the span of about 1.5 days to them, he is suddenly out of nowhere a candidate again, then the top candidate, then he has accepted the job. To Cincinnati, this is like a punch in the gut. Like a girlfriend scorned, they look around for some way to lash out and pick up on the obvious "lie" and run with it. It plays HUGE in Cincinnati, all every talk show can talk about, and so the national media grabs it and jumps in. Stand up for their bretheren, show a huge school in a bad light which is sure to rile up their immense fan base and make the little guy (Xavier) look like the underdog and the good guy. Great tabloid journalism.

I can completely understand both sides. Matta made a mistake in how he worded his original denial. But from everything I have read about this whole thing, he honestly had the university's best interests at heart when he said it and he kept his boss fully apprised of the entire situation the whole way. In fact, all I have heard from anyone who knows Thad is that the university has no problem with how he handled everything and that we have gotten a fabulous coach, great on the X & Os, with high integrity, a solid recruiter (just got the best class in Xaviers history), and with good morals. He is also a guy who is raw in the PR area and needs to get with Steve Snapp ASAP. I think this is a fabulous hire for OSU no matter how he ultimately does. He is the right guy at the right time. I feel sorry for Xavier, but they are a mid major and this is the nature of the beast. I have no doubt Matta will become as indespensible as Izzo at MSU. He is that good. Just give him time.

One thing this should do is open up Cincinnati to us even more, once they get over this. He had a good following here and my guess is that he will be a frequent talk radio guest down here because his college roommate (I think, good friend at least), Lance McCallister is a drive time talk show host on the local sports radio station.

 

[Buckeyehead]

Good ol' ESPN.

I saw Kornheiser's dramatic performance over this "issue", to match Katz' snoozer. Meanwhile, some fat dork at Duke sends Coach K an email that sounded like it was written by a 10-year-old, and ESPN is "touched". They've shown that story repeatedly this week. :sleep2:

I watch games on ESPN but I rarely watch SportsCenter anymore. There are plenty of alternatives.

 

[ohiobuck94]

ESPN is a day late and a dollar short. :) They jumped to conclusions before all the facts were in. This made ESPN and Katz look like butt holes. Matta informed Xavier AD of his contact with tOSU long before Matta took the job .