Army's open door a contrast to football paranoia
Tom Shanahan is an author and college football integration historian honored by the FWAA for his story on the 1962 Rose Bowl.
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By TOM SHANAHAN
The United States Military Academy, a guarded base known as West Point, dates to 1802. Security is tight in these terrorist-threat times, but sports media members can gain a pass.
And once they’re waved onto base, they can proceed to the football facility to watch practice. Compare that policy toward access at civilian colleges across the country.
Media members can drive freely on campus, but the football gates are locked tighter than Fort Knox. Patton’s Third Army couldn’t get past the henchmen of Nick Saban and his dictatorial ilk.
A military post is open to college football, but public universities funded by tax dollars are closed to the Fourth Estate.
Isn’t that backwards?
“I don’t see any reason to close practices,” said Army coach Jeff Monken, who encourages the media to make the trip to the scenic campus on the Hudson River.
“I think it’s great for our players to engage with the media. The exposure we gain as a program through the media is important. I consider that an essential part of a successful program to have good relations with the media and the public in general.
“There are some 10,000 people that live here and call it their home. I don’t want to say you can’t watch practice. You can’t bring your kids over to watch practice. I’ve never been that way. I’ve never felt like we got skunked.”
The “skunk” reference from Army’s ninth-year coach meant opponents sending spies to a practice to gain an advantage. He added Army takes precautions to watch for suspicious visitors, but his focus is on preparing his Black Knights (1-4) to face Colgate (1-4) at noon Saturday at Michie Stadium.
“If people want to work that hard to watch practice without us knowing or standing by the fence trying to look like a passerby, so be it,” Monken said. “That’s their business.”
Football coaches, by their very nature, are paranoid, but the trend of closing practices didn’t develop until near the turn of the century.
In the old-school days, media members appreciated the tradeoff. Their access to practice came with the understanding they wouldn’t share secrets they see – trick plays, new formations, etc. It was worth it to them. Their presence led to a better understanding of the team’s development and, hopefully, allowed them to build a rapport with the coaches and athletes.
First, NFL teams began to close practices in the late 1990s. The NFL is a copycat league, and one began to follow another.
I can remember traveling on assignment in 2002 for the San Diego Union-Tribune to interview New York Jets coach Herman Edwards. We met in his office after practice – which was open. I mentioned to Edwards that San Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer, whom Edwards had worked under with the Kansas City Chiefs, joined the trend of closing practice.
“Marty?” said Edwards, his eyebrows rising and jaw dropping.
That’s how dramatically policies changed. Soon enough, the closed-practice trend trickled down to college coaches. Now it’s nearly a blanket policy. Closed practices was soon followed by another circle-the-wagon policy -- closing the locker room and limiting player access.
These days, teams choose which players will be brought to an interview room for a group interview. Over the course of the season, it’s the quarterback and a handful of familiar players they trust. The paranoia is maintaining control over the message from the team to the fans.
Not at West Point.
Quarterbacks Thyier Tyler and Cade Ballard and outside linebacker Andre Carter, a potential first-round NFL draft pick, have been brought to the media room and put before a Zoom camera multiple times. But backup players also appear. Army Communications Office football director Eric Szczepinski says from the start of fall camp through this week’s sixth game, about 70 players have been made available.
For Wednesday’s post-practice session, the three players were starting junior offensive lineman Jackson Filipowicz of Alpharetta, Georgia; backup junior defensive lineman Austin Hill, Memphis, Tennessee; and starting junior defensive lineman Nate Smith, Fort Washington, Maryland. All three said they were unaware Army’s practice and interview policies differed from other schools.
“For anyone to be able to come in and interview anyone here, I think that shows the type of guys on the team,” Smith said. “We have leaders no matter if they’re a freshman or a senior. I think it shows the trust the coaches have is us, the program has in us and the everyone in the school has in us. It’s a unique opportunity we have, and we’re fortunate we do these interviews.”
These guys, after all, are in school to become future Army officers defending their country. If you can’t trust these guys …
“We don’t tell them what to say, but we tell them to be respectful of their opponents,” Monken said. “To be proud of the institution, the program and the men and women they represent in the Army. To talk about their teammates and how proud they are to be a part of his program. That really is all that needs to be said. It’s not a canned answer. They’re going to answer a question when they’re asked.
“I think it’s important a young man and a young woman knows they represent something bigger than themselves when they talk to someone in the public like the media. They represent everybody that wears the uniform, and everybody represented by that uniform.”
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Now that @MSU_WGolf freshmen Brooke Biermann and Katie Lu have finished their first season, they did some #NIL work for me before returning home. They discussed their summer reading list. @MSU_Football #True1960sPioneers pic.twitter.com/mNd9bZwRGb— Tom Shanahan (@Shanny4055) May 12, 2022
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