Live fan calls can be minefields in tough times, but some SEC coaches still take them on radio shows
ESPN football analyst Nick Saban walks to the stage of College Game Day outside of Kyle Field on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in College Station, Texas. Credit: AP/Sam Craft
Gathered at a local restaurant for his weekly coaches’ show, Nick Saban took his traditional first call from Pee Wee of Grand Bay, Alabama.
Fresh from a loss to Texas last season, the now-former Alabama coach faced a rare situation where he might expect a critical question on his weekly radio show. Instead of getting defensive, Saban rattled off a list of shortcomings from the team’s pass protection before the fan got his question out.
“Only one sack came off a (blitz) so I wanted to ask you what the hell’s going on?” Saban asked, laughing.
Saban's successor, Kalen DeBoer, also still braves the potential minefield of taking live questions from the phone at the Hey Coach Show during the season. It’s safer territory when you’ve won seven total national championships like Saban and when you’re new like DeBoer.
Most coaches don’t bother any more, especially after Tyler from Spartanburg challenged Clemson’s Dabo Swinney with the loaded question: “Why are we paying you $11.5 million to go 4-4?”
Now, fans must text their questions for the Tigers' two-time national champion coach.
Some schools like Arkansas never went back to taking live questions after the COVID-19 pandemic. Others like Clemson dropped them altogether in person or otherwise. Many take them via social media or email, where they can be vetted and some weeded out, or in person.
After his first game as head coach, Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, center, walks off the field after an NCAA college football game against Western Kentucky, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Credit: AP/Vasha Hunt
Out of 80-plus schools responding to an Associated Press survey, 10 said they still take live calls for their coach. Four of those play in the Southeastern Conference — Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee — which just happens to be home to some of college football’s more rabid fan bases.
Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said he understands why Swinney stopped taking the calls, but he continues to field them himself.
“We’ve got great fans and I enjoy that aspect of it. I do,” Beamer said. “I don’t mind (callers) asking the questions. They have the right to call in. If they think I’m doing a crappy job, they have every right to call in and question what we’re doing.”
In fact, he said he looks forward to regular callers like Hampton from Ohio but did get apprehensive during a poor start last season.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Knoxville, Tenn. Credit: AP/Wade Payne
“We were 2-6 at one point last year, so you get a little worried about calls when you’re 2-6,” Beamer said.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said he enjoys taking the calls from fans — usually.
“I've been on both sides of it,” Stoops said. “There's obviously some moments that are uncomfortable. It's not predictable but it goes with the territory.”
But, he added, dealing with criticism is part of the job. “You have to go face the music sometimes, and that's not easy,” Stoops said.
At Tennessee, coach Josh Heupel’s predecessor, Jeremy Pruitt, faced critical callers on “Vols Calls” when things weren’t going well. Bill from Memphis questioned the discipline of the team — and the coach — after a 34-7 home loss to Kentucky in October 2020. Pruitt was fired the following January.
“I think it starts with you, Coach,” the fan told Pruitt in what amounted to a lecture.
Heupel got more gentle questions in his first show of the season, such as: “What can we expect from (quarterback Nico Iamaleava) in his first full season as starting quarterback?”
“It's an opportunity for our fans to have a conversation with me or ask some things that are on their minds,” Heupel said. He said the mid-week timing is hectic, “but it's a good experience.”
At Alabama, Saban never faced any true slumps by normal standards but did raise the bar so high that any loss had a doomsday feel.
Chris Stewart, who hosts Hey Coach and is Alabama’s radio play-by-play announcer, said Saban was always “in command, whether it was positive or negative.”
In fact, those Thursday night shows presented fans with a more relaxed version of Saban with the marathon work of game week prep largely done.
“You knew when he was there you were always going to get his best,” Stewart said. “There are a lot of coaches that you see around the country that they’ve got a show and they really don’t want to be there and it kind of makes it miserable.
“Well, coach was always professional in whatever he was committed to and those interactions with him were always great, because he wanted them to be great.”
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AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee, Teresa Walker and Pete Iacobelli contributed to this report.