(Sports) Editor's Note
Locksley mum
Posted by: Jim Rossow
Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:38 PM
This is the AP story from Thursday's practice in Carson:Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley emphatically denied a report that he interviewed for West Virginia's head coaching job.
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"That's crack media at it's best," Locksley said on Thursday. "I don't know where the story came from."
The Sporting News, citing sources, reported he interviewed with West Virginia on Wednesday.
Locksley is considered a top coordinator and one of the key figures in Illinois' recruiting efforts the past three seasons, but he insisted he has not had any contact with the Mountaineers. West Virginia has been looking for a coach since Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan on Dec. 16.
Asked if he's interested in the opening, Locksley said he would like to become a head coach, but "all my energy's geared toward" the Rose Bowl, where Illinois meets Southern California.
He did, however, say this about the West Virginia opening: "I think it's a great opportunity, a great job being a BCS conference school that's had success. It's a great opportunity for whoever they do hire, but having not been contacted, there's no need for me to even comment on it."
Locksley, who followed Illinois coach Ron Zook to Champaign from Florida, recently signed a contract extension through 2012.
"I'm very proud of him and what he's done," Zook said. "That's going to happen when you get a guy who's done a good job ... but he hasn't talked with them. I'm sure there have been some inquiries. I'm sure they're doing their research, and they want to hire the best possible guy. Obviously, Locksley's been awfully good."
Comments
So, the feature stories are all good and well, and as gripping as it was to read about a high schooler from Mahomet who gets to go to the Rose Bowl because of a paper, could we get some actual, you know, REPORTING on what the team is doing?
Practice reports? Routine? How are the coaches preparing? The players' attitude? How players are reacting to the media slights? Analysis of the matchups and the game?
It's simply amazing that for all the coverage the News-Gazette purports to be offering on the Rose Bowl, one cannot find a single report from your beat writer on the day-to-day activities of the team.
Instead, I have to go to the Chicago papers for that.
Posted by ebalexan on December 28, 2007 at 1:07 AM
