Dan Patrick argues against in-game interviews with NFL coaches

The NFL will borrow from basketball and baseball this season and reportedly bring more in-game interviews with coaches to broadcasts. The promise of greater access to America’s favorite sport may have some fans excited, but longtime radio host Dan Patrick doesn’t expect much to come from it.

Discussing the changes on The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday, Patrick explained why halftime interviews in the NFL are already disappointing. He said the experience we’ve seen in other leagues doesn’t suggest in-game questions will be met with much enthusiasm from NFL coaches, either.

“I don’t know who came up with the idea and what they hope to get from this, but it’s already pretty tough to watch,” Patrick said.

Patrick discussed how in the United Football League, WNBA and even MLB, league execs have tried generating hype around these types of interviews and fallen flat. While hearing from coaches in the heat of the action sounds great in theory, Patrick pointed to an obvious example in the NBA where a coach actively harmed the product by refusing to play ball in interviews.

“Everything we’re seeing, everything we’re doing is how do we make the experience so great that you’re in the huddle with the coach, you know what play is being called,” Patrick explained. “We’ve had that before … I’m going to guess some coaches will probably be pretty good, and then some coaches will be like Gregg Popovich.”

Popovich had a longstanding reputation for being prickly with basically every NBA sideline reporter outside of Craig Sager, even making Doris Burke nearly cry once after refusing to give an answer during an ESPN broadcast.

Patrick detailed why coaches don’t see any benefit from being open about their playcalling or decisions. It may make for good television, but that’s not their priority.

“I hate when they go off the field at halftime, because they’re never going to tell you anything,” he said. “We don’t get much from it. ‘Hey, what kind of second-half adjustments are you going to make, coach?’ Yeah, as if I’m going to tell you right now.”

This week, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that each game this NFL season will feature an interview with one coach each half, mandated by the league. Peter Schrager of Good Morning Football clarified that teams can elect to use coordinators instead of head coaches, and there may be a cap of one interview per network per season per team.

This will be an interesting trial run for the notoriously closed-off NFL. But Patrick certainly has a point that the content that comes from it may not ultimately be worth it.

[ The Dan Patrick Show on YouTube ]

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