Nebraska Hires Ari Fleischer To Handle Football Media Relations

by Cobby on Feb 9, 2011 7:01 AM CST in Cobby - Humor

Ari Fleischer served as White House Press Secretary under George W Bush and has since consulted with several sports-related organizations.

The University of Nebraska has announced the hiring of Ari Fleischer to take over football media relations beginning the spring of 2011. The move brings a new era to college sports media relations as Fleischer will handle pre- and post-football game interviews from now on, leaving Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini free to concentrate fully on coaching.

Fleischer's resume' is impressive, having worked as White House Secretary under President George W. Bush from January 2001 to July 2003. Previous to being hired by Nebraska, Fleischer worked as a consultant, working with several sports organizations as part of his firm Ari Fleischer Sports Communications. His clients include Major League Baseball, the Pac-10 conference, the NFL and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"There's nothing that says a head coach is required to conduct media interviews before and after the game. Just because that's the way it's always been done doesn't mean that's the way it must be done. We felt that it was time to start a new era in college football public and media relations and that Fleischer was the right person to do it", stated Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne.

"With his background and experience Fleischer is fully capable of answering any football-related questions that might arise during a post-game press conference. Anyone who can handle the White House Press Corps can certainly handle the college sports media with ease", said Osborne.

It is unsure as to whether Pelini will continue to do his own coaches show or what Fleischer's role will be in that area.

Keith Man, existing Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations will retain his current position, which mostly consists of responding to over 20,000 daily media requests, 19,000 of which are rumored to come from web sites of dubious origin.

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Congrats - you've won the internet this morning!

"Wer viel Bier trinkt, schläft gut. Wer gut schläft, sündigt nicht. Und wer nicht sündigt, kommt in den Himmel!" Martin Luther

by Go Big Rev on Feb 9, 2011 9:51 AM CST reply actions

Is It April 1st Already?

Don’t see this anywhere, and I mean anywhere else. Kinda strange. Kinda like one of them unsubstantiated self-referencing interweb rumor thingies.

Would be neat, I guess, to have that profile attached to the program, but it also seems like Bo avoiding the growth necessary to address a sore spot. That attitude does not bode well for our offense moving forward.

by UltimaRatioRegum on Feb 9, 2011 10:09 AM CST reply actions

Check the top of the post

by Cobby on Feb 9, 2011 7:01 AM CST in Cobby – Humor

It’s April 1 somewhere.

by Cheeseandcorn on Feb 9, 2011 10:59 AM CST up reply actions

Heh Heh Heh!

Yet more evidence of my skimming and not noticing the fine print!
If you do a google search you will see all the sites (mostly webcrawler links) that have picked this up:
Huskermax (bbs), nfl.msg.com, sec.florida.today, cbssports.com, huskerjunction, grupomediapoint, campussportsconnection.com
so it must be true!!! Right? ;-)

by UltimaRatioRegum on Feb 9, 2011 2:11 PM CST up reply actions

Hey, at least that means people are taking what you write seriously, Jon

Amirite?

by Cheeseandcorn on Feb 9, 2011 7:03 PM CST up reply actions

is that

how I’m supposed to take that? :)

I do believe, however, that we are the home of the snarkiest Husker content on the internet, and it’s a loooonnnng offseason – so we’ll see what we can do to keep some of that going.

Go Big Red Nebraska!
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Corn Nation!
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by Jon Johnston on Feb 9, 2011 9:24 PM CST up reply actions

I'd rather have this guy.

He has some experience with sports too, after his government job: http://www.dangerouslogic.com/archive/000206.html

by jrf2027 on Feb 9, 2011 10:42 AM CST reply actions

Definitely thought

that this was real.

by kylesibert on Feb 9, 2011 10:49 AM CST reply actions

Yeah, Me too

Now, I just have to get this hook out of my mouth……

by UltimaRatioRegum on Feb 10, 2011 12:40 PM CST up reply actions

I want to see Nebraska manufacture a recruiting scandal in some far-off land to distract from our coaching-search foibles

Maybe this guy can help:

by Cheeseandcorn on Feb 9, 2011 11:03 AM CST reply actions

Lol...

This made Unsportsmanlike Conduct on 1620 The Zone in Omaha.

Kevin jokingly said “It’s all true!”

@GochfaceKillah on Twitter

by Screwface on Feb 9, 2011 2:19 PM CST via mobile reply actions

My biggest critique of these things

Is that I’m reading through it assuming its a real story (hey it sounds plausible), only to check at the top and realize who wrote it.

Damn you Cobby!

"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne

by jdhusker on Feb 9, 2011 5:15 PM CST reply actions

This is funny or is it?

You know I have been following the Huskers for more than 30 years. I, like far too many of us, loved the way Tom worked with our press, but it is time people realize that was a one time relationship that no other coach is going to have. Bo is a football guy, players say he is awesome to play for and his loyalty is why we are winning again. Players want to play for Bo! His trouble with the press, yes, I get it he’s a bad interview, well boo hoo. You want a good interview and a bad coach you are on your own. I used to feel that Bo was rude to the press, but in truth I think he is pretty open about the subjects he is there to talk about, but that is never good enough for Lincoln and Omaha press. They are so obsessed with trying to trick him into saying something about a topic off the schedule they really ruin the process for everyone. In my opinion he is doing a fine job getting our team from national joke to national threat. I can’t say I feel the same way about the people harassing him about subject he is obviously trying to guard his people from. He doesn’t want to embarrass or cause harm to any of his people and when he is quiet about something he usually has a good reason. I think the press should be LIMITED and that means journalists who can’t work with the coach in a productive way should sit outside in the hall and get the scraps of info passed to them by those who want to work with him.
PS Give Jon Johnson a damn press pass, he’d know what to ask and when to ask it.

by BangkokRED on Feb 10, 2011 1:16 AM CST reply actions

Not sure how to respond

I think my Freedom of the Press Defense-O-Meter™ just exploded.

by Cheeseandcorn on Feb 10, 2011 9:42 AM CST up reply actions

Man, I have to Disagree in a Big Way

Look, no one likes the way the press keeps asking the same question in different ways after Bo makes it crystal clear he will not talk about a subject. I know it bugs the heck out of me and clearly accomplishes nothing but tick Bo off.

But what you left out is the vacuum they are trying to fill – if he wants the press to respect the times he will not comment, then he has to earn that respect by commenting some times. And by “comment” I don’t mean some snarky brush off or meaningless insincere coach speak.

This is the one area where Bo is hurting the program. His inability to talk to, much less manage the press sends a bad message that cannot help but be interpreted as a weakness that might spill over into the offices, the locker room, the field, or the homes of recruits.

by UltimaRatioRegum on Feb 10, 2011 12:51 PM CST up reply actions