There’s been lots of recent discussion about in-game interviews in the MLB playoffs interrupting key game moments, but that can happen in other sports too. On Saturday, a case in point came during the Tulane Green Wave’s road clash with the UAB Blazers.
There, the ESPN+ broadcast played an interview with UAB head coach Trent Dilfer, which seemed to be pre-recorded, leading into the first play of the second quarter. That play saw Tulane’s Makhi Hughes rush 51 yards for a touchdown, taking place while Dilfer was still being asked and answering a question:
Obviously pre-recorded, but Tulane dropping a 51 yard TD run right in the middle of Trent Dilfer’s sideline interview is too on the nose pic.twitter.com/jeEPGlMKij
— 2StripesCPD (@2StripesCPD) October 5, 2024
That is unfortunate for Dilfer, especially with the main thrust of that interview being him talking about how he thought his team would bounce back after being outscored 20-6 in the first quarter.
“We’re building something, we believe it’s going to be something special. When you do that, you learn to never flinch,” he said. “You’re going to get beat up every once in a while. You can’t flinch, you’ve got to respond. And I look for this team to respond for the next three quarters.”
In matter of fact, they did not, losing 71-20 while allowing Tulane to score 70 for the first time since 1998, which produced quite the depressing post-game press conference from Dilfer.
The other thing here is that this blowout loss came at an overall rough point for Dilfer and the (now 1-4) Blazers, who were under scrutiny even heading into this game. Dilfer was in a media dustup earlier this week after bringing his grandson up on stage last Saturday during a press conference after losing 41-18 to Navy and telling reporters who pushed backm “this is not freakin’ Alabama,” then passing on an opportunity to clarify (UAB fans are obviously sensitive about comparisons to the Crimson Tide) Monday because the reporter who asked for that wasn’t there Saturday:
Look at his eyes and his condescending gestures as he is being asked a legitimate question… then the response! #TrentDilfer #FreeUAB pic.twitter.com/6VnsEj53NV
— Blazernation🔥 (@1_Blazernation) September 30, 2024
UAB was also in the media ahead of the game after choosing to start backup QB Jalen Kitna (former NFL QB Jon’s son) in place of the injured Jacob Zeno. Kitna was dismissed from the Florida Gators in 2022 after being arrested on five counts of distributing and possessing child pornography; he struck a deal with prosecutors that saw those charges dropped and him pleading no contest to two counts of breach of the piece, which led to six months probation each.
So it wasn’t a smooth week for the program even before this loss. And Dilfer’s overall tenure there is not going well, as many noted during this loss:
UAB’s football program was shut down by malicious external forces, faced a ton of challenges restarting, and never had a losing season post-restart until Year 1 under Trent Dilfer… and they’re A LOT worse in Year 2 under Trent Dilfer. https://t.co/UvKGa6jUet
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) October 5, 2024
Have to sincerely wonder if there’s been a worse hire in the last two years than Trent Dilfer at UAB.
The Blazers deserve better than this. pic.twitter.com/aUEkmh34fn
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 5, 2024
UAB hired Trent Dilfer, which felt like a bad idea at the time. It was, in fact, a bad idea.
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) October 5, 2024
Hiring Trent Dilfer might be the most disrespectful thing the UAB athletic office has ever done, and they folded the football program a few years back https://t.co/WwZwILcTq9
— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) October 5, 2024
Haven’t had a coach run out of town by an angry mob in a while. Excited for Trent Dilfer. https://t.co/YyhaY0v8Rc
— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) October 5, 2024
As noted, Dilfer’s November 2022 hire did take a lot of criticism at the time. He had worked for ESPN as a NFL analyst from 2008 until he was caught in 2017 layoffs, with Dan Le Batard later saying part of that was about Dilfer trying to negotiate private plane travel. He then spent a few years as a high school coach with Lipscomb Academy, but seemed like an odd choice for UAB.
The Blazers found remarkable success post-2017 revival under Bill Clark (43–20 after that with two Conference USA titles; they also went 6-6 in Clark’s lone pre-shutdown season in 2014) and Bryant Vincent (7-6 as an interim coach in 2022). But things have not been as bright under Dilfer so far. UAB went 4-8 last season, their first in the AAC, and were outscored 443-359. This year, the Blazers are now 1-4, having been outscored 186-74.
Amidst all that, this interview playing during an opposing touchdown certainly wasn’t the biggest current blow to the Blazers. Dilfer didn’t do anything particularly wrong here, apart from perhaps his misplaced confidence in how his team would respond. And the 71-20 thumping UAB took here overall was the much bigger problem for them. But it was quite amusing to see this broadcast miscue result in Dilfer’s comments about how they were going to bounce back air right as his team was giving up another big touchdown.
[@2StripesCPD on X]
