The controversy surrounding college football commentator Josh Pate’s decision to interview President Donald Trump began before it even started. And in media circles, no one was more vocally critical of Pate before the interview ever dropped than Meadowlark Media producer Mike Ryan.
The longtime cast member on The Dan Le Batard Show accused Pate of “normalizing” Trump at the low point of his presidency and said sports hosts like Pate were “not equipped” to keep Trump focused and accountable in interviews. Pate, however, insisted to his audience that he could not turn down such a big opportunity and that the interview would not be political.
The result was somewhere in between. While Trump withheld his most aggressive talking points and grievances, he also hardly answered any of Pate’s questions about college football. Instead, Trump blew up Urban Meyer’s spot about a recent golf outing, regurgitated old stories, and ranted about the NFL kickoff rules again.
On Monday’s episode of the Le Batard Show, Ryan effectively took a victory lap, calling the interview “embarrassing” and insinuating that Trump took advantage of the popular podcaster.
“I wanted to believe Josh Pate when he said, ‘This is not going to be a political discussion, I’m going to ask him about NIL and college football and how we shape that,'” Ryan said. “I listened to the interview this morning on my way, it was shorter than I thought … and I will say that it wasn’t a political discussion.”
However, Ryan believes the conversation may have been worse as a result, since Pate was unable to get the president to focus on college football.
“There also wasn’t college football. It was actually really embarrassing, because there was one soft toss to the president … and he started rambling about how the Gamecocks are good and the NFL kickoff rule, and it was just bad,” Ryan added. “There was nothing there in terms of substantial NIL opinion, reshaping the sport.”
After a debate among the Le Batard Show cast, Ryan acknowledged that the goal of the conversation may have been to simply draw clicks. The live stream had far fewer views on YouTube than most of Pate’s in-season episodes. But it certainly generated attention.
Either way, Ryan said, it benefitted Trump to borrow Pate’s platform and audience for what was clearly a promotional event in Georgia ahead of a midterm election in which Republicans are currently projected to lose considerable ground.
“At the end of it, we got an interview that no doubt will raise Josh Pate’s profile. A profile that is ascending,” Ryan said. “Trump got what he wanted, too, which is a sports platform normalizing him and bringing an audience to Josh Pate.”
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.