Deadspin | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
No, Shaka Smart isn’t the new coach of Marquette men’s basketball, but for a little while Monday night, some in the Milwaukee press thought he was. Or would be. Early Tuesday morning, Timothy Burke wrote for Deadspin about the coach and the press conference that wasn’t.
The truth is hard to sort out, because none of the stations identified their sources. But here’s how clueless Milwaukee TV was today: they drove their trucks over to Marquette’s campus for a hoax press conference—this after assuring viewers that “sources close to the Marquette basketball program” leaked them the info that Smart had signed on the dotted line. (Both Marquette and VCU insist nobody’s spoken to Smart about a new job.)
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- Virginia Commonwealth head coach Shaka Smart in a second-round game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Friday, March 21, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
Deadspin pulled together several clips of news stations breaking the “news.” But not everyone was ready to report on Smart as the new coach. Michael Hunt, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Marquette beat writer, for instance.
#mubb Shaka Smart is not the basketball coach at Marquette yet, nothing official imminent . . .
— Michael Hunt (@MichaelHuntMJS) March 24, 2014
#mubb What a silly day, TV trucks rushing to the Al when there was no press conference. Don’t expect anything to happen tonight.
— Michael Hunt (@MichaelHuntMJS) March 24, 2014
#mubb when a good source says there’s nothing going on, I trust that for the moment, but stay tuned . . .
— Michael Hunt (@MichaelHuntMJS) March 25, 2014
#mubb Shaka Smart deal not done from what I’m told.
— Michael Hunt (@MichaelHuntMJS) March 25, 2014
On Monday, Hunt wrote about the Smart news for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Social media blew up about 5 p.m. Monday with rumors that Marquette had hired a basketball coach.
Television trucks went to a scene where there was no news conference. The airwaves were filled with erroneous reports.
And at the end of the day, Marquette still had no basketball coach.
For now, Shaka Smart is still at Virginia Commonwealth.
‘#mubb Silly gun-jumpers http://t.co/vSFVeCqkx3
— Michael Hunt (@MichaelHuntMJS) March 25, 2014
