Every great press conference rant starts with one unmistakable phrase.
“One last thing…”
And boy, did we get a good “last thing” from Coastal Carolina baseball coach Kevin Schnall on Sunday night following the team’s advancement out of the regional round. Schnall took the final moments of his press availability to unload on Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan after the Gators’ coach apparently mistreated the Coastal Carolina grounds crew and associate athletic director because their game against East Carolina was postponed one hour.
“One last thing I have is, I have to say this, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this or not, but I believe in standing up for what’s right,” Schnall began. “And what transpired this morning on our field, another coach disrespected our associate AD, who works as hard as anybody in our entire program, he disrespected our field crew, who are the salt of the earth. Those guys would do anything for our program. It’s not okay. And this needs to be brought up. Absolutely disrespectful. As a coach, it’s our job to mentor young kids, and the way he treated the two site reps, the way he treated our associate AD, the way he treated our field crew, is absolutely unacceptable.”
He continued: “That’s what I’m most disappointed about. This is a national champion coach who thinks he can come in here and try to bully people around. Disappointed. Disappointed somebody that a lot of coaches look up to, for him to act that way, really disappointed. He disrespected a Hall of Fame coach who’s the site rep here. That’s all I got to say.”
Where does this rank in the pantheon of all-time press conference rants? Who’s to say. But Schnall clearly felt it was necessary to defend his program, even if there’s potential blowback for targeting a successful coach like O’Sullivan.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.