” Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect…” – Jonathan Swift
This post is a continuing reminder to scrutinize everything you read on the Internet.
Last night, a Twitter user named Paul Matthewson had college football fans buzzing when he tweeted:
SOURCES: Current #NotreDame OC Mike Sanford will be named as Kirby Smart's new OC at #UGA. Details to follow.
— Paul Mathewson (@Paulmathewson) December 12, 2015
There were a hundred reasons not to believe this tweet. Matthewson works for Fox Sports, but he’s not a journalist. (He’s in sales.) And his avatar is someone wearing a clown nose! Matthewson also has about 500 Twitter followers; a person breaking this type of news would have a bigger reach.
Radi Nabulsi, according to his Twitter bio, is the publisher of UGASports.com. He has about 25,000 followers and legitimate journalism credentials. About 15 minutes after Matthewson tweeted, he sent:
No. It is not true.
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) December 12, 2015
Case closed? Well, Radi was watching a high school game online at the time. He literally could have been talking about anything. His followers inferred from the next two tweets that he knew more than he was letting on.
Power spread? You have my attention …
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) December 12, 2015
The QB whisperer?
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) December 12, 2015
Plenty of teams play power spread. Plenty of guys have been dubbed “the QB whisperer.” But it’s this September ESPN story about Mike Sanford that comes up first if you Google that second term.
That was enough for some hopeful Bulldogs fans, who became making it sound inevitable that Sanford would be boarding a plane for Athens any minute.
Meanwhile, Sanford was attending an end-of-season banquet for Notre Dame football at the time this rumor was circulating.
https://twitter.com/CoachSanfordND/status/675492817335132162
This seemed like more evidence that Sanford was here to stay. I mean, no one goes to their team’s banquet after a hugely successful season and tells his players he’s leaving to take another job. Right? What’s that now? Oh.
Now, let me be clear: There is absolutely nothing Mike Sanford did or said to indicate he was interested in becoming Georgia’s new offensive coordinator. There’s nothing from a legitimate news source that I could find that said Georgia was even considering him.
This did not slow the chatter. Sanford had been at three jobs in three years, UGA fans reasoned. Why wouldn’t he bolt for a chance to coach in the almighty Southeastern Conference? Hell, the team plays its home games at Sanford Stadium! A message board poster was sure that was a relative. (I can find no link between Steadman Sanford, the former university president, and Mike Sanford. But then again, aren’t we all related in some way?)
Edit: Sounds like OC and DC may be announced soon. And no, his namesake isn't connected with the same family the stadium is named after…
— Jeff Clark (@ugafan618) December 12, 2015
@DanielHerring OC at Notre Dame is Mike Sanford. Word is he's the guy
— Jeff Clark (@ugafan618) December 12, 2015
The easiest way to nip this in the bud, I reasoned, was for a credential press member at the #Echoes15 event to ask Sanford.
@andrewwinn @JJStankevitz @PeteSampson_ @JacCollinsworth Coaches aren't available for interview @ this. We'll see if someone tracks him down
— Tyler James (@TJamesNDI) December 12, 2015
Tyler and fellow beat reporter Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated then made two salient points.
@TJamesNDI @andrewwinn Good point. Would surprise me if ND just didn’t match and get another years out of him.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 12, 2015
Georgia fans and Notre Dame fans just needed to be patient. (I can’t speak for Bulldog supporters, but, as a whole, Irish fans don’t carry such virtues.)
While we waited, some Dawgs continued to troll.
So… who is this guy anyways??? pic.twitter.com/GwRjm0qtD5
— Cory Brinson (@TheBlawgHouse) December 12, 2015
Michael Bertsch, Notre Dame’s sports information director for football, seemed to have enough.
Hey twittersphere… pic.twitter.com/LnQ1hUSmpr
— Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) December 12, 2015
If you were not comforted by Bertsch’s cryptic tweet, you certainly were when the Georgia beat writers checked in this morning. One told his message board that he hadn’t heard Sanford discussed “much at all, to be honest” and then added, in an article: “Spoke with several trusted sources on him and was told ‘don’t think it will be him’ by more than one person.”
Finally, at 9:23 a.m., a little more than half a day after a clown-nosed Twitter user set the coaching carousel ablaze, we got official confirmation:
FootballScoop can now share that Pitt OC Jim Chaney will be the new offensive coordinator for Kirby Smart at UGA https://t.co/sNnVtycOD5
— FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) December 12, 2015
And one final comment from the man who started it all:
The lesson: y'all are dumb.
— Paul Mathewson (@Paulmathewson) December 12, 2015
Congratulations to Jim Chaney on the new position. On behalf of Irish fans, we are very happy that Mike Sanford is staying with Notre Dame and we look forward to his positive impact being even more dramatic when Malik Zaire returns in 2016 to play alongside DeShone Kizer and Brandon Wimbush.
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