It took until Week 11 of the college football season, but we've finally encountered the press conference rant of the year - at least so far.
Now if Vegas had odds on this type of thing (and they probably should), guys like Mike Leach or maybe Nick Saban would find themselves at the top of the list. However, we can all thank Miami (OH) head coach Chuck Martin for the first real noteworthy, and rather strange, press conference rant of the year after they beat rival Ohio for the first time in his five seasons with the program.
Martin covers a lot of ground and emotions in his presser, starting right off the bat with some excitement for his seniors, who he compared to Andy Dufresne's character in the pop culture classic Shawshank Redemption.
"Yeah. Obviously crazy excited about the win. Really excited for my Seniors, they came here a long time ago and I say it's like volunteering to be like the guy in Shawshank, to come here five years ago, 'Ok, here's your assignment - you're going to crawl through human feces for the next three miles. That's what you've got to do.' They came, they battled, they've been unbelievable players here. Unbelievable leaders."
Then, around the 4:50 mark, Martin talks about executing on Ohio's last ditch Hail Mary attempt to end the game, and veers off to start talking about the Miami fans.
"We kept talking about executing and you come down, and there's a ton of panic because you can hear our fans stinkings, our home fans yelling at us as the game is unraveling. I mean, Welcome to Miami! Welcome to Miami! Our home fans are yelling at our players and coaches as the game is unraveling. Yeah, that's helpful! They can hear it, the kids can hear it, and they're panicked that we're going to lose. Well, you've got to block it out. Welcome to life. You gotta keep fighting, keep digging, or you panic, and if you panic then bad things happen."
Perhaps the best little rant comes around the 6:15 mark, where Martin is asked how much of relief it is to finally beat their rival.
"Great! It's a huge relief. Just huge. Beat them and winn the Battle of the Bricks...but is there a trophy or anything? I was waiting for a trophy to come storming out, but there's no trophy for the thing? We talk about this rivalry, and I just assumed there was a trophy. We hadn't won in like 50 years. How can it be a rivalry if there's no damn trophy?! I mean, I'll pitch in, I think. It's a pretty big deal. I'm like, 'Where's the dang trophy?'"
"I guess it's not that big of a deal if no one can afford a trophy for the rivalry. It just goes to show how cheap the schools are in this league."
See coach Martin's full presser below, and jump to the bold parts for the sections covered in the article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=299&v=74AY5NY0Ru8