Minutes after Syracuse's surprise victory over Kansas in the National Championship Monday night, CBS sideline reporter Bonnie Bernstein pulled Jayhawks Head Coach Roy Williams over for an interview.
With his eyes still red from what must have been an emotional scene in the Kansas locker room, Williams still managed to speak with grace about the loss, praising Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim and his team for their performance and even calling himself \the luckiest coach in America"" for having coached departing seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.
Bernstein followed Williams' remarkable exercise of grace in defeat with one of the worst post-game questions in the history of sports journalism.
Somehow oblivious to Williams' obvious emotional state, Bernstein asked whether he would now pursue the vacant head coach position at North Carolina. Before storming off, Williams criticized Bernstein and CBS for their insensitivity, among other things saying he ""could give a shit about the North Carolina job.""
Now, to be fair, the question has been on the lips of reporters everywhere since ex-Carolina coach Matt Doherty resigned last week, and it will continue to be until North Carolina finds a successor. (At press time, it was unknown whether Williams would leave for Carolina, although Wednesday's firing of his nemesis Al Bohl-KU's unpopular athletic director-indicates that it is not a sure thing.)
Nevertheless, and journalistic ambition aside, Bernstein and CBS showed a horrendous lack of both judgement and sensitivity in asking Williams the question not even 15 minutes after a loss that was clearly devastating for the 52-year-old-coach and his players.
Williams is one of the great college basketball coaches in the game today. He routinely fields one of the better teams in the country and, like colleague Mike Krzyzewski, has one of the higher player-graduation percentages in the country among the elite programs.
Furthermore, in a year that has seen so many NCAA coaches investigated and punished for wrong-doings of various kinds, Williams stands out as a successful coach with a ""clean"" program.
But even 400-plus wins, four trips to the Final Four and two appearances in the Final, Williams is still without the validation that comes from winning a national championship. The pain and frustration he felt after missing out again Monday night is difficult enough without having to answer idiotic questions-both in timing and tact-from a hack ""sports"" journalist in front of the nation.
That said, CBS did a good job with the NCAA tournament. The juggling act they did with ESPN during the first stages of the war certainly could not have been easy, but they made it work and, in the process, helped present another entertaining month of basketball.
It is unfortunate, though, that they erred so badly in bringing the month to a close.
CBS and Bernstein owe Williams, the University of Kansas and its fans an apology.
