In the interest of full disclosure, I wasn’t in the Notre Dame football lockerrom after the game. So I can’t directly refute the claims that USA Today columnist Dan Wolken made about what went on there directly after the Fighting Irish lost the National Championship Game to Ohio State.
However, Wolken’s claims, that were there “bizarre scenes” in the locker room. He claimed that he saw “players yelling at reporters,” as well as “coaches warning people not to ask certain questions.” He summed it up by claming that the entire situation seemed like “amateur hour.”
First of all, it’s important to remember that the Notre Dame football team is in fact, filled with amateur players. Despite being paid for their NIL, they are not paid to play football. They are not professional football players. They are young men who have never experienced the emotional highs and lows of the last few weeks or Monday night.
Notre Dame football players called ‘amateur hour’ by national reporter
Secondly, nearly 24 hours after the National Title game ended, no other report has made similar claims. No one has come close to making those claims.
On the other hand, ESPN’s Molly McGrath had nothing but glowing things to say about her time covering the Irish and Marcus Freeman.
Then there was Brandon Marcello who was definitely in the locker room after the game. He wrote an article about his interactions with players and coaches after the game. Missing from that article was any mention of “amateur hour.”
Sports Illustrated writer Mike McDaniel posited what appears to be the prevailing theory at this point for what went on after the game.
“I think the fact that Dan Wolken is the only reporter complaining about Notre Dame's locker room following the loss last night tells you everything you need to know about his report about the players' treatment of the media,” McDaniel wrote.
Indiana radio personality Darin Pritchett added he was told something similar to McDaniel’s comments by a beat writer who was also in the locker room on Monday night.
It is of course possible that Wolken happened to ask a question that angered someone. It’s even possible that a coach came over to him after and tried to get him to understand why the player was upset.
It seems as though Wolken took that and blew it up into something more. During a time when the Notre Dame football team was hurting and dealing with a loss the likes of which they hadn’t felt before in any of their playing careers.