University of Texas head basketball coach Rodney Terry did not mean to offend anyone during his postgame meltdown earlier this week. The 55-year-old issued an apology on Saturday.
However, nobody was offended by what Terry said. Terry was the one who was offended…
It all got started with a loss to UCF on Wednesday. The Knights proceeded to throw ‘Horns Down’ in direction of the Longhorns after their big upset win.
Although it was a bit corny to do an anti-Texas gesture in the handshake line, there are so many worse things that could have been done or said. Not that big of a deal.
Terry disagreed. He expressed his frustrations by shouting “that’s classless” and “don’t do that s—” in direction of the victors. They did not listen. UCF players continued to talk their talk.
For Terry to get as upset as he was will only encourage other fanbases and their teams to throw ‘Horns Down’ more often than before. Especially after his postgame press conference.
When you do those kinds of things, it looks very classless and it also looks like you were just hoping to win. We never go into games trying to hope to win. We go into games expecting to win. So we don’t act like that. We expect to win. We don’t just and down and act like we won the national championship. We sure don’t step on anyone’s home court and act crazy and try to show them up in any way. We don’t do that.
You guys won. Hey, we shake your hand and tip our hat to you, but we’re not going to let you act that way in our building. You’re not going to put your Horns Down and do all that nonsense.
— Rodney Terry
Some, if not most of what Terry said is completely fair. His anger was warranted, especially after a loss.
But with that being said, it’s really not that serious. And Texas is going to join the SEC next year, which will only be even more hostile than the University of Central Florida. Terry’s comments, while intended to serve as a deescalation tool, were inflammatory.
Fans all over the country clowned him for being soft. Other coaches around the country also chimed in.
The entire saga was much ado about nothing. The Knights acted up after a big win for their program. Terry got irrationally angry. It is what it is.
Rodney Terry is sorry.
The Longhorns bounced back with a big win over the Baylor Bears on Saturday. Even though most everybody had moved on, Terry was asked about what went down on Wednesday.
The week was what it was, you don’t pay attention to what people on the internet say — but when your peers and people in the coaching profession have opinions on you, what has the week been personally.
— Eric Henry of 247 Sports
Good question!
Unfortunately, Terry went the complete wrong way with his answer. He apologized for anything he did that might have offended others.
First and foremost, Terry did not owe anyone an apology.
He did not need to apologize for what he said or did. To some extent, his reaction to the opponent’s on-court celebration was warranted. His emotions and feelings in that moment were valid.
Stand by them!
If he was concerned with how UCF’s head coach took his comments about class, he should have reached out personally. Otherwise, there was no reason for anyone to be offended.
He was the one who was offended by the Horns Down. He was the one who was the butt of the joke all week.
Rodney Terry is a tremendous college basketball coach with a very bright future in Austin. His handling of this entire ‘Horns Down’ saga is poor. Move on!