A Football Tradition Continues

Today is Wednesday. With a football game on the schedule Saturday, that can only mean one thing: football media luncheon.

The luncheons (which are available on TigerZone) are familiar to those who attend them. They start out with Director of Athletic Media Relations Craig Sachson as he welcomes those in attendance, introduces the people at the front table and then gets the opposing coach for the weekend on the speaker phone. Media members direct their questions to Sachson, who then relays them to the coach on the other end. Nothing earth-shattering ever comes from these luncheons, as football coaches have a unique talent for using any different combination of words to basically say "I'm not going to tell you if we're changing quarterbacks" or "do you really think I'm going to share with you if our injured defensive star is going to play?"

The interesting part of the luncheons is their history. There is no record of when they started, but they definitely date to at least the 1950s. Generations of Princeton media, sports information personnel and coaches and players have participated in various locations and formats, but the luncheon itself has endured.

At one point, they were held at the Nassau Inn and other upscale locations in town. For at least the last 25 years, they've been in one of three locations: the Zanfrini Room in Jadwin Gym, the roof of Fine Tower and the current location of the press box in the football stadium.

Roger Hughes, since he became the head coach in 2000, moved the luncheons from Tuesday to Wednesday. He also instituted the policy of bringing an assistant coach with him and funnelling questions to them, so that he is not the only one who speaks. It's always been a good opportunity for players (usually two are there) who don't always get the spotlight to have their moment in the sun.

There have been all kinds of mishaps through the years, usually related to a coach who doesn't answer on the other end of the speaker phone, a player who doesn't show up or a malfunction of the speaker phone itself. We tried extending this to basketball a few years back, but it never caught on.

It'll be interesting to see what the next 10 years brings as far as the football luncheons, as the media world continues to evolve and the future of many newspapers is tenuous at best.

For now, it's another day of a long-standing Princeton football tradition.