It’s a strange time for football in the state of Colorado.
In Boulder, the Buffs are in the middle of an unexpected late February coaching search. Nearby rival Air Force? They’re in the early stages of spring practice. Both of those events became intertwined on Thursday evening when Falcons head coach Troy Calhoun was asked about his name being connected with the opening at the Pac-12 program.
The entire interaction recounted by The Gazette is worth perusing for the rather bizarre way Calhoun tries to deflect rumors he had interviewed with the Buffs. Reporters asked first to confirm anything. He obviously didn’t. Then they asked if Calhoun had informed his staff about an interview.
His response was… different.
“Well, write that then,” said Calhoun. “If we told our staff that, then write that. If you think that’s accurate and that’s what you heard, write that. I wouldn’t say just a source, if that really is the truth, we told our staff, there’s freedom to write whatever we want to write. I’m all about football. That’s what we’re doing. We’re all about Air Force football and what we did today.”
But wait there’s more.
A little later, after a few more snipes with The Gazette, a local TV reporter chimed in along the same line of questioning about the opening and asked if Calhoun was happy at the Academy.
“What’s that have to do with practice? Honestly? What do we have in regards to Air Force football today, practice-wise?,” Calhoun remarked.
That exchanged continued again for a bit before they all spent a few minutes actually discussing the spring practice the team wrapped up.
So… yeah.
As good a coach as Calhoun has been over the years in Colorado Springs, he’s also had more than a few episodes like the one above where things have gone, well, a bit outside the box. A unique personality as far as football coaches go, it will be interesting to see if that continues at Air Force or if it will be down the road at CU.