The NCAA has denied forcing a sports writer to delete a video of Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall’s wife that went viral during Sunday’s NCAA Tournament game.
Drew Franklin, who writes for the Wildcats fan site Kentucky Sports Radio, shared a short clip on Twitter of Marshall’s wife Lynn going crazy during Kentucky’s 65-62 win over the Shockers. When Lynn realized she was becoming an internet star, she tried to get Franklin removed from the game.
According to the credentialed writer, an NCAA official approached him during the game and said he could no longer tweet about Mrs. Marshall. Franklin was also told after the game to delete the video, which he did because he didn’t want to lose his credentials for future Kentucky events. On Monday, NCAA spokesman David Worlock told Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer that no one from the NCAA made Franklin remove the video.
“We do have a policy that no one can shoot video from inside the bowl once we get to within 30 minutes of the first game of a session,” Worlock explained. “So yesterday in Indianapolis, that would have been a half-hour prior to the Michigan-Louisville game.”
A source told Tornoe that it’s possible employees of the Indiana Pacers — the NBA team that is hosting some tournament games — acted without instruction and told Franklin to delete the video.
The Associated Press later reported that Lynn Marshall was asked to leave the lower bowl of the arena because she was cursing loudly following the game. However, Worlock said she was simply escorted by a police officer to her husband’s press conference as part of standard procedure.
“It is standard that a coach’s spouse receive a credential and that someone escort her to those areas,” he said.
Franklin was obviously told by someone to delete the video, because he has no reason to lie about it. He later put it back on the internet and explained that the footage showed nothing compared to what Marshall was shouting during the game. Franklin claims Marshall was heckling Kentucky players and coach John Calipari with some pretty explicit language, which you can read more about here.
