The UCLA football team and community are in the middle of dealing with a tragedy. On Sunday, redshirt freshman walk-on wide receiver Nick Pasquale died after he was hit by a car in his hometown of San Clemente, Calif. He was only 20 years old.
At his press conference on Monday, UCLA head coach Jim Mora took some time to extend his support for Pasquale’s family and discuss how his team has been dealing with the loss. After Mora spoke for about a minute, a reporter appeared to take a phone call and distract him with the volume of his voice. The coach became furious.
“Hey, shut up,” a steaming Mora snapped at the reporter. “The disrespect of some people is unbelievable. It’s just unbelievable to me.”
The reporter then apparently made a second mistake when he told Mora to continue with what he was saying.
“Don’t tell me to go on!” Mora yelled. “I’ll go on when I’m ready to go on. Why don’t you take your butt out of here if you’re gonna be disrespectful?”
You could then hear the reporter apologizing and saying he didn’t mean to be disrespectful, which Mora was in no mood to hear. After that, he muttered “I’ve got nothing to say” and stormed out of the room.
Who can blame him? A press conference is typically a very business-oriented environment with writers and reporters who are on the clock, but there are certainly exceptions. The person who interrupted Mora as he was sharing thoughts about someone who lost their life only a day ago should have known better. Mora had every right to lace into him.
H/T Deadspin
