This time, it's at Morehead State University, where women's basketball coach Tom Hodges whimsically signed a contract with LoudMouth golf to outfit his coaching staff for the 2010-2011 season. "It's a little outside my comfort zone," he said, "but anything that gets Morehead State in the headlines and puts our great university front and center, I'm all for it."
This is Tom Hodges first season as a head coach. At just 27 years old, he will be the youngest D-I women's basketball coach this year. But he's inheriting a squad that went 22-11 last year - the school's best season in three decades - and finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference regular season. That season, however, did not include an NCAA tournament berth.
At the end of the day, this just seems silly. But the media attention Hodges and MSU have received does underscore the issue of women's sports coverage in the media. When less than 5% of all sports coverage (on TV) is devoted to women's sports, this stunt is emblematic of the gimmicks required to get some publicity. Kudos to Hodges for realizing that, certainly there are worse ways to get media publicity. Still, I maintain a fragment of hope that it's his team's play can earn some coverage - and not just his garish garb.
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