Ed Orgeron did not exactly make any friends in the media with the revelation that LSU's football practices would be completely closed in advance of the 2017 season. As you may imagine, Paul Finebaum of ESPN was among those who did not understand the rationale and, in the video above, the always entertaining personality laid out his case.
In short, Finebaum cited Hal Mumme's reference to "Paranoid Ed" and believes it is a terrible decision for the program and the public perception of what is happening in Baton Rouge.
"I know a lot of people out there get sick and tired of the media complaining about things but the whole purpose of practice is to let reporters go, maybe get an angle on what's happening — not secrets, but a perspective — and disseminate that to the fans, who want it the most. And, by doing this, I think LSU looks back, the optics are horrendous... It's a very bad look."
It is easy to see what Orgeron is trying to do in controlling the message at the highest level. With that said, this type of tactic rarely works as desired and the media, armed with less information, will be forced to scramble in order to provide the fan base with the updates that a die-hard group of SEC zealots demands.
We will see how long this lasts but this won't be the first shot across the bow at Orgeron if it continues.
