Apologia in Coaches' Post-game Rhetoric

Sports apologia is a unique type of self-defense discourse, which is particularly made salient following a public team loss. Although previous studies have outlined the necessity of studying sports apologia, few have endeavored to longitudinally investigate head coach rhetoric (Kruse, 1981; Llewellyn, 2003). The current study sought to determine the distinct place of sports apologia in terms of established theories and pioneering conjectures. The study begins by considering how sports apologia relates to established communication theories and then continues to determine why and how sports apologia serves as a discrete field. Through examining transcripts of losing coaches’ post-game press conferences reproduced online at <NFL.com>, progress was made into outlining sports apologia’s position in society. Llewellyn’s “coachtalk” theory (2003) served as the foundation for a coding system that analyzed 45 transcripts’ overarching themes and underlying trends. This study reinforces that coach discourse reflects American societal values based on dissemination of material and reported public interest.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Enterline, Lynn

• apologia

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/14893

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/14893