Opinion: Mason Post Game Press Conference Brutal To Watch

The game was bad enough, but the post game press conference was down right brutal

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, things took a strange and unexpected turn and seem to have gotten worse. 

In the wake of Vanderbilt's 38-14 blowout loss to Kentucky Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium, head coch Derek Mason took to the podium to address the media and it was one of the most interesting press conferences I've ever witnessed. 

For context, I was present when Jeff Fisher was fired by the Titans, likelwise with Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Mularkey.

None of those matched what I took from Mason on Saturday. 

Let's be clear, I find Derek Mason to be an honest, kind and good man and nothing he said individually in this was wrong, but all together it comes off, at least to me as a bad look from a head coach trying to keep his job. 

Yes it is true that Vanderbilt had some deficiencies entering the season, but name a team that doesn't have some deficiencies?

It's also true that the schedule of having to face two of the top five or six teams in the country in the first three games worked against him.

It's also true that historically, Vanderbilt football has gone in "waves and cycles."

But I don't think I've ever heard a coach be that open, that honest to the point it seems as if he were actually throwing his coaching staff and players under the bus.

Mason spoke of having to find a quarterback who can" spin it" to be good in the SEC. That's a fact, but that says to me that he does not believe in any of the quarterbacks he has on his roster at this time. He's correct in that, but still that's a pretty damming statement from a head coach in relation to how these quarterbacks have been evaluated and coached up since arriving on campus. 

There were other comments that stood out, but in the interest of brevity and not soundling like I want to kick someone when they are down I'll leave it with the above, which was the one that stood out most in this whole thing.   

I don't know Derek Mason on a personal level, and have only spoken to him once outside the press room, but this whole thing was on a different level.

Whatever the outcome may be, this one will go down as an all-timer on the weird kind for me.