Drew Deener Sounds Off on Tom Jurich and his Media Attack Dog

[caption id="attachment_233296" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Jurich via Card Connect[/caption] Another member of the media has aired a grievance over the machine Tom Jurich created at the University of Louisville. Sunday morning Outside the Lines published an extensive report profiling Jurich's demise and UofL's involvement with adidas. It touched on a variety of topics, but the one the struck a cord with ESPN 680 morning radio host Drew Deener was Jurich's tactics to control the narrative.  In this excerpt from the OTL story, ESPN calls out Bob Gunnell of Boxcar PR.

Jurich sought to neutralize the scandals and shape the athletic department's image by controlling the local media, according to interviews with more than half a dozen journalists and media executives -- many of whom requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals from Louisville, even with Jurich gone. They described consistent and aggressive efforts to influence coverage, including abusive calls to radio talk-show hosts and executives by Jurich and his surrogates; threats to get advertising pulled from stations; and attempts to influence hiring and firing.

Jurich denies he sought to influence advertisers or pressure the media. Nearly all of the media members identified Bob Gunnell, a public relations specialist, as Jurich's main surrogate and attack dog. The Louisville athletic department has a sports information group that employs 11 people, but contracts obtained by Outside the Lines show Jurich paid Gunnell's outside PR firm, Boxcar, up to $130,000 per year dating to 2014. Shortly after Jurich was fired, Gunnell cut ties with the university. He now represents Jurich personally.

Labeled a bully by many, including our own Matt Jones, Jurich relied on Gunnell to be his mouthpiece. Deener said Gunnell threatened him on more than one occasion and he has proof to back up his statement. "He said awful things to me," Deener said on this morning's show. "He said threatening things to me and this part of it is something that has kept me up at night, worrying about threats from this guy.  He's probably listening right now, and sure as hell know he's listening to the podcast, so I'm going this deep. "If you want to pick a fight, I got e-mails brother.  I got 'em.  You may not remember you sent 'em, but I have them and they're burned in my brain and they're saved on my phone.  You did awful things to pressure this radio station and advertisers of this radio station and I am happy somebody finally brought it up. And I regret not talking to ESPN about this.  I regret it because this has been something that everybody at this station knows has been done." Deener's comments did not directly attack Jurich.  However, he implied that this is just a small snippet of the tactics Jurich employed Gunnell to perform. "If you want to play ball, I got the e-mails.  And I've got some other things in there too.  That stuff happened and that stuff has bothered people around here for years," Deener said.  "There are people that want me to go way deeper into this, because I got a lot more that I could go into, but I'm not. Hear all of Deener's remarks starting around the 29-minute mark below. [mobile_ad]