The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t won a playoff game in three years, and have just a handful of postseason victories in their short history. They have never been to a Super Bowl, making them just one of four teams in the NFL never to do so. That’s why, after fielding one of the franchise’s best teams in years, their latest quick playoff exit was a hard one for fans and the team itself to swallow. It was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching for nearly everyone in the Jacksonville area.
After suffering a narrow defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Bills this past weekend, head coach of the Jaguars Liam Coen took the podium to answer questions and accept accountability for the loss. Business as usual, despite how demoralized he was feeling.
One of the questions, however, was far from the usual fare. A Jacksonville Free Press associate editor named Lynn Jones-Turpin raised her hand and chose to use her time to give the coach words of encouragement instead of a hardball question.
“I’m going to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man,” she said. “You hold your head up. You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, OK? Ladies and gentlemen, Duval. You keep it going. We got another season. Much continued success to you and the entire team.”
The warm, rousing words had a visible effect on Coen, who began beaming while nodding gracefully. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said with genuine appreciation.
Talk about a legendary pep talk. You can watch the roughly 30-second moment here:
The brief interaction was picked up by national sports reporters and celebrated as a wholesome moment of compassion between two professionals.
Adam Schefter of ESPN called it an “awesome” moment. His post highlighting the interview got nearly 20 million views on X.
Commenters found the compassionate exchange extremely refreshing coming from the usually cutthroat world of sports, where reporters and coaches spar and trade passive-aggressive barbs. They’re often pitted against each other as enemies, with reporters seeking transparency and accountability and coaches just wanting to be left alone to coach. Coen and Jones-Turpin broke the mold—for one afternoon at least.
“Whoever she works for needs to give her a raise. We need more people like this in the world!” one wrote.
“This really is wonderful. It’s fun watching his facial gyrations while she talks to him like an aunty. You can see the kid in the man. Wonderful.”
“Epically classy from that reporter. Not the finish they wanted, but this squad showed heart all year.”
“This healed me and I’m not even a Jags fan” someone added.
While not strictly professional, the moment between Coen and Jones-Turpin was a rare thing of beauty. But that didn’t stop the curmudgeons from questioning the reporter’s professionalism and journalistic integrity.
Many fans (notably, of non-Jaguars teams) and members of legacy media were quick to point out that a reporter consoling a coach after a loss is not a good display of journalism ethics.
Hosts on Fox News Sports Radio said, “This is a No-No. She sounds like a fan.”
Jemele Hill, a writer for The Atlantic, wrote on X, ” It’s literally the first lesson you learn — you aren’t a fan. You can love sports. You can be a fan of competition and games. But you are absolutely not a fan,” while expressing distaste at how Jones-Turpin handled the interaction.
AP reporter Mark Long, in a now deleted post, called the question “embarrassing” and questioned Jones-Turpin’ credentials, calling her “fake news.”
The back and forth between supporters appreciative of her words and people looking for journalists to hold a hard line in the sand became quite a kerfuffle in social media, racking up millions and millions of interactions.
Lynn Jones-Turpin was finally given a chance to respond in an interview on local Jacksonville news, and she defended herself beautifully: By not feeling the need to defend herself at all.
“It was just an overwhelming day. I can tell you that this entire city, this town, our team, our city, and our coach, we were overwhelmed. … Coach came out, and he was just… emotions. He was totally immersed in his feelings. He had tears, he bit his lip.”
She then had a chance to address her critics head on. “I don’t take no offense to it. Listen, I’ve been in this business more than 25 years. I’ve interviewed from Barack Obama to Terry Bradshaw to Tiger Woods. He can say whatever he wants about fake news. I am a member of the Black Press,” she said, adding that Black-run newspapers like hers have been around for longer than most modern media outlets. “Support the Black Press. You can call me fake all you want to, honey. I’ve been doing this a long time.”
Adding more context, journalist Phil Lewis writes, “The Black Press never agreed to conform to the mainstream media’s ideal of ‘objectivity.’ In fact, the first Black newspaper aimed to distinguish itself from other newspapers of its time. This is not to say the pursuit of truth isn’t important, but realizing that ‘objectivity’ has always reinforced white worldviews.”
Jones-Turpin then joked that she was the new “grandma” or “auntie” of the team.
Especially after her earnest appearance and non-apologetic attitude for her approach, the support for Jones-Turpin has been far louder than the criticism.
In a way, coaches and the reporters who cover their teams are coworkers. They interact on a near daily basis, and while they butt heads frequently, they both do what they do out of a shared love for the sport and even for the city they work for.
The game is ultimately just a game, but the emotions and real-life stakes are very real.
When emotions are high, who’s to say they’re not allowed a brief moment of humanity and compassion for one another? There are far worse things happening in the world—that much is for certain.
