April 16, 2018
To the victor goes the spoils.
In collegiate athletics, some of those spoils include a significant uptick in public attention and Vanderbilt’s national championship Saturday night quickly put the Commodores into the media whirlwind. As any bridesmaid knows the focus is placed on the bride, there is a significant difference between finishing first and being an also ran.
Even before Vanderbilt’s chartered bus pulled out of St. Louis Sunday morning, the requests were coming in. For example, arrangements were being finalized for the team to be honored upon its arrival on campus at the afternoon baseball game with Ole Miss.
Coach John Williamson threw out the first pitch (the former Tim Corbin operations director bounced one at home plate without benefit of any warmup) but was still greeted by the entire Commodore baseball team upon exiting the mound.
As the team gathered on the stadium concourse, Vanderbilt beat writer Adam Sparks of The Tennessean cornered Katie Stark and Emily Rigney for a video interview as a follow-up to the story he wrote the night before after the team won the title.
In the third inning the entire team climbed on top of the third base dugout with their big trophy to watch a short video of the championship game before being introduced to the crowd. After that, Williamson joined play-by-play announcer Joe Fisher on the broadcast to talk bowling in-between pitches.
While that was going on, Kristin Quah was being interviewed by the sports editor of the student paper. Williamson did yet another interview with the local Fox affiliate before leaving with Emily Rigney and Katie Stark to tape an interview that would be seen on Nashville’s CBS affiliate on the popular “Sports Central” Sunday evening show. It was a fun experience to get a quick tour of the glitzy television set, complete with robotic cameras.
Requests for Coach Williamson to appear on sports talk radio began coming in. Sirius XM SEC Network Radio was among the first in line and Williamson will be on Tuesday morning at 7:30 Central with hosts Marcus Spears and Peter Burns. Arrangements are also being made to appear on College Sports Weekly this week. More appearances are likely.
The Commodores have also received congratulations from Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett. The Southland placed Vanderbilt’s championship story and big photograph as the lead on its web page as it has quickly emerged as the hotbed of college bowling, counting five of its members among the nation’s top 20 and three in the top five.
Williamson and assistant Josie Barnes traveled early Monday to Lincoln, Neb., with Kristin Quah Monday and Tuesday as the Commodore junior competes for the USBC singles title, an opportunity she earned last month after winning a regional qualifier in Smyrna.