We’re talking about University of Central Florida college football? Why? Well it’s not everyday that a FCS program let’s a Playboy Playmate into their locker room for a photo shoot. And you know a FBS program would NEVER do such a thing.
But Miss July 2010 Shanna McLaughlin is a UCF grad, and her recent photo shoot for something called Axis Magazine inside the UCF (what is the name of their mascot again? anybody?) locker room has given us the first thing to talk about relating to UCF football since Daunte Culpepper, and that was a long time ago.
That’s why I think the UCF A.D. Joe Hornstein is FULL OF IT here
“An employee without proper authorization allowed access to our football locker room. By the time the video of the shoot was brought to our attention, it had already made its rounds via the internet,” Hornstein’s statement said.
“Let me make this clear, UCF does not condone the photos and the video. We have spoken to the employee in question and we will speak to our entire staff to make sure that this does not happen again. To any fans who were offended by this, we sincerely apologize.”
By Paul M. Banks
Yes, I know Florida is part of the bible belt, and yes America is a country founded by ridiculously uptight Puritans, but that statement is still absurd; I don’t buy it for a minute. As an A.D. your primary job is to grow your program, bring awareness to it, sell it to donors, boosters, alumni and recruits.
Drawing publicity is the primary way to do so. Granted this story won’t have legs (not legs like Miss McLaughlin anyway) for very long, but this also isn’t Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake Super Bowl “Nipplegate” either.
So I doubt too many people were offended by this obvious publicity stunt. A stunt approved by….wait for it…..Head Coach George “lying on your resume is the American Way” O’Leary.
Remember him? The disgraced Notre Dame head coaching candidate from five years ago.
“I approved the magazine,” O’Leary told a Sentinel reporter after practice ended Saturday. “The guy called my office and basically wanted to know if they could do a magazine shoot. There was a UCF girl who had her MBA and all that. And the only thing I asked is, ‘Is that a magazine that is distributed on campus?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’ They’ve done I think four, since I’ve been here at least four, initial copies of football [previews] opening up the football season.”
O’Leary said he was shown a copy of the magazine cover.
“Eh, it’s not what I expected, but I don’t think there’s anything outlandish on the thing. I never saw the video.”
Way to do your homework there, buddy.
And now for the actual reason you clicked on this post, the video from the Axis magazine shoot. Don’t worry the video is SFW.
Written by Paul M. Banks, President and CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest focused webzine. He is also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, the Chicago Tribune’s blog network, Walter Football.com, the Washington Times Communities, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank and @bigtenguru
I think everyone who’s blogged about this, and you know which sites those are have missed something important here. This girl has a MBA? Seriously???
That has to be the first Playboy Playmate in history with an advanced degree