Notre Dame Players Allegedly Threatened Reporter After National Title Game

01/22/2025 04:55 PM

A veteran columnist accused Notre Dame players of threatening him following Monday's National Championship Game loss to Ohio State.

The Fighting Irish fell short of capturing their first national title since 1988, falling 34-23 to the Buckeyes. Ohio State scored 31 straight points and withstood a late comeback attempt at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Dan Wolken was on site to cover the game for USA Today. He described a tense pose-game atmosphere in Atlanta.

"Bizarre scenes from the Notre Dame locker room, players yelling at reporters, coaches warning people not to ask certain questions," Wolen tweeted Monday night. "Amateur hour."

Wolken elaborated on his experience in response to a Reddit thread sharing his initial post.

Seeking a story about Jeremiah Smith's game-ending 56-yard catch, Wolken asked Marcus Freeman about the play during the Notre Dame head coach's press conference. He then went to the team's already-open locker room in hopes of speaking to cornerback Christian Gray. 

"As I walked in, a few players were shouting obscenities at the reporters who had been there and complaining about the fact that Gray was asked about Jeremiah Smith," Wolken claimed. "I noticed that a staff member had walled off access to the locker and said that he wasn't going to answer questions about the play. So I turned around to leave because there was no point wasting my time and was going to go over to the Ohio State locker room. 

"As I was leaving, a few players said some pretty threatening and insulting things to me as well."

Wolken called the incident "ugly and unbecoming" and said other media members witnessed it.

"Any suggestion that this didn't happen is - quite frankly - complete and utter b******t," Wolken wrote. "It was also something I've never really seen in 20-plus years of covering these situations, even in some of the most distraught and heartbroken locker rooms you can imagine."

Wolken attributed "100% of the blame" to Notre Dame's sports information department and the CFP for not properly preparing players for the post-game environment. He clarified that Gray wasn't available for a presser, so he could only speak to the sophomore in the locker room.

"I think that if the locker room is open, which it is for the CFP, reporters should be able to go in there and respectfully ask questions without being sworn at," Wolken replied to a social media user. "If a player doesn't want to talk, that's fine."

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