CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -Wyoming coach Joe Glenn said the obscene gesture he toward the Utah sideline during Saturday game was “stupid of me” and vowed it would never happen again.
He also said he won’t change his approach to the game.
“It ain’t going to change who I am. I’m an Irish guy, love to have fun with the game, love to interact with our fans, your fans, people in the business,” Glenn said Tuesday in his first public remarks since the incident. “This doesn’t scare me off.”
Glenn was reprimanded by the conference, and he apologized in a statement issued through the university Monday and again on Tuesday during the weekly Mountain West Conference coaches conference call with media.
“I’m better than that,” he said.
Before the game, Glenn had publicly guaranteed a victory over Utah to a gathering of mostly UW students where he did not believe his comments would be publicized. The guarantee soon reached the ears of the Utah team, which used it as motivation against the Cowboys.
The Utes manhandled Wyoming from the start of Saturday’s game, racing to a 40-0 halftime lead.
Utah padded its lead with 6:21 left in the third quarter with a field goal, and on the ensuing kickoff Utah coach Kyle Whittingham called for an onside kick to get the ball back. The onside kick, which Wyoming recovered, prompted Glenn to give the finger to the Utes across the field. Utah went on to win 50-0.
Whittingham acknowledged the onside kick with a 43-0 lead was a “bad decision” and it caused his team’s good play to be overshadowed by the ensuing controversy.
“It’s just something that I got to live with, and you know, I’m accountable for what happened and that’s been addressed many times over,” he said.
Glenn said he wrote Whittingham “calling for a truce and love.”
“It was stupid of me,” Glenn said. “When you’re in this position you just can’t do it. And I responded to a moment, something that was very, very emotional. I felt it was aimed at me, and yet it was the kids that were hurting and I responded that way. It won’t happen again.”
Glenn said he also has to be smarter about what he says in trying to get his team and fans excited for a game.
“I guess I got to know when I’m on record and off record,” he said. “You just got to be smarter than I was.”
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