Georgetown Basketball Coach Ed Cooley Tells Young Reporters To 'Grow Up' And Ask Questions

Ed Cooley had every excuse to coast through his postgame presser Wednesday night as quickly as possible following Georgetown's 71-60 loss at Rutgers. The loss to the Scarlet Knights came just four days after the Hoyas lost at home to Holy Cross, so everyone would have understood if he wanted nothing to do with the media.

Instead, Cooley sat down with a pair of his Hoyas players and ended his near eight-minute-long news conference by dishing out some honest, tough-love advice to the young reporters in the room.

"You have an opportunity when you’re sitting in a room like this," he said without appearing to be prompted to do so. "The only way you’re going to get better is by having the courage to ask a question in these types of situations. So if you guys are sitting there, don’t just sit there like a lump on a log. 

"Have a great question, grow up and learn what it is to ask a tough question. Seriously. We owe you an answer or you owe yourself an opportunity to grow. I say that to all of you young writers. Don’t sit in here and just be in awe. This s--- is real. Grow up, you’re in the room, learn how to ask some questions."

Now, if you just read Cooley's comments you'd likely come to the conclusion that he was speaking from a place of hate and anger. In the clip, however, he doesn't seem to be upset at all. Instead, he looks and sounds like a guy who is simply giving out valuable advice to a group of young writers in the room.

Sure, it's safe to say he wasn't exactly pleased with the questions tossed his way, but instead of bashing reporters or storming out of the room, he turned it into a teachable moment.

Ed Cooley Gives Sound Advice To Reporters

Cooley's comment "we owe you an answer or you owe yourself an opportunity to grow" shows his message was coming from a place of teaching and not reprimanding.

The younger me would have certainly appreciated a coach or player sending that sort of message while I was at a news conference or in a locker room as an incredibly nervous journalist. Lord knows they're not teaching this sort of message in college to aspiring journalists despite it being incredibly strong advice.

It's intimidating to walk into a news conference and ask a question. The room is filled with reporters more experienced than you who have built a rapport with coaches and players. You also don't want to ask some meaningless questions just for the sake of asking it because that only wastes everyone's time.

As Cooley noted, the only way any reporter is going to get better at their job is by having courage to ask a question, especially in a case like this when you're talking to the coach of the losing team.

Telling anyone in today's day and age to "grow up" is certainly a risk, which makes this moment from Cooley that much cooler.

Follow Mark Harris on X @ItIsMarkHarris and email him at mark.harris@outkick.com