The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson
Every mess has a move behind it. Crisis communication expert Molly McPherson takes apart the viral scandals, celebrity meltdowns, and corporate disasters dominating the headlines, showing you exactly where they went wrong so you never do. She's the historian of the moves, and once you can name the play, you can see it coming.
The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson
AI Already Wrote Your Crisis Story. You Just Don't Know It Yet
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Your reputation isn't being shaped by what you say anymore. It's being shaped by everything everyone else says, organized by AI, before you've had a chance to respond. Crisis communication has a new first mover, and it isn't you.
Molly McPherson breaks down the shift that most leaders still haven't internalized: waiting is no longer a strategy, it's a surrender. Using the TSA staffing crisis and Delta's response as a real-time case study, we look at how AI aggregates noise into narrative, why organizations in proximity to a crisis are in it whether they caused it or not, and how trust leaks before it breaks. The old playbook, pausing to gather facts, buying time, controlling the story, doesn't exist anymore. What does exist is the window before AI builds the version of events without you.
Why Losses Reveal Leadership
Molly McPhersonIt's April, but this episode is about March. Specifically, two moments from the opening rounds of the tournament that most people watched and moved on from. But not me. Because while everyone was watching the games, I was watching something else. Okay, I was watching the games too. But I was watching how leaders behave when they lose. And this week, two coaches handed me a perfect case study without even trying. Villanova head coach Kevin Willard, UCLA head coach McCronin. Two programs, two losses, two press conferences, same signal. And it all comes down to one word: contempt. Hey there, welcome back to the PR Breakdown Podcast. I'm your host, Molly McPherson.
Willard’s Comments And The Double Down
Molly McPhersonLet's start with Villanova. They're back in the tournament for the first time in four years. First round matchup against Utah State. They're actually up at halftime, 39 to 37, but things start to unravel in the second half. Utah State dominates in the paint, winning the rebounding battle 37-27, shoots 55% from the field, Villanova's at 44. They lose 86 to 76. Okay, that's me cosplaying as my son Connor. He's the sports journalist. But what I was paying attention to in the middle of the game, while it's still being played, Kevin Willard is doing a live courtside interview. Whenever I see these interviews happen in any sport, I do have empathy for coaches. When a team is up, it's easy to do that interview. But when you're losing, you have to stop what you're doing. You have to stop that energy. And then you have to turn it on for the camera and do a media interview in front of thousands, potentially millions, depending on the game. It's not easy to do. So I'm going to give them a pass there. So the CBS reporter asks a reasonable question about the paint points and listen to what happens. Coach, 16 paint points for Utah State.
SPEAKER_03How do you keep them out? I'm going to fire my staff because we've not now. Yeah, I am, because we've given up eight points on underneath out of bounds defense. So the only thing I'm going to do is fire them and get a new step.
Molly McPhersonAll right, go do that now. Bye, coach. In the moment, you could give them the benefit of the doubt. Frustrated coach, big game. Villanova's been there before. Willard's been with other programs before. Pressure does things to people. We've all said something sideways when we were stressed. Fine. This is what I watch for a living. But here's where it changes. After the game, after they lose, Willard goes into the press conference. Now another reporter brings up the comment again. Instead of walking it back, Willard doubles down. And then when the reaction starts building, listen to what he does.
SPEAKER_00Coach, early in that game, you know, they were Utah State was doing good on the out of bounds. They had a couple scores off that. Where do you think you guys flipped the script on that and kind of was able to I don't think we did.
SPEAKER_05We gave up a big three late. Yeah, I'm probably gonna have to make some changes to my staff just because of how bad we were.
SPEAKER_04You just mentioned making changes to your staff. You gave a um I it's a joke. I that's what I want to ask you about. Plus you made you you gave an interview during the game. Uh it went viral. You're being criticized pretty heavily online. I don't care.
SPEAKER_05Welcome to my life. It's a joke. That's the moment.
Molly McPhersonNot the sideline comment, not even the press conference answer. It's that pivot, that dismissal that tells you everything. Because he's not explaining himself. He's telling the reporter and everyone watching that they're not worth an explanation. As a crisis manager who does this for a living, I spot contempt, but also the mother of a budding sports journalist. I'm always looking at how journalists are treated. That's why I noticed this whole interaction. What Willard was showing, that's not frustration, that's contempt. And here's what made it worse: a reputational double down. A former coach who worked under Willard came out publicly afterward and said that it isn't funny. So now it's not just a bad night, it starts to look like a pattern. The people closest to the situation are telling you something real. I want to stop here for a second because I think it's worth being precise about this word. I'm coming at it two ways. I see it in my work every day. When I spot it with a client, I need to explain that I see it, and then we need to walk through it. So it's not surprising that when I see it happen in culture, I'm gonna spot it right away. Frustration says this isn't working. Contempt says you're the problem. And the difference matters enormously in a crisis because frustration leaves room for repair. You can come back from it, you can apologize, recalibrate, show people you heard them. Contempt shuts the door. It tells everyone in the room and everyone watching that accountability is for other people. Now you might hear all of that and think, okay, one coach, bad night. Let's not pile on.
Cronin’s Blowup With A Reporter
Molly McPhersonBut this wasn't just Villanova. UCLA head coach McCronin, another hard-charging acerbic type of a coach. His team is playing Michigan State. They lose badly, 82 to 59. And if you know anything about Michigan State basketball, you know the IZone, their student section. It's legendary, it's synchronized chants, psychological pressure. They've been doing it for decades. All night, the IZone is chanting the name of Xavier Booker, a player who transferred from Michigan State to UCLA. So after the game, a reporter asks a completely fair question. Listen to what happens.
SPEAKER_02What was your thoughts on the student section chanting Booker's name? I could give a rash about the other team's student section.
SPEAKER_00That's about the overall the way that you can.
SPEAKER_02Kudos for the worst question I've ever been asked. Did you like the preparation of the Do you really think I care about the other teams? No, I don't mean I don't think you care about the other students. Are you raising your voice at me? No, I'm not sure. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. Come on, dude. No reason to do that. Come on, but yes, you were everybody standing here listening to you. Everybody. This was on camera. They can hear you. I answered the question. I could give a rat's ass about the other team student section. I coach UCLA. I don't care about Michigan State students. I mean, who cares?
Molly McPhersonDifferent coach, different program, different game. Same signal. This is what happens when someone at the top gets pressure and decides, consciously or not, that it can't be their fault. So where does it go? It goes to the staff. It goes to the reporter. It goes to my mom heart thinking about my son. It goes anywhere but inward. And notice the language in both of these clips. Who cares? It's a joke. Worst question I've ever been asked. That's gaslighting dressed up as toughness. Instead of answering the question, you make the question the problem. You're not redirecting the conversation. You're telling the other person their perception is wrong. On camera, in front of a room full of people. Here's what the same situation looks like through a completely different leader.
Tom Izzo Shows Another Way
Molly McPhersonSame player, Xavier Booker. Tom Izzo, his former coach at Michigan State, the man whose student section was chanting Booker's name all night. It's all about Izzo, the Izzone. Listen to how he speaks about his former player.
SPEAKER_01You know, at the end, I will say this. I thought our fans and the student section did a great job. You know, sometimes when a player comes back, they're real jerks. And I tried to put it out there that I didn't want that. And really our people did a phenomenal, phenomenal job of that. And he deserved it. Because like I said, there's a lot of people that leave places and it's uh it's a mess. His wasn't. It was done the right way. His parents came in, you know, uh unlike this poaching and tampering that we got. That thing was solid as a rock, and I appreciated that about him and about his mom and dad and uh and the way Mick handled it. So give them credit, give our fans credit, you know. They were somebody said that well, they were calling for him at the end, and I thought it was not good, but some people told me after that they were doing that in a good way. I don't know if that's true or false, but I hope it was, because uh kid's a hell of a kid, and uh he deserved the best. His parents were here and they were they were great.
Molly McPhersonSame player, same context, an important game. Two completely different responses. One protects the relationship, the other protects his ego. Izo doesn't need to perform toughness because he's not threatened. He can hold the complexity. My former player gets transferred. He's come out publicly and said, I could not coach him to the level that he needed to be coached. He did the right thing for himself. He's a good kid, his family's a good family, they care for the kid. It's just essentially saying things didn't work out the way either of us hoped. He still cares about him because his identity isn't wrapped up in being the best coach. It's wrapped up in doing the right thing for his player. That's the thing about contempt. It almost always signals insecurity, not strength. Leaders who are genuinely
Contempt As A Slow-Motion Crisis
Molly McPhersonsecure don't need to make the questioner the problem. So here's what's worth sitting with. When you're under pressure, when things aren't going your way, and someone asks you something you don't want to answer, who do you quietly decide is the problem? The people around you, the reporter doing their job, the staff closest to the issue? And would they agree with you? Because here's the part most people miss. Crises don't start with headlines, they start with moments exactly like this: a tone in a press conference, a word choice in a sideline interview, the instinct that kicks in before you've had time to think. When you see contempt in those moments, crisis has already begun. And here's why this isn't just a sports story. If you're a parent of a D1 prospect watching these press conferences, you're making calculations. Are you sending your kid to the coach who says, I love that player, I wish I'd done more for him, even when it didn't work out, or the one who turns on a reporter, dismisses his staff in public, and calls it a joke. Players notice, parents notice, recruits notice, ADs notice, athletic directors notice, schools notice, admissions notices. Do you see? There's always a pattern, and something eventually leads back to money, power, and over time they make decisions based on it. Not one big dramatic exit. They just stop choosing you. That's the long tail crisis no one talks about. Reputations don't collapse overnight, they erode slowly, one moment of contempt at a time. And if you didn't pick this up earlier, I framed it from a professional business organization point of view. Are you showing contempt? Here's a footnote. Your life, do people treat you this way? When you are asking someone a question, and someone comes back at you and asks, why would you ask that question? That's a stupid question. What are you, stupid? And then they start making you the problem. That's gaslighting. The ability to spot contempt in life will save you so much grief in your personal life and in your professional life, your reputation, which is often tied into your revenue. That's all for this week on the podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Bye for now.
