President Donald Trump is going to Saturday’s Texas-Tennessee game in Knoxville, and the Associated Press reports that Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is getting his team ready for the chance that its headsets will cut out.
According to the AP, Sarkisian said this week that his staff has to be prepared to lose all headset communication, or so-called “headaches” that are present “anytime (Trump) enters the stadium, leaves the stadium or changes locations within the stadium.” This includes “bathroom breaks,” the article states.
“They cut the headsets to coaches. They cut headsets for coach-to-player communication. So you have to have a plan for that, if and when it happens, and you get no warning. It just gets cut out,” Sarkisian said.
He said that could happen at any moment.
“You have to have a plan to adjust if and when he comes in the middle of the first quarter, leaves in the fourth quarter, or decides he’s got to use the restroom,” Sarkisian said.
The concern goes back to last season’s College Football Playoff championship between Miami and Indiana in New Orleans, where Trump left in the fourth quarter. Sarkisian said Miami coach Mario Cristobal told him Trump’s exit disrupted communications on the Hurricanes’ last possession, which ended with a game-clinching interception.
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti disputed that account of the final drive, the AP reported. But he said on his radio show Thursday that when Trump left “around the 7-minute mark … there were two or three plays we couldn’t hear at all.” One of those plays was a Miami touchdown run.
“Communication device came back right after the (Toney’s) touchdown,” Cignetti said.
The White House said Friday that none of this happened.
“No, President Trump’s departure from the CFP championship in January did not cause headset or comms issues for the teams,” it posted on X.
The top-ranked Longhorns play the No. 14 Volunteers at noon at Neyland Stadium, which holds more than 100,000 people. Tennessee officials told fans to arrive “significantly earlier” than usual because the Secret Service will do enhanced screening at the gates.
To get people in early, fans who enter in the first hour will get half-price concessions, including alcohol.
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