Robert Anae wants to know the purpose of your question

If you haven't seen it already, you should really check out BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae's exchange with reporters after Tuesday's practice session. Let's just say it got a little awkward. This was posted by Jay Drew of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Let's look at the best two exchanges.

His first confrontation comes at 0:49 in the video when Ben Wilson of KFAN 1320 follows up on a Drew question asking if the offense looked sharper before the 15 minutes at the end of practice when the press saw them (and apparently they struggled). Wilson's question was pretty innocuous, but Anae's response was not.

"Why do you want to know?" Anae asked. The answer is obvious, and Wilson responds: "Because that's our job."

Anae then answers the question like this: "Probably a little. I hope that helps."

This is when Wilson loses his patience and responds, "Not really."

I am not defending Anae's initial reaction to the question. but he did eventually answer the question. Wilson should have let it go.

The back story might be important here. According to multiple sources, Wilson disrupted practice last week, and Anae may have been reacting more to the person than the question. Regardless, Anae seemed annoyed from beginning to end.

But it kept getting interesting. Later in the conversation (3:47 in the above video), Jason Franchuk of The Daily Herald asked about the coaching staff, if Anae knew who of his coaches would be in the booth and who would be on the field in the fall.

This was Anae's response. "Let me find out the purpose of your question. What's the purpose of your question?" When Franchuk tries to clarify, Anae cuts him off by saying, "Maybe you're inferring that whether they're up (in the booth) or whether they're down (on the field) would affect the outcome of the game. Is that what you're referring to?"

Franchuk: "I don't know."

Anae: "Well, I'm asking. What's the purpose of your question?"

Franchuk: "Well some guys are better motivators, and some guys are better eyes for you, right?"

Anae: "No. The headsets are for practice communication. That's what they're there for. We have not decided who's up (in the booth) and who's down (on the field)."

Alright then.

Franchuk responded to me on Twitter, and was very good natured about it.

@byu_riseshout I am considering a change of my Twitter handle to @harkthepurpose

— Jason Franchuk (@HarkTheFranchuk) March 19, 2013

Franchuk attributed the exchange to Anae's earlier exchange with Wilson and also understood why Anae might have been annoyed with his general line of questioning.

As Wilson stated, all these guys are doing is their job. No one asked ridiculous questions, though Anae seemed to dodge them in a confrontational style. This is not new for Anae -- he was never known as a friendly quote machine.

While giving good quotes to reporters doesn't make him a good or bad coach, I think it's better if he tries to maintain good relations with the press, as they our the eyes and ears of the fans, and we watch games, buy tickets and merchandise, and generally follow the team. So Anae shouldn't bite the hands that feed him.

That being said, as a fan, the only thing I really care about is that the BYU offense hums in 2013 and isn't as bad as it's been the past three seasons.It is the job of these reporters to ask questions, but it's also their job to deal with coaches who don't really want to tell them anything. Franchuk dealt with it well, Wilson less so.

Just for fun, I've included a video below someone pointed out to me of another time when someone did not react well to a question from Wilson, and this made Anae's reaction look like a kindergarten teacher answering a kid's question.