Reports of a “board-level orchestrated coup” at the BBC are “complete nonsense”, non-executive director Sir Robbie Gibb has told MPs.

Sir Robbie, whose position on the BBC board has been challenged by critics in recent weeks, was among senior leaders, including the broadcaster’s chair, Samir Shah, to face questions from the Culture, Media and Sport committee about the current crisis.

The hearing took place in the wake of the fallout over the edit of a speech by US President Donald Trump, which prompted the resignation of the corporation’s director-general and the chief executive of BBC News, and the threat of a lawsuit from the US president.

Former editorial adviser Michael Prescott, whose leaked memo sparked the recent chain of events, also answered questions from MPs – telling the hearing he felt he kept seeing “incipient problems” that were not being tackled.

He also said Mr Trump’s reputation had “probably not” been tarnished by the Panorama edit.

During his own questioning, Sir Robbie addressed concerns of potential political bias – he left BBC News in 2017 to become then prime minister Theresa May’s director of communications, a post he held until 2019, and was appointed to the BBC board in 2021 by Boris Johnson.

“I know it’s hard to marry the fact that I spent two years as director of communications for the government… and my genuine passion for impartiality,” he said.

“I want to hear the full range of views… I don’t want the BBC to be partisan or favour any particular way.”

Asked about reports and speculation that there has been a “board-level orchestrated coup”, Sir Robbie responded: “It’s up there as one of the most ridiculous charges… People had to find some angle.

“It’s complete nonsense. It’s also deeply offensive to fellow board members… people of great standing in different fields.”

He said his political work has been “weaponised” – and that it was hard as a non-executive member of the BBC to respond to criticism.

‘We should have made the decision earlier’

Mr Shah admitted the BBC was too slow in responding to the issue of the Panorama edit of Mr Trump, which had been flagged long before the leaked memo.

“Looking back, I think we should have made the decision earlier,” he said. “I think in May, as it happens.

“I think there is an issue about how quickly we respond, the speed of our response. Why do we not do it quickly enough? Why do we take so much time? And this was another illustration of that.”

Following reports of the leaked memo, it took nearly a week for the BBC to issue an apology.

Mr Shah told the committee he did not think Mr Davie needed to resign over the issue and that he “spent a great deal of time” trying to stop him from doing so.

Is director-general role too big for one person?

Asked about his own position, Mr Shah said his job now is to “steady the ship”, and that he is not someone “who walks away from a problem”.

A job advert for the BBC director-general role has since gone live on the corporation’s careers website.

Mr Shah told the hearing his view is that the role is “too big” for one person and that he is “inclined” to restructure roles at the top.

He says he believes there should also be a deputy director-general who is “laser-focused on journalism”, which is “the most important thing and our greatest vulnerability”.

Earlier in the hearing, Mr Prescott gave evidence alongside another former BBC editorial adviser, Caroline Daniel.

He told the CMS committee that there are “issues of denial” at the BBC and said “the management did not accept there was a problem” with the Panorama episode.

Mr Prescott’s memo highlighted concerns about the way clips of Mr Trump’s speech on January 6 2021 were spliced together so it appeared he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.

‘I can’t think of anything I agree with Trump on’

Mr Trump has said he is going to pursue a lawsuit of between $1bn and $5bn against the broadcaster, despite receiving an official public apology.

Asked if the documentary had harmed Mr Trump’s image, Mr Prescott responded: “I should probably restrain myself a little bit, given that there is a potential legal action.

“All I could say is, I can’t think of anything I agree with Donald Trump on.”

He was later pushed on the subject, and asked again if he agreed that the programme tarnished the president’s reputation, to which he then replied: “Probably not.”

Read more:
Experts on why Trump might struggle to win lawsuit
Why are people calling for Sir Robbie Gibb to go?

Mr Prescott, a former journalist, also told the committee he did not know how his memo was leaked to the Daily Telegraph.

“At the most fundamental level, I wrote that memo, let me be clear, because I am a strong supporter of the BBC.

“The BBC employs talented professionals across all of its factual and non-factual programmes, and most people in this country, certainly myself included, might go as far as to say that they love the BBC.

He said he “never envisaged” the fallout that would occur. “I was hoping the concerns I had could, and would, be addressed privately in the first instance.”

Asked if he thinks the BBC is institutionally biased, he said: “No, I don’t.”

He said that “tonnes” of the BBC’s work is “world class” – but added that there is “real work that needs to be done” to deal with problems.

Mr Davie, he said, did a “first-rate job” as director-general but had a “blind spot” toward editorial failings.

Ed Orgeron needed a rope.

In late September 2013, Orgeron had been named interim coach at USC, following the school’s infamous middle-of-the-night firing of Lane Kiffin on the tarmac at LAX. Orgeron had been a head coach at Ole Miss, and now had another opportunity, at a program he loved. He wrote down several things he wanted to do in operating the USC program.

First, he borrowed an exercise from former Trojans coach Pete Carroll, and obtained a rope from the fire department. He assembled everyone involved in the program — players, coaches, support staff, even administrators — and paired up groups for tug-of-war: running backs against linebackers, offensive line against defensive line, and so on.

“I got the coaching staff to pull against the administration, and I let the damn administration win,” Orgeron told ESPN. “If I knew what [would happen] at USC, I would have pulled a little harder.”

His main point was that neither side really gained an edge when pulling in opposite directions.

“I said, ‘I want everybody in this room — and there’s a lot of people — get on the same side of the rope, and let’s pull,'” Orgeron said. “That sent a message: One team, one heartbeat. When a firing happens, something is segmented, and you’ve got to try to piece it together as much as you can.”

Orgeron led USC to a 6-2 finish that fall but wasn’t retained. When he was named LSU‘s interim coach in early 2016, he once again did the tug-of-war exercise. After going 5-2 that fall, Orgeron had the interim tag removed. Three years later, his LSU squad won the national championship.

Interim coaches inherit vastly different situations at different points in the calendar, but they share a mission: to guide a ship jostled by change through choppy waters.

“When you become the interim head coach, it’s never a good thing,” said Tim Skipper, appointed UCLA‘s interim coach in September after spending the entire 2024 season as Fresno State‘s interim. “It’s never a good time.”

Interims must guide teams through a range of games, while dealing with a range of emotions. Amid uncertain futures for both players and coaches, interims make decisions for the moment. Some have major success, like Orgeron, and end up getting the tag removed. Others fully know they’re just placeholders and try to keep things from falling apart until resolutions are reached.

The 2025 season has placed a spotlight on interim coaches, as jobs have opened in every major conference ahead of a wild coaching cycle. We’ve already seen one game featuring opposing interim coaches. As most seasons wrap up this week, ESPN spoke with current and former interim coaches and identified some of the key things to do, and avoid, as they navigate a bumpy landscape.

The initial transition

Some coach firings are anticipated for weeks or months, while others, like Penn State‘s ouster of James Franklin after a three-game losing streak this fall, are jarring. But whatever circumstances surround the coaching change, interims are thrust in front of teams filled with emotion.

“When that happened on Sunday, it was like a funeral,” said Oregon State interim coach Robb Akey, named to his role after the school fired Trent Bray on Oct. 12. “We had to be able to pull the guys up and get them moving on.”

The timing of the changes also factors in for interims. Both Virginia Tech and UCLA fired their coaches only three games into this season.

“That’s a long time to try to hold a team together,” said Philip Montgomery, appointed to be Virginia Tech‘s interim coach from his offensive coordinator role Sept. 14. “Most of these guys were recruited by Brent and signed on for that part of it. When you rip that away from them, then all of a sudden, there’s a lot of emotions, and you’re trying to handle all of that and trying to somehow keep them focused, keep them jelled together, and for us, find a way to go win games and have a productive season.”

After Pry’s firing, Montgomery relied on his eight-year tenure as Tulsa’s head coach. He addressed the team, went over general guidelines and gave players the platform to vent.

“Once you laid [those guidelines] down, you can’t go back and forth with it,” he said. “It’s got to be steadfast.”

Skipper didn’t have the same experience to lean on, but he had been an interim the year before at Fresno State, taking over in July when Jeff Tedford stepped down and guiding the team to a 6-7 record. Skipper had played at Fresno State and was in his second stint as a Bulldogs assistant.

He arrived at UCLA this summer as special assistant to coach DeShaun Foster. Upon being named interim coach after Foster’s firing, Skipper had a plan from what he had done at Fresno State, but he barely knew the UCLA team. Since UCLA had an open week, Skipper held a mini training camp. He met individually with players and had them clean and organize the locker room.

“We were oh-fer,” Skipper said, referring to the team’s 0-3 record. “We just needed a win.”

He then took the whole team bowling, an activity usually reserved for the preseason or bowl game prep, and ensured every lane had a mix of players from different position groups.

“They just bowled their ass off and talked s— and had a good time,” Skipper said. “It was another opportunity to get them smiling.”

Managing the coaching staff

When schools fire head coaches, they usually retain the rest of the staff to finish out the season. The remaining coaches face uncertain futures. Unless the next permanent coach keeps them on, they’ll be looking for fresh starts.

“We all go home and you’ve got wives that want to know where we’re going to live and where we’re going to eat and how the bills are going to get paid,” Akey said. “We’re all in the coaches’ portal, too. It’s a unique situation that you wouldn’t wish on anybody. You wouldn’t wish it on an enemy.”

Interim coaches say the key is not letting the anxiety seep into the program’s daily operation.

“What to avoid is … to become these independent contractors that do our own thing, our own way,” LSU interim coach Frank Wilson said. “It’s not having letdowns and having self-pity.”

Interim coaches almost always come from within the existing staff. One day, they’re sitting among their assistant peers; the next, they’re at the head of the table.

“You need to take charge of the staff and make them accountable and be the head coach, but don’t be a butthole,” Orgeron said. “Don’t come across too hard because the day before, you were an assistant with those guys.”

After firing Troy Taylor in late March, Stanford general manager Andrew Luck brought in Frank Reich, who coached Luck in the NFL, to lead the program. Reich had more time to prepare for an interim season — he said he never would have taken the job any other way — but also didn’t know the players or assistant coaches when he arrived.

“I lean on them a lot,” Reich said of the assistants he inherited at Stanford. “I ask them what they think. Give me your perspective. Give me the context and history of this player, this citation. That’s a big part of it.”

Interim coaches often have to shuffle staff responsibilities, including playcalling. Montgomery kept offensive playcalling duties at Virginia Tech while also serving as head coach, just as he had done at Tulsa. Arkansas did the same thing when offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino was elevated to interim coach. Montgomery saw value in keeping Pry’s staff together, noting the stability would help the players.

Oregon State fired its special teams coordinator shortly before it did Bray, who also served as the team’s defensive playcaller. When Akey became the Beavers’ interim coach, he had to sort out responsibilities.

Skipper had an even more chaotic situation at UCLA, where defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe parted ways with the school after Foster’s firing. Then, after Skipper’s first game as interim, offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri also parted ways with UCLA. Skipper had defensive coordinator experience but wanted no part of the role, given everything on his plate.

He asked Kevin Coyle, who had been Skipper’s defensive coordinator when he played, to make a midseason move from Syracuse and lead the defense. Skipper then looked internally and had Jerry Neuheisel, the 33-year-old tight ends coach who played quarterback at UCLA and had spent almost his entire career there, to become offensive coordinator. They were both coach’s kids — Neuheisel’s father, Rick, coached UCLA from 2008 to 2011 — and Jerry was among the first staff members Skipper got to know after he arrived.

“I was always like, ‘This is a smart dude, he knows ball, he’s going to be a coordinator one day,’ just me saying that to myself,” Skipper said. “And it just worked out that I had the opportunity to hire him and we made it happen.”

Recruiting and the future roster

As a longtime assistant and then Ole Miss’ head coach, Orgeron built a reputation as a ravenous recruiter. So what did he do when he became interim coach at USC and then LSU?

“I recruited even harder,” he said.

He held recruiting “power hours” every Monday with calls to prospects and recruiting meetings on Friday mornings and evenings. On Saturdays before games, Orgeron and the staff would gather, put on “College GameDay,” eat breakfast and FaceTime recruits, asking about their high school games the night before.

Orgeron’s pitch?

“This is USC, this is LSU,” he told the players. “Most of the things that you are committed to or the things that you loved about it are always going to be here. They’re going to make the right choice, and they’re going to get a coach that helps us win a championship. Stay with us, stay to the end, don’t change now, let’s see what happens.”

Orgeron made sure never to lie to recruits. He didn’t tell them he would be the next coach, even though he wanted to be.

The difference now from Orgeron’s two interim stints is that coaches also must monitor their own roster. Until a recent rule change, players were able to enter the transfer portal in the first 30 days after a head coaching change. Skipper’s main goal when named interim at Fresno State and UCLA was to have no players enter the portal. He also didn’t let up in contacting UCLA’s committed recruits and those considering the program.

“We’re trying to still spread the good word about UCLA football, UCLA as a university, as an academic institution, all of that,” Skipper said. “So we’re working to the end, ’til they tell us to leave.”

Interim coaches have limits in recruiting, though. They typically aren’t offering scholarships, as those decisions ultimately fall on the permanent head coaches. Reich, who knows he’s done at Stanford following the season, has deferred most questions about the team’s future to Luck.

Montgomery has spent most of his recruiting energy on the prospects who initially committed to Virginia Tech.

“Most of those guys are saying, ‘Hey, I’m committed but I’m open. I want to see what happens and who they hire and what they’re going to do, what’s the next move going to be before I fully say, hey, I’m back in 100 percent again,'” Montgomery said.

Managing the end of seasons

There’s nothing tidy about the end of the college football regular season. Even when there hasn’t been a coaching change, teams are scrambling to finish recruiting. Assistant coaches are often moving jobs. Players are thinking about what’s next.

Finishing the season with an interim coach only adds to the chaos.

This week, Montgomery will lead Virginia Tech into its rivalry game at No. 19 Virginia, but the Hokies last week hired their new coach in Franklin, who was out of work for barely a month. Franklin is contacting recruits and putting together his staff, while letting the current team finish out 2025.

John Thompson twice was named Arkansas State‘s interim coach for bowl games, as the school went through three consecutive one-year coaches (Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin). When Malzahn left for Auburn in early December 2012, he took several staff members. Eight days later, Arkansas State hired Harsin. Thompson, meanwhile, was unsure of his future and charged with guiding the team through the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

“You’ve got coaches going everywhere, who’s going with this group, who’s going with that group?” Thompson said. “That was the most difficult thing. You’ve got guys that are trying to get a job, some that already have taken another job, but they’re still there with you.”

After his hiring, Harsin began sitting in Thompson’s meetings.

“Never said a word,” Thompson said. “I conducted the staff meetings, conducted practice, did everything, and he just sat there, you know? And he ended up hiring me [as an assistant], but that was kind of a strange deal. I said, ‘I’m not going to pay him any attention,’ but it was uncomfortable.”

The turbulent few weeks made wins in both bowl games Thompson coached that much sweeter. He “absolutely loved” coaching both Arkansas State teams, which featured players who had been through five coaches in five years, but never let the constant flux overwhelm their goals.

Some interim coach stories have happy endings, like Orgeron getting the LSU job two days after leading the team to a win against Texas A&M, or Kent State last month removing the interim tag from Mark Carney. More often than not, though, interims are not promoted nor retained, as programs reboot with new leaders.

They’re temporary stewards, coaching very much for the moment, and trying to maximize the experience for players.

“The name ‘Coach,’ the label ‘Coach’ means something, right?” Akey said. “We’re supposed to be growing young guys up. We’re supposed to be helping them develop. And, well, here’s the opportunity to do it, because you got hit with a bunch of adversity, and it’s going to happen to you in life.”