ESPN and SEC Network analyst Carolyn Peck had social media buzzing when some believed that she said “bitch” on the broadcast during the LSU Tigers-Vanderbilt Commodores women’s college basketball game on Feb. 8
Peck, a former Commodores associate coach in the 2017-18 season, was giving her advice while Vanderbilt was down 51-37 with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, and it sounded like she said a curse word, according to some on X.
Peck said “bench” on the broadcast and not “bitch,” according to CBS Sports host Chris Williamson, who explained that her Tennessee accent was coming out.
“As a coach,” Peck said, “I say ‘bench, stay in this ball game, stay excited, stay enthusiastic, pull your team through! I don’t care if the officials are telling you to sit down.’ ”
“She’s saying BENCH but that southern accent was holding on for dear life lmao,” Williamson wrote on X, including a clip of the moment.
LSU beat Vanderbilt 85-62 on Feb. 8.
Peck has yet to publicly address the situation, which many got a kick out of on social media.
The 58-year-old Peck played for the Commodores from 1985-88 before she turned to coaching a few years later, and served as an assistant at Tennessee, Kentucky and Purdue.
Peck won the 1999 NCAA women’s national championship as head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers, before she took the job as head coach of the WNBA’s Orlando Miracle in 1999-2001 and made the WNBA playoffs in 2000.
The Miracle relocated in 2003 to Uncasville, Conn. and became the Connecticut Sun.