Mike Vrabel talks about ‘difficult conversations’ he had during Dianna Russini drama
Patriots head coach Mike Vrbael spoke to the media for the first time since photos of him with Dianna Russini were leaked.
sports pulse
- Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and former NFL reporter Deanna Russini have denied any wrongdoing after a photo of them together was published.
- Emergency management experts said Vrabel has not taken full public accountability for the situation.
- Vrabel missed the final day of the NFL Draft to prioritize his family, but some experts viewed the move as positive.
- Experts believe the controversy will continue until Vrabel is fully transparent about what happened.
The words that follow Mike Vrabel were his own choices.
“That’s ridiculous.”
These are the words he shared in a statement shortly after a controversial photo of himself and former NFL reporter Dianna Russini was released in April.
Nearly two months later, Vrabel, the head coach of the New England Patriots fresh from their Super Bowl appearance, continues to piece together the story, said Molly McPherson, a crisis communications and strategy expert (and Patriots fan) with more than 25 years of experience.
“In my opinion, Vrabel is doing a gradual rehabilitation, albeit a little clumsy,” McPherson told USA TODAY Sports. “Everything he’s been doing has been a progression from the initial denial to where he is now.”
After the New York Post published photos on April 7 of Vrabel and Russini holding hands and hugging at a private resort in Arizona before the league’s annual meeting in March, Vrabel and Russini, who are both married to strangers and each have two children, vehemently denied the malicious insinuations.
“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel told the Post. “I don’t deserve any further response.”
However, their excuse that they were traveling separately and happened to be in the same location as the other group of people never worked. The New York Post published an additional photo of the two from April 23, which appears to be from March 2020. Additional photos of them together from a boat trip in Tennessee to a casino in Las Vegas were also released.
The debate covers a wide range of issues, including individual behavior, organizational ethics, and trust in the media. At this point, McPherson said full accountability will require sitting down with media outlets and reporters to uncover the truth.
“Because he hasn’t fulfilled his responsibilities yet, and that’s why people will continue to hold him accountable,” McPherson said.
Was Mike Vrabel held accountable in the Deanna Russini story?
What McPherson realized during Vrabel’s attempts to explain himself in three meetings with the media after the photo was first released was that he spoke without realizing exactly what had happened during his interactions with Russini.
On April 21, two weeks after the New York Post published the photo, Vrabel said, “I have had difficult conversations with the people I care about: my family, my organization, my coaches, my players.”
“They were positive and productive. We believe that to be successful on and off the field, you have to make the right decisions, and that includes me. It starts with me. We never want our actions to have a negative impact on the team. We never want to be a distraction.”
“What I can promise you is that my family, this organization, our team, staff, coaches and most importantly, our fans, will continue to bring the best of me.”
In this statement and in subsequent comments at a media meeting, Mr. McPherson said he fell short of full accountability.
“Accountability that only kicks in when you get caught is not accountability, and Mike Vrabel has not held any accountability,” McPherson said. McPherson’s more than 600,000 followers watch her videos on TikTok, where she explains and provides insight into recent high-profile PR crises. “He’s just talking publicly about what he’s doing privately as an individual.”
Mike Vrabel decides to opt out of the draft
Dr. Marian Fisher, a psychology professor at Saint Mary’s University in Canada, said Vrabel spent the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft away from his team and needed to prioritize his family, a move that would restore faith in the 2025 Coach of the Year.
Fisher, who specializes in the evolutionary basis of human interpersonal relationships, considered Vrabel’s reaction from the perspective of a Patriots fan, even though he had never heard of Mike Vrabel until recently.
She said she feels more comfortable trusting someone to lead an organization she’s passionate about, even if it’s Day 3 of the NFL Draft, if that person has the maturity to lead an organization she’s passionate about. Day 3 of the NFL Draft — a big day on the NFL calendar — but the Patriots can cope without him.
“I think it was a win-win,” Fisher said, adding, “He backs up his words by saying, ‘Family is important and I’m doing this for my family.'”
“I accept that he had issues with being easily distracted, but I think what resonates is the images and statements he gives about how much he cares about his family.”
Patriots fans attending an event for season ticket holders gave Vrabel a standing ovation when he addressed the group in late April. He also received a hearty greeting from fans at quarterback Drake Maye’s charity softball game a month later.
Mike Vrabel’s accountability to his family appears to be different than in public.
Vrabel said he has begun seeking counseling, and Dr. Sheila Addison, a licensed family and marriage therapist, recommended that he attend individual psychotherapy to understand the behaviors that led him to this point.
How a person spends their time in the immediate aftermath of a crisis can have a huge impact on the experience of their partner and children, and “it’s really important to be there, if you can,” Addison told USA TODAY Sports.
“When there is a major crisis in the family, and it is certainly a crisis, working parents are often faced with a difficult choice between prioritizing family or prioritizing work,” Addison said. “I think it shows a lot of dignity and character and seriousness to be willing to say that stabilizing families and meeting their needs is a priority.”
Addison is trained in the Gottman Method, an approach to working with couples who have experienced infidelity, which follows the mantra of “make amends, attune, and attach.”
“Part of that is getting answers to questions like, ‘What actually happened?'” Addison said.
In addition to the many people joking and speculating about Vrabel and Russini’s interactions on social media, many Patriots fans would certainly want to know as well.
Fisher said another factor to consider is whether the public has a right to hold Vrabel to account.
“I don’t think so,” Fisher said. “It’s not about us.”
Who cares, except that, in Fisher’s view, the whole story is a distraction? Fisher said some people know celebrities and consider them friends, but the relationship is one-sided.
“When we don’t have an inside view of what’s going on, we feel betrayed, and I think that’s where the backlash comes from: the feeling that we have an obligation to explain,” she said.
“The only thing this should concern the public is whether this person, who is coaching the team they love, is too distracted to do his job,” Fisher said. “I think that’s the really important question.”
Mr. McPherson doesn’t see the public clutching their pearls.
“People don’t hold NFL coaches to a moral standard of never cheating and if you cheat, you lose your job,” McPherson said.
She said the public already knows the answer to the question, but every time he doesn’t answer it, she can’t believe he’s being truthful.
“That’s why accountability is so important,” McPherson said.
The latest Mike Vrabel scandal in Patriots history
The Patriots can worry about being branded a “fraud” in public — controversies like “Deflategate” and “Spygate” marked their dynastic rise dating back to the early part of this century — but McPherson said ultimately they’ve shown they care at certain times, such as the Hall of Fame voting that has kept Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick on the outside looking in.
When Vrabel revealed to ESPN that he would miss the final day of the draft, the Patriots said they fully supported Vrabel’s decision.
“Mike has been honest about his commitment to being the best version of himself for his family, team and fans, and we respect the steps he is taking to live up to that commitment,” the team said in a statement on April 23.
Some of Vrabel’s reactions were reasonable, McPherson said, including acknowledging in his first press conference that he had had difficult conversations with his team and people he cared about, being candid about missing the draft to spend time with his family, and sharing his decision to seek counseling.
“But that amount is a disaster,” she said.
This is a classic crisis containment strategy that continues to evolve, she says. The challenge for Vrabel, and the reason this story lives on, is that he is still trying to distance himself from his initial actions of dismissal and contempt, the idea that this is all “funny.”
Until that changes, people cannot move forward.
“He can’t go from start to finish without taking responsibility,” McPherson said. “This will continue to follow him.
“Or you can admit what happened,” McPherson said.
