Stugotz finally opens up about Dianna Russini: ‘It’s her story to tell’

“She’s been compromised. She knows the optics are bad on this, trust me, OK? I know the optics are bad on this,” Stugotz continued. “I was surprised when I saw the pictures, and this is coming from someone who knows she’s had a close relationship — I didn’t know it was this kind of close — but has a close relationship with Mike Vrabel and has been friendly with him for years. And that might be all that it is. I have no idea. Again, she hasn’t told me.”

The Athletic initially stood behind Russini, with executive editor Steven Ginsberg calling the photos misleading and lacking context. That position quickly became untenable when Front Office Sports reported that the publication was pressuring Russini for evidence that others had actually been present at the resort. The New York Post then published a second round of photos showing Russini and Vrabel kissing, dated to 2020, years before Vrabel took the Patriots job.

Throughout all of that, Stugotz declined to weigh in publicly on specifics.

“She has been great to me, I will say that on the front end. She has been great to me. She has been there for me at times when I have needed her to be there for me. She is warm, she’s compassionate. I love her, and I don’t care what happens moving forward. I will continue to be her friend. I’ll continue to support her. I’ll continue to love Dianna Russini,” he said. “Because of my friendship with her, I am held to some sort of expectation to share every single salacious detail that I discuss privately with Dianna Russini with the audience is laugh-out-loud funny.”

He also seemed genuinely baffled that, of all people, he was being held to a journalistic standard.

“What is funny is people are holding me to a standard that quite simply, they’ve never held me to. I’m the court jester of sports radio for the last 20 years, and suddenly you have some sort of journalistic expectation for me,” Stugotz said. “Journalism died the day Michael Wilbon was covering the Cubs wearing a Cubs jersey. I’m sorry.”

“I am not apologizing. I am not a mouthpiece for Dianna Russini. I am simply saying, it’s her story to tell, it’s not my story, and I am simply going to support my friend,” he continued. “I did say if The Athletic fired her, I would hire her. They didn’t fire her. She stepped down from The Athletic, and the offer holds forever. If Dianna Russini decides one day, three months from now, a year from now, two years from now, that she wants to get back into this game, she has a place right here.”

Russini did indeed step down from The Athletic as The New York Times — which owns the outlet — conducted its investigation into her claims that she and Vrabel were at the resort with others. That investigation had been expected to be lengthy, per a memo The Athletic’s executive editor sent to staff. Her departure, however it was framed publicly, ended a run at the outlet in which she had been one of the most prominent NFL insiders in the business.

“I am telling you when I talked to Dianna on the phone, it’s not the same Dianna,” Stugotz added. “If that makes people feel better or feel worse, I don’t really give a sh*t. I’m just telling you that zest, that kind of bounce in her step, that pep in her step, when I talk to her, I don’t hear it nearly as much as I used to, obviously. That should go without saying. To suggest that Dianna isn’t feeling this and her family isn’t impacted by this is laugh-out-loud funny. They’re impacted.”

That much is not hard to believe. Russini’s X account was deleted in the thick of things, and the stories kept coming, whether it was about rival pool parties at NFL owners meetings, re-examining old reports that now read differently in context, the couple who sold the original photos, or the idea that this was an open secret in certain NFL circles for far longer than anyone in the media had let on. Albert Breer reported that Vrabel himself has not been the same since the story broke.

Stugotz’s offer to bring Russini onto his show was made before most of that came out. Whatever Russini decides to do next — whenever she decides to do it — he already told her she has a place. That offer, Stugotz said, has no expiration date, even if her future in the industry very much does.

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