Anderson, SC shakeup, part deux

I knew John from his days at The Sun News in Myrtle Beach and later at the AIM. He was always a great guy to me and helped me out. I wish him the best in his new position, and as an avid reader of the AIM, we'll see what the new regime brings.

 

You're right on the money, there.
The biggest mistake wasn't on Don Kausler's part - it was T. Wayne Mitchell, the guy that hired Brasier eight years ago.

 

If you've paid much attention to the AIM in the last year, you'll know that Brasier has been involved less and less in the department. When he left, he was barely doing three columns a week, an occasional short feature, and a short golf notebook. So the "new" regime has been in place for just about six months.

 

I'll take his position and turn it into the best in South Carolina. Anyone here involved at the paper PM me.

 

John had (has?) his share of problems. He's lazy, more interested in golfing (and doing golf stories) than putting out a good section.
He had 3 columns a week, one of which was always a "...." notes column ... the kind of column most decent columnists throw in once every four months. He did one a week.
He tended to take more days off than accounted for (aka, working from home), which everyone in the office knew about.
He wasn't really accountable - the kind of person who too often said one thing and did another, which tended to haunt him.
And his reputation as being, um, absent-minded reflected poorly on the paper.... in short, he was kind of the Homer Simpson of sports editors.
If he could have adapted to his new position with an executive sports editor ahead of him calling the shots, he probably could have stayed around as long as he wanted to.
He didn't want to, and more power to him for that.
John is a decent person, but a bad sports editor. Maybe he'll fit in better at the Journals.

 

The folks in Columbia, Charleston, Spartanburg, Myrtle Beach, and yes, Greenville did not ride into town on a truckload of turnips. Are you assuming papers in the South aren't very good?

 

Not at all, Frank. I bet they're pretty damn solid. I'm just saying I'd like the challenge of taking a good newspaper and making it better. I'm cocksure in many ways. It doesn't mean I'd turn it into the best paper in South Cackalackee, but I'd do my best to try to make it happen.

 

Not only are there some good sports sections in that state, but in the 1980s the Anderson section had a hustling staff that played much, much bigger than its size, and the SE went on to major metro prominence. I'm not sure there's much either of us could show the people of Anderson that they haven't seen before.

 

You present a good point, Frank. I think it would be a great challenge to elevate the paper back to the prominence it once held.

 

What wasn't Brasier's fault: Anderson was a perennial award winner before he got there, therefore making it pretty tough to make a super product but so much better. Also, the way in which management treated him by basically pantsing him in front of his staff, colleagues, etc.

What was Brasier's fault: Not the most cooperative sort. Scripps Howard outsources some of its coverage of Clemson from there. When I called, only to get him on the other end of the line, he was offputting ... bordering on rude. I'm not at all difficult to please, but the only way he could have pissed me off much worse would have been to cuss me out.

Now the other folks on staff? Good people, many of them better than that.

 

I have to agree with Joel. Although John may have had some difficulties running the department, it would have been only fair for the higher-ups to let him know what was going on after his years there and not to seemingly run him off by hiring someone to replace him right under his nose. He did deserve better than that, as do most employees.