College Basketball Beat Writer -- Binghamton, NY

Okay, that's funny.

 

I'm not sure that's possible, according the Gannett shareholders.

 

Yeah, but somebody's got to put out the paper. And Gannett tends to go overboard on a lot of things.

 

And Tahoe is a mere 15 minutes away.







You had to know that was coming.

 

Of course. I'm surprised it took that long.

 

Is the first thread in history where a job's selling point is it is less than 90 minutes from Scranton? Isn't that the third seal of the apocalypse?

 

OK, here are some answers to questions posed on this thread:

- The gig's opening had nothing to do with Gannett's cuts. The job opened up because I decided to go to graduate school after five very good years at the paper.
- I traveled to virtually every America East Conference road game in four years (I missed two due to odd schedule conflicts, one due to bad weather) and all postseason (the conference tournament, which this season is in Hartford) and to the NCAAs last season.
- I also covered the Binghamton women's team and Olympic sports (which aren't bad). I did assorted high school coverage and other off-beat stuff as well.
- They do take Binghamton hoops coverage seriously. You get space to write good stories. And there is a lot of on- and off-court stuff going on (like the ad said, three incidents last year alone). There's a lot of opportunity to get some good clips at this job.
- The guys in the sports department are fantastic to work with. It's a good corner of the room to be in.
- Yeah, it's Gannett. Yeah, there are downsides to the job, like any other job. I'm not going to rip on my old newsroom in public.
- A word about Binghamton - it is what it is. It's not the trendiest, coolest place to live. But there are worse places to live. It's affordable and centrally located. Winters are cold and snowy. But summer and fall in Upstate New York are fantastic.

Again, if anyone has any other questions on this gig. feel free to PM me.

 

Well, it's good to see Gannett is hiring just the same. Thanks for checking in, Jimmy.

 

Jimmy, I'm glad you're moving up. Got a question. With the latest cutoff rumors circulating about The Big G, what are the chances of this gig being one of them?

 

Drip, I learned a long time ago never to speculate one way or the other about what The Big G will or won't do with jobs and layoffs.

I will say that the paper's executive editor is a huge basketball fan and a major supporter of the beat. How much will that matter? Who knows. But take it for what it's worth.

 

Is this job search likely to be a national one, or not really?

 

WriteThinking, I've got no inside info right now but also no reason to believe it's not a national search.