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Covering winless teams

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by ncdeen, Oct 25, 2017.

  1. ncdeen

    ncdeen Member

    Not sure if anyone has done a thread about this before, but I cover two college football teams -- one in the Group of 5, the other in the FCS. They are a combined 0-13 this season. Every week that goes by, it seems more and more likely that I could go this entire season without writing about a win. For those of you who have covered winless teams, I'm interested in knowing what you did to keep your material fresh and avoid writing the same things every week. And also how you kept your sanity.
     
  2. Tweener

    Tweener Well-Known Member

    Covering a winless team is almost as good as covering an unbeaten team. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise. The stories are usually a lot better when there's dysfunction involved.

    Definitely start laying the groundwork for the coaches getting fired. Use your sources to find info that will help you share behind-the-scenes info that can fit into a breaking news story.

    There's usually disgruntled players who'll be willing to talk about things they're unhappy about, so work those avenues as well.

    Something similar happened to me when I covered college sports, and the players were quick to turn on their coach, who had stopped talking to the media midway through the season.
     
  3. John

    John Well-Known Member

    I covered a one-win team a decade ago (saw a total of three wins in my first two seasons on the beat). Average margin of defeat was about 30 points. Every game story started to feel the same, as you might expect. Coach was in the final year of his deal so that story dominated the final half of the season, and even that got old because we all knew he wouldn't be back.

    I definitely didn't ignore all the problems with the team, but after five or six weeks I started looking for anything positive to write about -- for my own sake more than anything.
     
  4. JCT89

    JCT89 Active Member

    This.
     
    Tweener likes this.
  5. Human_Paraquat

    Human_Paraquat Well-Known Member

    If you're not already familiar with flightaware.com, now would be a good time to check in. You may need it soon (though a lot of programs are savvy enough to avoid tipping their hand here anymore).

    Try to think about who would likely be on the search committee for a new coach and maybe touch base with those people, just to establish a connection. Same with board of trustees.

    The games don't mean a whole lot from here on in. Look at big-picture things: How did things get this bad (recruiting, probably)? How is the football program's lack of success affecting attendance, and by extension the athletic department's bottom line? My midweek features would start to focus more on the development of younger players (or lack thereof).
     
  6. albert777

    albert777 Active Member

    I wasn't the beat guy, but I was on staff during the Ellis Johnson debacle at Southern Miss. What made that situation so interesting (like watching a multi-car pileup on a perfect afternoon on an otherwise deserted interstate) was that it was so completely unexpected. Until that year (2012), they had had, I think, 17 consecutive winning seasons, and had won 11 games and the conference championship game the year before. They were actually worse in 2013, but they took out two years of frustration on UAB in the season finale that year to snap a 23-game losing streak. The way people reacted, you'd have thought they won the Super Bowl. The program has largely recovered, but there are still some scars from those two seasons that will never heal. There is probably an interesting book to be written in there somewhere, but I doubt it would sell.
     
  7. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Count the cheerleaders and dance squad on the other side. If they outnumber your football team, there's your angle.
     
  8. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    Write about how they should adopt the option. Everyone should.

    (This is not real advice, though who knows, it might apply)
     
  9. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    It's not his job to "lay the groundwork for the coaches getting fired." If the situation warrants stories about a coach's future, then fine. But his job is to report the story, not create the story. Leave that to the columnist.

    I do agree with you, though, winless teams are a gold mine for great stories.
     
  10. Tweener

    Tweener Well-Known Member

    You misunderstood me. Of course you don't write shit about the coach specifically to get him fired. You start putting the pieces together so that you have a story ready to go and aren't scrambling when it inevitably happens. That's all I meant by laying the groundwork; start compiling information that you will eventually use when the coach is fired.
     
  11. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Sorry man, totally misunderstood you. My bad. -1 on me.
     
    Tweener likes this.
  12. BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo

    BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo Well-Known Member

    Might not be what you're looking for, but I covered a winless HS football team in the mid-90s. They were really bad, and really undermanned, and I don't think they came within three TDs of a win all year. The access, of course, was much better than you'll get in college, even at the I-AA level. After one road game, I stopped at a nearby McDonalds to eat and the team bus pulled in. The coaches invited me to their table. I'd covered this team for a few years, so as we dug into our bad-for-us burgers and chicken McNuggets, I felt comfortable asking "Soooo....are you guys gonna win a game?"

    Assistant HC: "Oh God no."

    I knew they weren't gonna win a game, but it was something else to hear it from a coach. It helped color the coverage the rest of the season, watching the coaches try to stay positive while putting the kids through dutiful practices and work that was unlikely to yield a positive result. Those kids were crushed after the season finale, a very lopsided loss to their archrival. They really thought they were gonna win a game. It provided good column fodder about the life lessons football can teach. Come to think of it, a where-are-they-now and what-did-they-learn about that team would be interesting, except the paper I worked at doesn't have a sports section anymore. *shrugging emoji*

    That was my last year at the paper, but when the team ended its losing streak (it might have lasted another full season), I was told that the head coach fell to his knees at 0:00 and wept. That would have been some color.
     
    Double Down and Doc Holliday like this.
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