LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player -- then pulls story

http://www.lsureveille.com/news/source-mccarthy-paid-akiem-hicks-to-come-to-lsu-1.2112267

 

Re: LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player


I don't understand the story.

If the school chancellor is releasing a statement about the "alleged violation" can't the lede be stronger than attributing the existence of the alleged violation to an anonymous source?

 

Re: LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player

The fact a violation was being looked into and the assistant involved had been reported all week by multiple outlets. This is apparently the first report of what the violation is and which athlete is involved.

 

Re: LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player

What?

Players being paid and cheating going on at an SEC school?

No ffffff-iinnng way!!!

What's next, Tiger Woods getting caught cheating on his wife?

Stop the fffff-iiinng presses!!!! :

The only thing that is surprising about this is that Lane Kiffin isn't involved.

 

Re: LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player

Story's down now?

Interesting.

 

Re: LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player

As Rufino said, this story named the player, which no one else had done yet. Glenn Guilbeau, the Gannett News Service reporter who writes for several Louisiana papers, had a story yesterday where he narrowed it down to a handful of guys (all McCarthy recruits who had yet to play this year).

There's definitely some smoke there around Hicks, but I'm guessing a few intra-campus phone calls were made to quash the story.

 

Re: LSU student paper accuses asst. coach of paying a player

The story was pretty thinly sourced to begin with. I posted it as much for the student-paper-goes-after-school's-football-program angle as much as the news itself. Wish I had copied the whole story now.

 

Problem is, the source was identified as a former player. And you had no specifics. The assistant paid the dude how much? For what?

So it seems to me that the "source" probably heard the news second- or third-hand.

That's dangerous. Could be true, but sometimes even insiders are hearing rumors that they don't realized were generated on messages boards and stuff.

 

I imagine that's what the girl that wrote the story is saying to herself right now. It's a tough lesson to have to learn. I forget her name but I remember her position was listed as "Chief" Sports Reporter. I feel bad for her.

It's an awfully big story to write based on one unnamed, not-well-placed source. It's never good to be wrong, but when your story might dynamite an entire coaching staff you might want to do a little more reporting before you run with it.

 

According to the BR Advocate, the assistant coach in question, D.J. McCarthy has resigned:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/79028457.html