Manhattan, KS

nice way to put it sportswriter ... too bad people like you, not swarmy corporate types aren't running more papers. if there's one thing i've learn in my 7+ years in the biz its that the boys upstais see everyone as replaceable.

 

I'm just curious when the last time Mark broke a story of relevance in regards to the K-State beat. There's been some major activity around the K-State beat in the last year with Snyder's retirement, Prince's hiring, Wooldridge's ousting and Huggins hiring. And, from what I've seen and heard, it's been the Rivals' fan site, the Wichita Eagle and the KC Star that have broken everything.

To me, it would seem that the SE with all this experience and the plethora of contacts would be the one breaking all the news.

And by all means, please correct me if I'm wrong or off base.

 

If the new SE comes in and decides that the old SE is just not up to the quality level he is expecting, can he put an end to the part-timer's employment?
Seems to me, a paper this small trying to match up with big boys like the KC Star would be best hiring a 20-something kinda f'in stud that's willing to work 60 hours a week to develop contacts and sources. Not some guy who is interested in attending a few pressers and the games.

 

Come on. Regardless of how badly our industry is cutting jobs, there isn't a 20-something f'in stud on the planet who'll take a job in Manhattan, Kansas.

 

Ready-made studs? No. Twentysomethings who could become studs? Yes. Instead they head to weeklies or get buried in high school wrestling so guys who were SEs can demote themselves into the beat - on a part-time basis? Does he also get to write movie reviews? I've heard of quite a few, but I hadn't heard that one.

I've tried to argue this with friends, former bosses, colleagues, but start the fresh ones out of college on more structured college beats than on preps, which really needs to be patrolled by someone who has a passion for it and knows how to find good stories. Sadly, in college towns, that's the best job, a beat writer gets it, keeps it for 30 years, and can even keep it as a part-timer.

 

Notice the use of kinda in front of f'in stud.
And you could find one that could be, in the right situation w/ the right tutelage.

 

Talented, ambitious, and in the mid-20s and not afraid to work 60 hours a week? Are you kidding, this would be a dream job for a beginning SE, in a BCS city that from many accounts is affordable and can be a nice place to live if you don't have major metro stars in your eyes?

 

app - best post so far on this topic. i also believe new, energetic blood would do more for the beat(s) than management can envision ... but, at the same time, we don't know the full scope of what's transpired, either.

hats off to ned for coming here and making his point, but using a former SE on a part-time basis as you see fit and HAVING to use a former SE for the prime gig(s) are two different animals. if the new SE comes in and fails miserably, i only hope management at this paper has the insight to look inward when asking why.

 

I know a very good candidate who backed out after reading this thread and asking the right questions. He didn't want to go in and have to use the old SE. Who would? Silly, really.

It's too bad for this paper, too, because this guy could have done well under the right circumstances.

 

My sports editor has no fewer than four former sports editors under him.

It's a big paper, but we staff smallish in Canuckland because we don't do preps, so that's basically half the writing staff.

Let's just say that things are a littttttle slooooooooow to change. Everyone's pretty entrenched.

 

This thread seems to combine several problems into one. We've got reporters who can't see a conflict of interest when it is sitting on top of their computer monitor. We've got editors or editor-wannabes on here who are more concerned about control than quality. We've got people who assume that reporters over the age of 26 are never aggressive and that any new idea is a good one. But one plus that wasn't mentioned is that whoever gets the job won't have to deal with the one-laugh-per-millennium Bill Snyder.

 

Dude, and sure, I know a little about this topic, the new guy ain't exactly pleasant to deal with either. And I liked Bill. A lot.