Relationships while covering recruiting

If I write a story about how a kid is good and that helps him get a scholarship, that happens. But I don't want him asking me to be in pictures with him and his family members on national signing day, yaknowwhatImean?

 

Let go the fact that you won't be breaking much recruiting news.

 

I was once covering a small D-I college. I told the coaches that when kids made commitments, if they "leaked" me their phone numbers, I'd call the kid and write in the paper that he had committed. However, the women's basketball coach was always trying to get me to call these girls who had not committed. Like a call from the newspaper (a major metro) is going to somehow sway them that they want to play at this school. I did not call any kid who hadn't committed.

(Of course, when I was covering preps, I called my guys all the time, because in that case I was interested in them, wherever they went, as opposed to covering from the college side, where I only care about them if they are coming to the school I cover.)

 

I never had this problem. I was fortunate enough that during my few years covering high school sports, not one kid from one of the 29 schools in our coverage area made anything higher than a D-II school. In other words, no one outside of the kid's family would give a shit.

However, if a coach or parent told us a kid signed his letter of intent to play for Division II Buttfuck State North and had the paperwork to prove it, we'd write a mini-profile or something a week or two later just to have something to do.

 

Man, you must have been the sports writer in Clumsyville.

 

I've never heard the term clumsyville, but I understand what you're getting at. You are correct. I was told that only one athlete was recruited to a Division I program within a 10-year span. Yet another reason why I quit.