"said Podunk coach Joe Jones" vs. "Podunk coach Joe Jones said"

Also, funny anecdote: Once read in a paper (might have been the Hartford Courant) the following:

"I have no explanation," coach Frank Jones explained.

 

An easy way to think about it: Replace the name with a pronoun.

"Fuck this," he said.

"Fuck this," said he.

If you're Chaucer, fine. Otherwise you sound like a twat.

 

One of our local papers has done that for as long as I can remember. "Said" for the first quote, and a different word for every one after that. Stated. Recalled. Related. Admitted. Lamented. Pointed out. Continued. Emphasized. (Those were all in the same story!)
But they've hired two younger guys in the last year who actually know how to write, so I have some hope for their future.

 

The active/passive differentiation cited isn't correct.

Active: subject is active in executing the verb (He did something.)
Passive: what would have been the subject in an active voice is replaced by what would have been the object of the verb (Something was done by him.)

Active is in almost every case more effective, lively, powerful. Among the exceptions are certain idioms. "We wuz robbed" kills it; "The refs robbed us of the game" falls short.