Sports copy editor, The Register-Guard

Hey, all. Ron Bellamy asked to post this on here. It would be a good opportunity for the right copy editor -- nice area of the country, family-owned paper, good colleagues, very good boss...

The Eugene Register-Guard has an opening for a sports copy editor. Our assistant sports editor, Steve Irvin, left the paper this week to become a labor relations adjudicator/mediator for the Washington State Public Employment Relations Division in Kirkland, Wash.

Steve went back to school to earn a master's degree in this field, and so this new job, in a highly competitive market, is a wonderful reward for all that hard work. However, he's been a standout member of our sports department for 13 years, and my colleague in management since shortly after I became sports editor seven years ago. To say that I will miss him -- his advice, his work ethic, his loyalty to our department, his grace under pressure -- is an understatement.

In addition to his management duties, Steve was a front-line copy editor. For right now, I'll assume the management chores he was performing, as best I can, but we have approval to hire a full-time sports copy editor to try to fill that void. Unfortunately, our budget is not likely to allow us to hire at the top of the scale; more likely, looking at someone to come in at roughly a second-year level, and keep in mind that we've had two rounds of newsroom-affecting layoffs here, last June and August.

The posting for this position is on the RG Web site (go to the very bottom, where there's a Jobs at the Register-Guard link, or simply enter this link: http://www2.registerguard.com/cms/images/uploads/107.html). Closing date is Feb. 1.

 

Great paper. Great sports to cover. Obviously lots of Ducks. If it was a reporting job I'd be all over it. You get rain, but not as bad as other parts of the state.

 

Paper with a great reputation and you get to cover plenty of high-profile events...obviously the Ducks, but also Olympic Trials, etc. I've also heard good things about their newsroom, but my only contact is limited to the occasional freelance assignment.

Cost of living is high in the Northwest...probably the biggest drawback, but it's a nice place to live if you can handle the rain. Eugene is near the middle of the state along I-5...quick access to the coastal regions and about 2-2 1/2 hours from Portland.

 

No way this position could have been posted about, oh, six or seven months ago? I was scouring Internet job boards then, polishing the resume, clicking the send button. Heck, I started to drive around the city to apply for odd jobs.

And then I actually landed a position with a good company. A magazine. Not sports. No nights. No weekends. Short commute. Free lunch on Mondays. Bonuses here and there. Owned by a good man with an emphasis on family. And I love it. But I love Eugene, too, and I would have moved there in a minute. (Or, more appropriately, the two or three weeks it would have taken Mrs. Bobcat and I to pack up all our belongings -- considerable, after a wedding -- move out of one place, drive about 2,500 miles across a lot of states and move into another and exhale.) I run. She runs. I write and edit. She writes and edits. I love Oregon. She loves Oregon.

We would have moved to Oregon ... six or seven months ago. Darn it.

The best to the able body who is hired. Know that two folks in Cleveland envy you.

 

Word is that the sports editor doesn't have much leeway regarding the experience level he is seeking.