Sports Editor, Lafayette Louisiana...........Again!!!!

I called the Advertiser about the Opelousas position, and spoke with one of the staff writers. He said they were still scrambling to find sports editors for both papers. Can't believe it's taking this long.

 

I remember for the Lafayette opening, the original ad said they wanted someone before the football season started. That was in like July. Then they reposted the ad in Sept and finally hired someone in October, who ended up quitting a couple of months later in like January.
Obviously Lafayette has a firm grasp on the hiring process.
I know one of the guys who turned this gig down back in August and money is an issue. Plus, it's almost all desk work.

 

If you know the executive editor (it's the same for Lafayette and Opelousas), it's no surprise that they're having a hard time filling these jobs. Mean, stupid and cheap ... what a combination.

 

A friend of a friend saw Dan Itel recently. He's back in Portland, working for a suburban paper, and doing some stringing for the Salem paper, his former employer.

 

i wish dan would stop by and leave a post on this thread.

 

I don't know Dan Itel.

 

lol...good one.

 

Both the Lafayette and Opelousas sports editors jobs are now filled. Bob Heist of Jackson, TN is the new Daily Advertiser sports editor. Eric Narcisse is the new Daily World sports editor. Eric Narcisse was a prep writer for the Advertiser.

I wish both of them well, because they certainly face uphill battles on slippery slopes.

 

Stagger, you sound like you have the inside scoop. Care to share?

 

I think a lot of what has been discussed in this thread and the other thread about the Advertiser is pretty accurate. Their managing editor is very "hands-on", often to the point of pretty much dictating what goes in the section and where. The sports editor doesn't really have a whole lot of say in the section. Dan Itel was a pretty nice guy, got to talk to him once, and he seemed to know what he wanted. From what I gathered, though, he was basically told what to think.

Their writers are all pretty good writers with a lot of experience. One of them has been there 20-plus years and served as sports editor prior to Itel's arrival. Another one was an SID at the local university for 20-plus years and racks up tons of awards every year during the annual LSWA Awards Banquet. In fact, I think he was the "Sportswriter of the Year" this past year in LSWA. The least experienced guy on their staff now that Eric Narcisse is gone has been writing for something like 15 years or so. He's also won a lot of awards, but they recently moved him to the hunting and fishing beat. From what he told me, it was a forced move and he had no say in it whatsoever.

The new sports editor will have some hard-working guys to work with, the question is whether or not management allows the sports editor to run the department or if they continue to micro-manage everything.

Another big problem they face is staff size. It's a 50,000 or so circ with two Division I-A universities within a 45-mile range and their full-time staff right now is four (minus the sports editor). When Narcisse leaves for DW soon, they'll be down to three full-timers and the sports editor. Compare that with other 50K circ papers and you see what kind of odds they're against. I think at one point (prior to Gannett taking over) they had a sports editor, assistant sports editor, an outdoors editor and four full-time sports writers.

The section has a lot of potential because the three remaining staff members are all pretty well-respected among their peers. It's just going to come down to how much freedom they're given to do their own thing.

Anything else, feel free to PM me.

 

thanks for the update, Stagger

 

Looks like Dan Itel sold his soul.

http://www.westlinntidings.com/news/story.php?story_id=117571035523935600