Sports Writer, Panama City, Fla.

The Panama City News Herald has an opening on its three-person sports staff. At least one year's experience preferred. This beat is weighted with preps, but also includes staffing of a community college program that has produced a national championship in basketball in recent years. No copydesk work is involved. The News Herald is an equal opportunity employer and offers competitive pay and excellent benefits. Send resumes and clips to Sports Editor Pat McCann at P.O. Box 1940, Panama City, FL 32402; or e-mail resumes to pmccann@pcnh.com. EOE - Drug-Free Workplace

 

Gulf Coast Community College is a powerhouse in women's JUCO basketball. Roonie Scovel, more often than not, will have her team in the national tournament, and she regularly sends players off to top-10 NCAA programs. It also helps that she's pretty good with the media, and the facility that GCCC plays in is less than 10 years old. And, if the right reporter can cultivate the right sources, there's some stories to be dug up in the Panhandle Conference, especially in men's basketball.

Preps in the immediate Panama City area are OK. Football and baseball are the main sports, with baseball being the richest in terms of next-level prospects. You won't be headed downstate for a bunch of state finals, but you won't be wasting your time, either. The main high school stadium in Bay County, Tommy Oliver Stadium, isn't a bad place to cover a game.

This paper also covered Florida State and Florida home football games in the past, but I'm not sure that they do anymore. This is a Freedom newspaper, so expect a lot of cost-cutting to be in effect.

 

Is The Fuss leaving?

 

When I used to work in Florida, I would hear pretty good things about this paper whenever I would cross over into the panhandle, and the writers I would run into covering preps from there were good people. Never actually seen a copy of the paper, though.

 

The Fuss is good people and pretty dang talented ... for a Hoosier ;D

 

Sounds like a good job. I wouldn't mind it myself. They don't cover Chipola AND GSCC do they?

 

IIRC, Chipola (where the state juco basketball tournament is held) is either just outside of the News Herald coverage area or on the very fringe. Marianna has its own paper, which last I checked was not owned by Freedom.

 

It's awfully close to PC to not be in the area, but I can understand with one JuCo to cover, why incorporate another. The reason I ask is I am vvery close with the MBK coach @ Chipola, and they are stacked again.

 

Panhandle Conference basketball is extremely competitive and pretty fun to cover. Lots of guys end up playing D-I when they leave the conference.

 

I will say this -- a job on a 3-person staff with no desk responsibility is more or less unheard-of nearly everywhere else.

 

No doubt about that.

Our shop recently became a 3-person sports staff (at a 45K circ paper) and from our experience so far, you either need a very solid copy desk that you can trust or the sports editor never has a day off.

 

Saw one Saturday at McDonald's (must be the only McDonald's in the world that still sells the Steak, Egg and Cheese Bagel)... solid, nothing spectacular. Decent story on local football standouts at a camp (IIRC), a lot of wire, average space...