Sportswriter, Hilton Head Island (SC)

In fairness, I kind of have to be ... have to play bad cop to all the supremely nice guys on our staff. Somebody has to crack some skulls.

Ian's post is pretty much spot-on, though I'll clarify a couple points and elaborate on some others.

We continue to run a good amount of Clemson and USC stuff. Probably not as much as the natives would like but more than the large number of transplants from the "Nawth" would prefer.

Preps are definitely our bread and butter, and there's plenty of local golf and tennis stuff to go around, but we've also added a "secondary beat" structure and asked the reporters to mine these beats for feature and enterprise ideas, as well as quick-hit items that can be blog entries. For this particular position, the secondary beat is "outdoor activities" (i.e. running, triathlons, kayaking, boating, fishing, etc.) and there are some good stories to be done there. This doesn't mean you'll be going out and covering fishing tournaments or yacht regattas every weekend (though you might once or twice a year) but we hope you'll come across a couple interesting stories off that beat and write the hell out of them.

We have had success in APSEs, and though that's certainly not the end goal, it is a nice perk to have your work recognized by your peers, and it shows you're doing something right.

And as I mentioned before, we have an outstanding staff. Lance is incredibly easy to work for (almost too easy, hence my having to be a d-bag) and the other reporters and the guys on the desk are all great guys who work hard to put out a quality section every day. I assure you there's a reason people come here expecting to make a short stop and end up staying their whole lives.

But I better shut up before Lance's e-mail inbox goes on red alert.

 

Mrs. Editude says the beaches there are among the most beautiful she has ever seen.

 

I'm more than a little biased here, because I hired him almost a year ago, but Lance is a great sports editor - a guy with a tireless work ethic who knows how to run a department well.

The combined Gazette-Packet section was an experiment that has gone over better than many had anticipated - not without a few bumps in the road but overall a very solid section for its readership.

The Lowcountry is a tremendous place to live, not inexpensive but not as overwhelmingly expensive as some might think. Savannah is less than an hour away, Charleston a little over an hour. And the aforementioned beach references are accurate. They're gorgeous.

 

Do they still have the WTA tennis tournament there in the spring?

 

No. The Family Circle Cup moved up the coast to Charleston a few years back, and it's the same week as the Heritage, so we don't devote a lot of coverage to it.

 

There is not a chance in hell that any sportswriter here is going to be able to afford to actually live in Hilton Head.

You're living in Bluffton, which makes sense since that's where the newsroom is located. That's cool, though. According to their city's Web site, "Bluffton is a state of mind." So, um, they've got that going for them.

 

Actually, roughly half of our news reporters live on the island. None of our sports staffers live on Hilton Head, but that's in large part because we have to travel throughout the county a bit more than the news reporters.

If you're looking to buy a house, you're probably not going to be able to afford one on Hilton Head. But if you're looking to rent, the cost will be about the same on the island or in Bluffton.

 

It always amazes me at how different sports tours failed to coordinate. When a city (or region) is hosting a PGA/LPGA event, a NASCAR race, a tennis tournament, or any other annual event, DON'T schedule it the same week as another major event. All it does is fracture the audience, media coverage, sponsorships, etc.

I'm no genius, but even I can figure that part out. Yet, I see this over and over and over again (Houston, Atlanta, Vancouver, Toronto, etc.). Makes NO sense.

 

So, since we're talking salary, what's the range on this job?

 

High 20s-low 30s would be a guess. McC health bennies are also pretty solid. I still miss mine.

 

I hope they get to fill it. A buddy of mine who just left a McClatchy paper (not this one) said they had a company-wide hiring freeze.

 

It might help that this one came open suddenly, and they are slim as it is (along w/ the rest of the sports sections lately).