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The Cult of The Coach

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Starman, Apr 13, 2007.

  1. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    One of the problems in all coverage is most of us fall into the trap of getting lazy in gamers and not treating them with as much thoughtfulness as we should for various reasons. As such it is always easy to go to the coach, get a few quotes and throw them in and be done with it.

    The ledes I hate the most go something like....

    "Coach X told his players this week...."

    "Coach X has seen a lot of games...."
     
  2. Meat Loaf

    Meat Loaf Guest

    I don't always quote all the people I talk to. If I talk to five people, it's four players and the coach. I get all the information I think I need, and I may quote only three. I've even written stories where I didn't quote the coach at all, because the focus of my story was something that happened in the heat of the game that had nothing to do with the coach.

    Although, most of the time when I won't quote the coach, it's because of coachspeak.
     
  3. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Don't any of you ask high school coaches which players to talk to? I always did. Didn't always do it, but I always asked. It's a way of telling how aware said coach is.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Sure, always. But I'm not covering as many games as I used to, so I'm dependent on what the other people do. Some of them are fine, but a couple just reflexively lapse back into coach-obsessive formula every time they go out.
     
  5. why?

    i can't stand this mentality in prep coverage -- "it's a rewrite, so we'll only quote the coach"

    always get a kid on the phone on a rewrite that you're not staffing. usually, the coach can just hand his phone to a kid in the bus. if not, get a cell number. makes rewrites a lot stronger if you have a player quote or two in there.

    and talk to kids win or lose. they can handle it. I hate seeing HS gamers where the writer only quotes the coach. and I see that way too much
     
  6. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    A guy that used to work for me began 85% of his gamers with the phrase (of course, changing the names to fit the school) "Southwestern Bumpkinville Coach Ronnie Blowhard ..."

    I did everything but ban him from using the word "coach" anywhere in a lede (or in the first six grafs, since that's usually how long it would take him to get around to the final score).
     
  7. Does it? To me, we could start a topic called The Cult of the Player as well....

    To be clear, I'm not arguing against the idea of getting out of the habit of only quoting the coach. I just don't think a single source article that only quotes a player is any better. Actually, single source stories that only quote a player--especially a high school player--are usually worse than those that only quote the coach. At least the coach is articulate (you would hope).

    Two sources. Every story. No exceptions. Solves the problem.
     
  8. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    At our place, we have to take dozens of calls (per person) on most prep nights. There isn't time for multiple sources on call-in games, most of which are only gonna get a 2- or 3-graf capsule anyway.

    And the coach handing his phone to a kid on the bus is usually a formula for 10 minutes of incoherent screaming, "KICKASS!! DUDE YOU'RE GONNA BE IN THE PAPER," blah blah, yadda yadda. If the coach calls from the bus, you're lucky if the hyenas will STFU long enough for him to garble out a linescore.

    If you get any coherent quotes out of ANYBODY from a bus call, it's a miracle in itself.
     
  9. yeah, agree.

    yeah, i'm just talking about major rewrites of important things you weren't able to staff, not prep wraps ...

    [/quote]
    couldn't disagree more. my experience has been that many HS kids are bright, acticulate and well-spoken. some aren't. I often ask a coach who's good to talk to and go from there
     
  10. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    I am not comfortable asking for a kid's cell phone number unless s/he is 17 or 18, or I know the parents and they know I'm not a weirdo. I always ask the coach to have Johnny Crosscountry call me at my number. Rarely to I get that call after deadline.
     
  11. CentralIllinoisan

    CentralIllinoisan Active Member

    I have the cell phone numbers of all my top prep athletes. Just last week two of my top senior players called me on my cell when they were committing to colleges. They wouldn't have done that had I not had their numbers/e-mails/families' e-mails and kept in touch.
     
  12. well ... i'm guessing 90 percent of the HS kids anybody might call are 17 or 18.

    but I just don't think it's a big deal asking a HS kid for their phone number these days. i've never thought twice about it, never had any problems.
     
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