college beats

[write receiver]

If any of you on here happen to be editors, I was curious as to what you're looking for in college beat writers. It seems that almost everyone wants someone who already has that experience which obviously isn't always possible...so what types of traits might somebody have that would make them worthy of such a position?

 

[Bullwinkle]

--Cheap
--Hard-working

 

[Tom Petty]

bookmark.

 

[for_the_hunt]

Ummm ... I've got to admit I'm no a sports editor, but I don't think SE's are looking for "personality traits" to sell them on an inexperienced candidate.

Great, so you're hardworking, have a nose for stories and work well under deadline --- so do half the other applicants for the job. Clips and experience, my fellow newb, clips and experience. That's everything.

Oh, and connections (which one can get from ... wait for it ... experience).

 

[TheMethod]

Based on all the hires I've seen in my area, which includes two Division I programs, the main criterion is that you not expect much money for your services. Ability to write a plus. Experience is nice, but most people charge more for that.

 

[Tom Petty]

Ummm ... I've got to admit I'm no a sports editor, but I don't think SE's are looking for "personality traits" to sell them on an inexperienced candidate.

Great, so you're hardworking, have a nose for stories and work well under deadline --- so do half the other applicants for the job. Clips and experience, my fellow newb, clips and experience. That's everything.

Oh, and connections (which one can get from ... wait for it ... experience).

unlike high school volleyball teams, all sports writers do not work hard.

 

[kingcreole]

Ummm ... I've got to admit I'm no a sports editor, but I don't think SE's are looking for "personality traits" to sell them on an inexperienced candidate.

Great, so you're hardworking, have a nose for stories and work well under deadline --- so do half the other applicants for the job. Clips and experience, my fellow newb, clips and experience. That's everything.

Oh, and connections (which one can get from ... wait for it ... experience).

unlike high school volleyball teams, all sports writers do not work hard.

But I work just as hard as you do.

 

[Tom Petty]

Ummm ... I've got to admit I'm no a sports editor, but I don't think SE's are looking for "personality traits" to sell them on an inexperienced candidate.

Great, so you're hardworking, have a nose for stories and work well under deadline --- so do half the other applicants for the job. Clips and experience, my fellow newb, clips and experience. That's everything.

Oh, and connections (which one can get from ... wait for it ... experience).

unlike high school volleyball teams, all sports writers do not work hard.

But I work just as hard as you do.

{shakingheadfromsidetoside} no. no you really don't. {/shakingheadfromsidetoside}

 

[sptwri]

If any of you on here happen to be editors, I was curious as to what you're looking for in college beat writers. It seems that almost everyone wants someone who already has that experience which obviously isn't always possible...so what types of traits might somebody have that would make them worthy of such a position?

Willingness to work August through April with minimal days off. If you're traveling to the carmpus site, that's part of the job. Willing to write gamers, sidebar and graphics package every football game and some hoops games. Also features and trend stories and also ramp up for special sections in your spare time when league championship or bowl games are coming up, as well as NCAA regionals and Final Four. Don't get so close to the school you're covering that you're easy on it, but don't get so far away that you can't call up the football or men's basketball coach or athletic director just before final edition deadline to kill or support the latest internet rumor. Keep travel expenses down, especially these days. And make sure you get your expenses in by the last week of every month. Do a blog or a vlog or some such thing on a regular basis. Oh, and keep your cell phone on 24 hours a day.

I think that about covers it.

 

[prezclinton]

unlike high school volleyball teams, all sports writers do not work hard.

That's hilarious.
You know who else works hard? The freshman team, and 10-year-old flag football teams.
So I'm told.

 

[WaylonJennings]

If you're covering preps now, break real stories. Arrests. Admininstrative intrigue. Budgetary issues. And do real enterprise.

 

[write receiver]

thank you waylon, that's really helpful. I'll work on getting those stories as much as possible. thanks.

 

[WaylonJennings]

It is also advisable to get to a paper that has college beats as quickly as you can, even if you yourself are covering preps or community sports. There'll still be an opportunity at most of those places to fill in and cover Local U. Places like Gainesville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Eugene - basically anywhere with a D-I school stationed there. If it's a BCS conference school, all the better, because you know that they will throw major resources and manpower at it.

You are probably not going to jump right from your prep job into being the lead college beat writer at a paper. But that's mostly because those places promote almost exclusively from within.

 

[BTExpress]

If you're covering preps now, break real stories. Arrests. Admininstrative intrigue. Budgetary issues. And do real enterprise.

Planting a kilo of cocaine in the star QB's locker usually works for me.

 

[Tom Petty]

If you're covering preps now, break real stories. Arrests. Admininstrative intrigue. Budgetary issues. And do real enterprise.

Planting a kilo of cocaine in the star QB's locker usually works for me.

half a brick. party with the other pound.