Tampa Bay Times seeks college sports reporter

[rleblanc]

Florida’s largest newspaper is looking for an enterprising, news-breaking reporter to join the Tampa Bay Times Sports department, primarily on the Florida Gators beat but with the goal of hopping on great stories at Florida State and around the state as well. This reporter, based in the Tampa Bay area, also will be in the middle of the action as Tampa hosts the College Football Playoff national title game in January 2017.

We seek an excellent reporter and writer with a strong work ethic who is as comfortable in digital coverage as in print, from Tweets to blogs to tight night-game deadlines. We’re looking for someone who can keep up with the news but isn’t afraid to break away from the pack to find a distinctive story. Experience covering college athletics and dealing with public records are pluses.

Sound like you? Email a packet that includes a cover letter, resume and a few clips that show the breadth and depth of your best work to Roy LeBlanc at [email protected]. Please make sure your clips, whether links or attachments, easily print in a readable form.

 

[djdennisOU]

Applied and now crossing my fingers! I spent a couple years in my youth in the Tampa Bay area so it'd be fun to go back as a professional.

 

[doctorx]

Replacing A.E.?

 

[BDC99]

Replacing A.E.?

I would think so.

 

[playthrough]

Didn't know A.E. was moving on.

LeBlanc is a great editor.

 

[JCT89]

Didn't know A.E. was moving on.

LeBlanc is a great editor.

On paper this seems like a good job but the two questions I'd have:
1) Doesn't this paper have major financial issues, per a thread on the j topics board? You worry about job security everywhere in this business, but this one seems especially tenuous.
2) If the primary focus is covering U of F, and some FSU, why be based in Tampa? Both of those are hikes from Tampa. Seems like that'd be a major deterrent from really owning the beat.

 

[djdennisOU]

2) If the primary focus is covering U of F, and some FSU, why be based in Tampa? Both of those are hikes from Tampa. Seems like that'd be a major deterrent from really owning the beat.

Gainesville is only two hours away from Tampa so that's not too bad in my opinion. I am from the Detroit area and the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press cover both UM (roughly an hour away) and MSU (2 hours) so the UF beat makes sense – at least to me.

 

[Riptide]

Gainesville is only two hours away from Tampa so that's not too bad in my opinion. I am from the Detroit area and the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press cover both UM (roughly an hour away) and MSU (2 hours) so the UF beat makes sense – at least to me.

Yeah, so every time a story breaks, you're two hours from the job. Cool.

 

[Matt Stephens]

No one seemed to have a problem with the Washington State beat in Seattle being five hours away. Some papers just do it different than others. Nothing wrong with that. Also sounds like this is a gig covering more than just UF.

 

[JohnHammond]

On paper this seems like a good job but the two questions I'd have:
1) Doesn't this paper have major financial issues, per a thread on the j topics board? You worry about job security everywhere in this business, but this one seems especially tenuous.
2) If the primary focus is covering U of F, and some FSU, why be based in Tampa? Both of those are hikes from Tampa. Seems like that'd be a major deterrent from really owning the beat.

In all seriousness, which paper doesn't?

 

[Tweener]

No one seemed to have a problem with the Washington State beat in Seattle being five hours away. Some papers just do it different than others. Nothing wrong with that. Also sounds like this is a gig covering more than just UF.

But wasn't that job actually based in Spokane, Matt? It makes much more sense to have a writer located close to the beat as opposed to where the paper is located.

 

[Riptide]

You've got to be near campus for the big Florida schools.
With all the arrests, you're a cops reporter, too. Got to move fast.

 

[wheels89]

No one seemed to have a problem with the Washington State beat in Seattle being five hours away. Some papers just do it different than others. Nothing wrong with that. Also sounds like this is a gig covering more than just UF.

Also Matt, Washington State is not the University of Florida. Trying to compare the two is ridiculous.

 

[Matt Stephens]

But wasn't that job actually based in Spokane, Matt? It makes much more sense to have a writer located close to the beat as opposed to where the paper is located.

No, the job was based in Seattle.

Also Matt, Washington State is not the University of Florida. Trying to compare the two is ridiculous.

I'm not comparing which program has more prestige. If you read the job description, this is more than just being on the Gators 24/7. If you're needed to head down to Miami, up to Tallahassee or over to Orlando, I understand the Tampa focus. This thread just decided to devolve like most, ripping the job before considering there might be a reason it's based where it is.

 

[BigRed]

No, the job was based in Seattle.


I'm not comparing which program has more prestige. If you read the job description, this is more than just being on the Gators 24/7. If you're needed to head down to Miami, up to Tallahassee or over to Orlando, I understand the Tampa focus. This thread just decided to devolve like most, ripping the job before considering there might be a reason it's based where it is.

Want to know the reason for cynicism? It's pretty clear the paper has an awful financial situation, selling its building just to pay off debt. 2. You're taking a beat that was a Florida-only beat (not sure if the TBT reporter lived there or not) and turning it into a situation where you're pulled between Florida and Florida State while trying to compete with numerous reporters on both beats embedded in Gainesville and Tallahassee. You're a jack of all trades, mastering none, and will never break a story that way on either beat. Instead, you'll get a great sense of Florida's interstate system while driving yourself to death and working your butt off for minimal return. Sounds awesome!
3. I realize you're young, idealistic and a newspaper supporter, but having a lack of cynicism about this job is just whistling past the graveyard.

 

[wheels89]

If you read the job description, this is more than just being on the Gators 24/7. If you're needed to head down to Miami, up to Tallahassee or over to Orlando, I understand the Tampa focus. This thread just decided to devolve like most, ripping the job before considering there might be a reason it's based where it is.

Then the job should be called college football columnist because the writer is going to be asked to parachute into different places and compete against three different beat contingents in UF, FSU and Miami.

 

[Tweener]

No, the job was based in Seattle.

Have to go back to the Seattle Times job for a second. That's unfathomable that a beat reporter would be asked to live in Seattle and cover not one but two different college programs on the other side of the state, nearly three hundred miles away. While it's true that not every college writers based in the city of the program they are covering, this seems absurd. Constantly going back and forth would be difficult for anyone, and would make it extremely difficult to cover the beat thoroughly.

 

[Riptide]

No, the job was based in Seattle.


I'm not comparing which program has more prestige. If you read the job description, this is more than just being on the Gators 24/7. If you're needed to head down to Miami, up to Tallahassee or over to Orlando, I understand the Tampa focus. This thread just decided to devolve like most, ripping the job before considering there might be a reason it's based where it is.

Didn't the Times (or Tampa) talk the FSU writer into relocating from Tallahassee to the home office a few years ago, only to lay him off soon after he and his wife made the move? Wife gave up a good job in the process, something like that, so they both got burned. That's one reason I brought it up.

The other is that you just can't cover UF, plus FSU and other "great stories around the state," from St. Petersburg without operating from a pretty significant disadvantage compared with other reporters based in those actual coverage areas. Probably an interesting job to have anyway, if it lasts, but it's pretty obvious that "Florida's largest newspaper" is scrambling to hold things together on the college scene. So you have to consider that if you go after the job.

 

[BDC99]

I'm actually surprised they're not going a different direction with this opening. Tampa hasn't had an FSU or UF beat writer for years, so maybe they're trying to keep that perceived advantage. No doubt UF and FSU are big business in Florida's sports scene.

 

[mediaguy]

Riptide, good memory, but that was Scott Carter and the Tribune in 2008. 'Black Wednesday' in Tampa | Page 2 | SportsJournalists.com