University of Alabama football beat writer, The Tuscaloosa News

[Tommy Deas]

The Tuscaloosa News, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, is seeking a beat writer to cover University of Alabama football for its online and print platforms.
Our next Alabama beat writer will:

• Have a proven ability to break news, produce enterprise content, write in-depth features and generate analysis-based game coverage

• Be able to report with urgency on every aspect of the beat

• Utilize multimedia and social media skills

• Engage our online subscribers on our Tidesports.com website (which is part of the Rivals.com network)

• Grind on a competitive beat around the clock and throughout the calendar year

• Be comfortable in front of a video camera, and behind one

• Be a team player in a sports department that has won Triple Crown and Grand Slam recognition from the Associated Press Sports Editors twice each in the last four years (while also winning numerous writing awards)

At least two years of college beat experience are required. This is not a first-job, just-out-of-college position.

Send resume, cover letter, references and samples of (or links to) your best written and multimedia work (no more than five total samples) to:
[email protected]

No phone calls, please.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Before people ask, Chase Goodbread left to take a job with NFL.com.

 

[gravehunter]

So does the paper run the rivals website or is this a separate entity for which the reporter would be producing work? Will the reporter also be paid by Rivals for his/her contributions to the site?

 

[Tommy Deas]

So does the paper run the rivals website or is this a separate entity for which the reporter would be producing work? Will the reporter also be paid by Rivals for his/her contributions to the site?

The Tuscaloosa News 'runs' the Rivals site, to use your terminology. To be more precise and to clarify, the Tidesports.com site is the Rivals.com Alabama site. We also have a Tuscaloosanews.com site. Much of the content produced by the beat writer runs on both platforms, as well as in print, but some content is produced strictly for the Tidesports.com site.

The reporter will not be paid by Rivals.

 

[Todd M. Adams]

Kind of goes without saying, but Tommy Deas is one of the best sports editors in the country and the Tuscaloosa sports section rocks. This is one of the more competitive beats in sports, but proving you can do it here pretty much shows that you can do it anywhere. Great, great job for the right candidate.

 

[Tommy Deas]

Here's how the process will work: we will take applications for the next week to 10 days, and then I will select a number of top candidates to interview by telephone. From those conversations I will narrow the list to a few finalists -- at that point I will contact all applicants by email to let them know where they stand.

BTW, our email system has a pretty severe filter and sometimes emails with attachments don't get through -- I will reply to every applicant to let you know the application was received. If you don't hear back from me within 48 hours, try again or shoot me an email without an attachment to make sure.

 

[Rockbottom]

Great job, great section, great sports editor. My highest recommendation.

rb

 

[Zack Creglow]

Tommy runs terrific shop there. Great opportunity there.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

Chase Goodbread? What an awesome name.

 

[JackReacher]

Sometimes e-mails with attachments don't get through? Jesus.

Are you allowed to set up a Gmail account or something for this?

 

[Tommy Deas]

Sometimes e-mails with attachments don't get through? Jesus.

Are you allowed to set up a Gmail account or something for this?

It's a spam filter. I'm sure we're not the only shop to have one. Mostly they do, or end up in quarantine (where I can release them). I just added that as a failsafe in case there is a problem.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Sometimes e-mails with attachments don't get through? Jesus.

Are you allowed to set up a Gmail account or something for this?

It's a spam filter. I'm sure we're not the only shop to have one. Mostly they do, or end up in quarantine (where I can release them). I just added that as a failsafe in case there is a problem.

You are not alone in this regard.

 

[JackReacher]

Sometimes e-mails with attachments don't get through? Jesus.

Are you allowed to set up a Gmail account or something for this?

It's a spam filter. I'm sure we're not the only shop to have one. Mostly they do, or end up in quarantine (where I can release them). I just added that as a failsafe in case there is a problem.

Gotcha.

 

[Bamadog]

Tommy is a great guy whose advice helped me immensely. Great section, awesome opportunity and a great town with plenty to do and inexpensive living costs.

You can't go wrong.

 

[HanSenSE]

No way I'm qualified for this post, but want to applaud Tommy for his transparency in outlining the hiring process.

 

[steveu]

Very impressed with Tuscaloosa and the paper in my trips through there. Also applaud Tuscaloosa for making inroads into the Birmingham market.

 

[ejhayes737]

Tommy Deas is one of the best sports editors in the business. This sounds like a great gig.

 

[Tommy Deas]

We are no longer taking applications for this position.

For those who may be inclined to ask, that doesn't mean the position has yet been filled, just that we have generated a quality pool of candidates to move forward with the process. Thanks to all who have shown interest.

 

[RonClements]

Aaron Suttles promoted from recruiting beat to handle team beat coverage.

Congrats to Aaron.

 

[boundforboston]

Aaron Suttles promoted from recruiting beat to handle team beat coverage.

Congrats to Aaron.

Congrats as well. I suppose this opens a recruiting position at the News, unless they're going completely with Andrew Bone.