USA Today Sports Blasted by Layoffs

[Moderator1]

Literally sick to my stomach because at least two old friends are on this list. The Pipeline just informed me USA Today has indeed had a significant round of layoffs


What I know in sports, though: At least seven are gone.

The only names I know are Sal Ruibal (cycling/action sports; everyone loves him)
Mel Antonen (baseball, been there forever).

(this note followed shortly after that one)

Skip Wood (nfl obviously...)
Jerry Potter (golf)
Matt Eppers (usat.com)
Charise May ((design)
and an unknown desk editor

 

[Gonna Buy me a Dog]

sickening

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Insane. I have a former co-worker who works there who I am tremendously relieved to not see on the list.

Awful. If they're cutting at USA Today, lord knows what else Gannett has planned.

 

[dkphxf]

I know Mel. He helped me learn the baseball clubhouse culture when I interned there and stayed after he had submitted his story to help me with mine. Very sad to see him let go.

 

[Moderator1]

Insane. I have a former co-worker who works there who I am tremendously relieved to not see on the list.

Awful. If they're cutting at USA Today, lord knows what else Gannett has planned.

That list may not be complete, sad to say.

 

[Joe Williams]

Mel to MLB.com? Seems like a natural, no?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Insane. I have a former co-worker who works there who I am tremendously relieved to not see on the list.

Awful. If they're cutting at USA Today, lord knows what else Gannett has planned.

That list may not be complete, sad to say.

Wow...

 

[trifectarich]

I don't know if Jerry Potter has been there since Day 1, but if not, it's damn close.

 

[Hooray4snail]

Hal Bodley took a buyout several years ago and went to MLB.com, so Mel following wouldn't be a stretch. He also has guest-hosted on Sirius XM frequently, so he'll probably still have that option.

But doing it right at the start of the playoffs has to make things even more difficult for those left standing.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Unfortunately, USA Today is one of the places that has more fat to trim than most papers. This place spends a ridiculous amount of money on ridiculous traveling. I know of people who have worked there who have flown to South America to write eight inches of copy.

As usual, the stupidity of management is being taken out on the workers.

 

[MileHigh]

I, too, have a friend/former co-worker who is there and is not on the list. As of now. The insanity is back, it seems.

 

[BYH]

Mind-boggling.

Scumbag execs. Go to hell.

 

[geddymurphy]

Insane. I have a former co-worker who works there who I am tremendously relieved to not see on the list.

Awful. If they're cutting at USA Today, lord knows what else Gannett has planned.

That list may not be complete, sad to say.

I think that's it. Remember -- this is part of a giant reorganization. They'll probably give this a couple of years at least. (Please don't hunt me down and kill me if I'm wrong.)

What surprises me is that Sports was hit this hard even though the department is more or less spinning off from the rest of the org because it's seen as a growth opportunity. It looks like they were intending to cut people who didn't "get" the online world. If so, they got it right in some cases and wrong in others.

Other departments have had a lot of attrition in recent months, so they didn't have anyone to cut. Still, they're adding "new" jobs in those departments and not in Sports. Very strange.

But the fact is this -- very few people leave USAT Sports voluntarily.

Mizzou -- the trip you're referencing must have been a while ago. They really don't travel all that much these days.

 

[DanOregon]

It would be interesting to see a poll on how many people at newspapers have been in the industry, let alone their current stop, for 20 years or more. I've got to think the percentage has probably dropped by two-thirds in the last 15 years.

 

[HejiraHenry]

There is no one whom everyone loves, by the way. Take Jesus, for instance. Or Barney.

That said, there are plenty of people at USA Today whose departure might actually help the newsroom. None of the people listed above are on that list.

Guys like Sal and Mel and Jerry, all of whom I have worked with, have given significant parts of their lives to the great cause. A damned shame.

That tangled thicket of USAT upper-middle managers are the ones who need to be cleared out, not folks who are producing actual useful content.

 

[CNY]

And yet USAT Sports continues to have multiple assigning editors for many beats. Brilliant.

 

[geddymurphy]

And yet USAT Sports continues to have multiple assigning editors for many beats. Brilliant.

Yeah, I can't explain that. Plenty of good editors there, but at some point, don't you need more people on the front lines?

 

[1HPGrad]

I will never forget the managerial flow chart they showed me during the first five minutes of my interview. Looked like the Kennedy family tree. Made the remaining seven hours and 55 minutes of that process extremely painful. Had they told me the deal during the phoners, I could have saved everybody a lot of time and money.
I would have gone from one of seven assignment editors at 1HP to about one of 20-something there. You report to this guy, who reports to this guy, who has an assistant who knows somebody who answers to Monty.
Really easy decision to stay at 1HP.

 

[jojoblack]

*** And yet USAT Sports continues to have multiple assigning editors for many beats. Brilliant. ***

Sorry, can't ride with you on that one.

Unless things have changed, NFL, MLB and colleges were the only desks with multiple assignment editors. Given the responsibilities and structure, that setup is needed. There's no way one person could handle the meetings, planning, line editing, etc. for those sports on a national coverage level on a daily basis.

I know of what I speak.

 

[Fran Curci]

I have heard first-hand from employees there that there are way too many middle managers --- or the wrong middle managers.