"Major" college beat, Birmingham News

No one is getting shuffled to the Bama beat. Couple people might pinch hit until then. Shuffling might be an option, but I r-e-a-l-l-y doubt it will happen. The hire will be for Bama or the front end of the Slappy Pipeline will be more surprised than anyone can imagine.

 

My only question about this is timing. Unless you are single living, in an apartment, and fairly close by, I can't see this one being closed soon. But things have a way of happening fairly quickly in this business.

 

My desire was not to idly speculate, but to offer a halfway-informed opinion at the time of posting. As with Slappy, I firmly believe this will be a new hire for the Alabama beat.

RB

 

Yes, that is the choice but even the best laid plans go astray. If there is speculation on my part, its if the powers that be don't find anyone soon. We are talking about a small window here before camps begin.

 

i'd be willing to bet that a hire will be forthcoming sooner rather than later, and it will be for the Alabama beat, not a re-shuffling of staff and the hiring of a GA or preps guy.
that said, even if it doesn't get done right away, they have plenty of veterans who can bridge the gap and the coverage won't suffer.

 

Just wanted to quickly throw my two cents in... Covering Alabama is an insane, difficult, and incredibly rewarding experience. It is a job that does not stop. Ever. I could not imagine doing it at a better place than The Birmingham News. The sports editor, Tom Arenberg, is fantastic when it comes to planning and execution, and he's also understanding that we are, ya know, people. The rest of the staff is similarly sterling.
As for the actual coverage and work, if you understand that it doesn't really hurt when Nick Saban yells at you, you'll be fine. Anyone interested, feel free to PM me or email me at irapoport@bhamnews.com. I'll be at this address for the next two weeks before my move to the Boston Herald to cover the Pats.

Ian R. Rapoport
(Soon to be former) UA beat reporter for The News

 

What do you know about the job? You don't even call him "Coach."

 

I am actually seriously upset that I'm missing out on Grant... In my first (and only) one-on-one with him, the first thing he did was congratulate me on getting married a few weeks before and asked all about my wife. Clearly, an SID mentioned it to him, but you gotta like that anyway. Plus, he's the most grammatically accurate coach I've ever interviewed. (Unnamed coach with bad grammar), he's not.

*Edited to protect the integrity of unnamed coach

 

That job posting was removed from J Jobs. Is it still available or did they just take it down b/c there were so many applications?

 

There is a little resentment by some at the paper regarding the way this hire is going. With the suits claiming money is tight, some are wondering why they are pulling out all of the stops to fill the position. As a result, the person who gets this may be under a little bit more pressure to produce sooner than later.