CCU Beat Writer, Myrtle Beach

Ad is being put together (and I'll post it when I see it), but the Myrtle Beach Sun News is replacing it's soon-to-be college beat writer. I formerly held this beat (two people back), and now I'm a contributor to just about every section of this paper. I told the SE I'd help him get a jump-start.

I'm not gonna get into pay/moving/benny specifics, but I can tell you from personal experience, you will actually be able to pay for things like food, toilet paper, etc. Add that to the fact that you can stretch a buck pretty far in Myrtle... Before I got married and my wife and I got a place together, I was living in a one-bedroom apartment 11 minutes from the beach and never had to worry about keeping the lights on or having my car repo-ed.

Anyway, some bullet points for you guys:

WHAT YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR:
- Coastal Carolina is a Division-I (FCS for football) university located about 10-15 minutes inland in Conway, S.C. The school's baseball team is almost always ranked in the top 25 - currently in the top 10 - football is expected to win the Big South most of the time and basketball just won the league's regular-season title.
- Occasional coverage of the school's olympic/minor sports, including a pretty successful track and field program and a golf program that just produced PGA tour member Dustin Johnson.
- There is a new AD, and there is about to be a new AD/SID, although it appears the assistant SID may have a shot to take over. If that happens, it will make the job even easier.
- Most of the people over at the school are pretty easy to work with, save for the occasional PITA.
- You will travel to just about all the away football and basketball games. Football has games lined up at WVU, Georgia and Clemson in the next few years. You will also make some baseball trips, especially as it gets later in the year and CCU baseball starts getting ready for the postseason and fighting for a spot in Omaha.
- Occasional help on high schools/golf, although that's fairly rare because you will be pretty busy with CCU stuff. The one exception is between Christmas and New Year's, when the annual Beach Ball Classic national basketball tournament is taking place. Just about everyone helps out with that.

SOME TIDBITS ON THE PAPER:
- The Sun News is a 50k or so circulation newspaper; coverage extends north into Brunswick County, N.C., and south into Georgetown County (about midway between MB and Charleston)
- Office located a couple minutes from the Atlantic Ocean just off one of the main strips in town.
- Sports editor, Shane Bowen, is damn good people.
- Paper has been pared down in recent years. Still, the sports section is still pretty strong. ASE and deskers are solid, and golf writer Al Blondin breaks some sort of story seemingly once a week.
- Outside of sports, the paper is full of good people. You will get support from higher ups.

ABOUT THE AREA:
- Myrtle is obviously a beach/resort town. The area is built on hotels, restaurants/bars and everything else that will give tourists plenty to do. We have to deal with them about 8 months out of the year, but like Disney World, you learn the back ways and minimize how much the tourists affect your daily life.

- If you're willing to go beyond that, you'll find a pretty dynamic area. In many ways, this is still the south; in many ways, it's anything but. A strong minority of the people here are from somewhere else, especially the Northeast. Admittedly, this place may not be for everyone, but for some, it's a beautiful area with a great upside.

HOW TO APPLY:
You can send your resume/clips/cover letter directly to Shane: sbowen@thesunnews.com. Given the number of people who will be applying, do him a favor and save the phone calls. I'm sure he'll thank you for it.
The current beat reporter, Josh Hoke, is staying through baseball season (Coastal is expected to extend that into June, given this year's team).

I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, so feel free to post questions here or shoot me an email (ian(at)ianguerin.com) and I'll help the best I can.

 

I did a quasi-phone interview with Shane a few years back. Seemed like a good dude. Sounds like a great gig. One I'm sure a ton of people will -- and should -- jump at.

 

Who own the Chiefs? (Or in this case, the Sun News).

 

McClatchey

 

Any idea what sort of experience they are looking for? Will they consider someone with over 7 years on the prep beat?

 

Great gig, fantastic location.

 

Who is the paper's chief competitor?

 

the internet?

 

Josh did a great job with the CCU beat. Where is he going?

 

I figured I'll answer a couple questions here that I've been getting through email and Facebook.

First, Public School is right: Josh did a hell of a job, and he proved that whoever follows him better be ready to do more than just write for print. He blogged, Tweeted (until recently, I believe), shot video and took pics. He mixed solid features with breaking news. Not to sound harsh, but if you're not ready to do any of that, you might want to save yourself the trouble of applying.

Again, I still don't know what they will be offering for money, and I'm not gonna guess. That will be between TSN and whoever it decides to interview.

CCU is about to build a new basketball facility. They've been playing in Kimble Arena, which I believe is still the third or fourth-smallest DI gym in the country. The new Convocation Center looks like it will be pretty nice, and it will keep the lucky winner from getting kneed in back from students during games like some of us have for years. Add in a brand new football fieldhouse that will be done pretty soon, and there are some pretty good business interests coming up via that. It will make the school a bigger part of the community than it already is.

There is no other daily covering Coastal. Florence drops in every now and again; there's a string of dailies that cover it from time to time. There are three TV stations, one of which has financial ties for the coaches' shows. None of the local radio stations really do anything on CCU, outside of broadcasting games.

Keep the questions coming, I'll do the best I can to answer them.

 

I've been told by someone there who would know that they are unlikely to pay more than $1,000 in moving expenses. Also, that they aren't likely to fly in candidates from outside a logical radius for driving.

 

For a job chance like this, I'd find a way to get down there.