CCU Beat Writer, Myrtle Beach

What's the travel situation like for this job? Is the beat writer able to go to all the away football and men's basketball games?
Also, what's the size of the sports staff over there?

 

sundown -- re-read the original post for the answer to the travel situation with CCU.

 

Jackson ... the beat guy unquestionably goes to all football games. Basketball is a little more hit or miss. I know Josh didn't make the trip to Liberty and VMI, but that was in December before anyone realized that CCU was going to be a Big South juggernaut. He went to the conference games that mattered after that.

 

Ian, do you have any idea when the official job post might come out. I don't want to send my stuff too early and have it get thrown in the trash.

 

I figured my experience over the last few years might be valuable since one of you will be replacing me.

I'm leaving for a number of reasons: 1) I want to do -- and will do this summer -- some serious traveling before settling in Charlotte (freelance work is welcome) sometime this fall; 2) After eight years of living in Myrtle Beach, I'm ready for a change of scenery; 3) I was foolish enough -- knowing how it would likely turn out -- to accept a beat covering an athletic program I once played for. I feel like I've done the job as fairly as I can, but it's probably best for everybody involved that somebody else takes over the beat.

Myrtle Beach is a fun place, but it's not for everybody. For awhile I loved it, but as the years wore on and I got further removed from college, it really started to sour for me. The tourists and traffic can get on your nerves -- echoing what Ian said, you can sometimes avoid them but not always -- especially if you don't enjoy the beach itself. Still, there are some amazing people here. That starts at the paper itself. I can't say enough about the people you'd be working for. Shane is a great guy. Assuming you're a driven and productive person, you'll never have any problems working for him and he'll willingly give you autonomy over your beat. We've got a great cast from top to bottom at the paper. Currently, we have an SE, an ASE, two full-time guys that work on the desk and some other part timers that take a lot of the high school calls, etc. The only other writer is Al Blondin, who covers golf and pitches in on the other beats when needed. However, I think the paper would like to hire a part-time preps writer along with a Coastal writer, who will be counted on to cover some high school games, especially during football season. We rely mostly on stringers right now to cover high schools.

As for my job:

* I traveled to every away football game last season, flying to Ohio (Kent State), Baltimore (Towson) and New York (Stony Brook). I don't see that changing in the coming years, because our budget in sports really hasn't changed that much. I went to a number of basketball games, including trips to Duke and UAB. You'll likely never travel to every away basketball game. We travel to some regular-season baseball games (North Carolina and Clemson yearly) and will be at the Big South tournament and any regional, super regional or CWS games.

* I spend a large amount of time with new media. I blog regularly and will do the occasional videos. I tried Twitter for awhile, but even as a new-age journalist, I failed to find the usefulness for the paper and have since quit. If you are a journasaur, this probably isn't the right opening for you. However, they aren't going to overload you with video demands, either.

* You'll be competing with ... yourself. The TV stations are around at sporting events and some small, weeklies will drop by occasionally, but you will be the only one working your beat on a daily basis. Therefore, people expect you to be the source of news.

* I obviously devote 95 percent of the time to football, basketball and baseball. I try to reach out to the Olympic sports, especially in a weekly Thursday notebook, when there is a compelling stories to tell. The football (David Bennett), basketball (Cliff Ellis) and baseball (Gary Gilmore) coaches are all easy to deal with. Sure, you'll have problems here and there, but I've never had any big issues with any of them. You'll likely have a newly hired SID by the time you'd start, so I can't give you any insight on what sports information will become.

I think they are looking for somebody who is motivated, doesn't need a lot of direction and can hit deadlines. Shane doesn't have the time to manage your beat for you, so he needs to feel confident that the person he hires can step in and hit the ground running. We now print in Charleston, so our deadlines are absurd at times. Friday and Saturday nights (Coastal plays most of its home football games at 7 p.m.) are extremely tight.

All things considered, it's a great job. If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to answer them in a PM or on here.

 

Cliff is in his third season here. After two mediocre campaigns, they won the Big South regular season this year for the first time since 1991. Coastal would have made the tourney had it not choked in the final minutes of the tournament final against Winthrop.

Teresa or Deandra?

Phoenix ... You can go ahead and submit your stuff. They are already collecting resumes and such. It won't get thrown in the trash.

 

As promised:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=QHCMGM&ff=21&APath=2.21.21.0.0&job_did=J8B2D260KKVX6G5QYP2

For those of you who haven't sent your stuff in, do so soon. Rightfully, getting a ton of interest on this one.

 

Any word on this one?

 

This is down to one candidate.