Sports editor -- Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is looking to hire a Sports Editor. Will oversee all sports coverage as well as handle a beat. The ideal candidate will have a college degree, preferably in media, experience supervising a sports staff at a daily newspaper, and be competent in working with websites, mobile devices, multimedia and social media. To apply send resume to: hr@lubbockonline.com.

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1546720

 

I'm told this position will supplement the current sports editor, George Watson. Not sure of the specifics, but it sounds like it's not the all-powerful SE but more of a right-hand man.

 

Watson is a great guy. Not a bad landing spot. Plus Tech athletics have been solid the past decade, other than when Gillespie was abusing his players and running off 4 star commits. Decent prep scene there too. Also not far from casinos/skiiing in New Mexico.

 

Let me explain a bit on this one ... I am stepping down to take a lesser role as the High School Sports Editor. One, to get back to doing more writing and hopefully do more features and enterprise pieces, which I haven't had the time to do, and two, to build our coverage back up. I have let it slack the last two years trying to do both jobs, and it's not what our readers deserve. The new SE will not supplement me, he will be the boss of the sports department and I will be under him. I can tell you this is a pretty good time to be here between new coaches at all four of Tech's major sports, but this job will also be a challenge. For the right-minded person, it can be fulfilling. We will also have a new editor soon, and we just moved into a renovated newsroom, so things are picking up here a bit.

 

Mod ... The new SE would probably handle Tech men's basketball, and we travel to all road games within reason (didn't go to NYC, too expensive, and AP was there). We do travel to all road games men and women. Of course, it would be the SE's decision, but we have a 20-plus year veteran covering Tech football, a new staffer doing both basketball's right now (would focus on women when the new SE is hired) and I've been doing Tech baseball for 16 years. Right now we are a 3-person staff including myself, but also have a guy who runs our recruiting website partnering with 24-7 Sports. We also put out a weekly for a community in our area called Frenship today, and that sports person is part time (20 hours). We have a universal desk.

 

Anyone heard anything about this position?

 

One of my old college friends, James Bennett, just said he's starting a new job as editor of the paper Jan. 6.

Says he'll be hiring a sports editor, assistant local news editor and government reporter ASAP. Also will be hiring an investigative reporter soon.

 

James Bennett would be a great guy to work for.

 

Do you know if that means we should inquire about re-applying for the position?

 

I know it's been a week since the new editor took over, but has anyone heard anything about this?

 

He just posted on his Facebook page yesterday all these openings he has. So with much of the past week dealing with getting acclimated to the new job, I'm pretty sure everything is still open.