Sports Copy Editor/Page Designer (Westminster, Md.)

It's actually McDaniel College.

And I would imagine that Westminster would do some stuff with Mount St. Mary's, too. Emmittsburg's not all that far away.

 

depends on what you consider a good gig....

 

Didn't Dustin Long, the Landmark racing writer, come from there? That's a pretty nice gig, I'd say! But I guess that depends on whom you are talking to. There are some uppity people here.

 

You're right, but McDaniel was Western Maryland College until about five years ago.

And yes, the Mount is about a 30-minute straight shot from Westminster. Of course, as D-I coverage goes, it's basketball and that's it. Their other sports are D-I, but really bad, unnoticed D-I.

 

Either way, I can pretty much assure tou that just about nobody cares about McDaniel College sports.

 

If that's true, rather a shame. Pretty good D-III football program and some other good small-college sports.

I suppose the question they have to ask is what every editor in a town with D-III sports has to ask. How much townie interest is there? Does anybody who lives in Gettysburg care about Gettysburg College sports? A question worth wrestling over.

 

I'm sure the students and some townies care, but it's one of those deals where there's definitely zero interest beyond that.

 

Depends on the tradition and environment, Shot. In a town like Elizabethtown, when they had their really good men's hoops teams a few years ago, there was quite a bit of interest in the Blue Jays when they made their Final Four run. Now, no one in York, Pa., cares about York College. Little more going on there.

In these days where Internet hits are becoming more important, since that'll drive up online ad rates, I'd imagine covering these teams still is important, since the alums will be hitting the Web sites and driving up unique users, etc.

And The Mount is pretty respectable in D-1 lax, too. Hoops has slipped a tad since Bow-Tie Phelan retired.

 

I was there a few years ago when a friend of mine played against Western Maryland. I hung after the game for two days with some of our other friends. The town seemed to be into the game, judging by the traffic leaving the stadium and all the folks partying that night after the win. The next day in the Times, the Western Maryland win was the top story in sports, overshadowing some home grown pro sports and Maryland stuff.

I think whomever gets this gig will have a great job to jump to the next step - (or leap, as in Dustin Long) in his/her career, work with what I've read is a great SE, get to design for a bunch for sports. The downside is probably pay and living in Westminster. I'd live in B'more.

*Oh, excuse me - McDaniel.

 

"The downside is probably pay "


How down are we talking?

 

I really care about D-III sports ;D. But town interest depends, to a large degree, on tradition and isolation. In bigger cities, D-III sports mean much less than in brick-buildings-and-trees campuses that are in the middle of pleasant towns.

 

Pay is appropriate for the size newspaper if you're looking at averages. So when you factor in an above average cost-of-living, you're not coming out ahead.

When I went to work there a few years ago, I actually took a small pay cut from the chain of suburban D.C. weeklies I'd been at. Probably not the smartest career move financially, but they refused to negotiate. For personal reasons I wanted to stay in Maryland and at the same time I was afraid I was getting close to be pigeonholed in that community weekly category.

Despite the pay cut, it was a good move for me and opened up doors at bigger papers. And after six months they bumped my pay back to where it had been at the weekly.