Another good print guy heads online...

It's amazing to me that Tennessee's Rivals site has a four-man staff now. But Hubbs and Low have worked together for years, so this just formalizes that.

The Tennesseean will get someone good. Whether it goes the young "effin stud" route or the proven person route remains to be seen, but going against that imposing Volquest lineup, Knoxville's Vol Reporting Army and really underrated guys like Estes at Chattanooga, AP's Elizabeth Davis and Brice at Maryville will not be a small task. Hooker from Knoxville breaks news on that beat, too, and many of you also remember Jimmy Hyams, the former Knoxville reporter who shifted to radio. He gets news, too.

I'm not on that beat, but I was in college, and it's apparently as ruthless as it was then. The egos on that beat create much less of a "pack" scene than most other SEC beats I've seen. If the Tennessean hires someone who isn't on the beat now, it's going to get its ass handed to it nearly every day for at least a full year before that person can make a mark.

EDIT: Holy shit, Omar ... I didn't know Elizabeth was leaving, too. You're right. Big changes coming on that beat.

 

Is that Elizabeth Something-or-other? She was the UT beat writer when I worked around that area a few years ago. A very nice young lady, if I remember correctly.

 

Yes, it's Elizabeth Davis. Good person and tough reporter.

 

Better reporter than she got credit for being on that beat.

 

hearing something similar here as well.

 

I was only there for a year, but Elizabeth did a fantastic job on the beat. I don't know what stories she broke, if any, because I didn't really pay attention to that stuff. But her copy was always good, and she couldn't have been a nicer person if she tried.

 

As the resident Vol SportsJournalists.com fan, pls allow me to say....


SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so pissed Low is leaving the Tennessean. He's by far the best reporter to cover the Vols in my lifetime...and now I'm going to have to pay Hubbs and the rest of the VQ nazis to read him.

But pay, I will -- I will be re-upping with VolQuest tomorrow after a 2 1/2 year hiatus. So at least the Low hire is starting to pay off for Rivals! Oh, well, it's only money.

 

Chris Low is a terrific reporter and writer, and an ever better person.

 

I know newspapers are in bad shape, but I'd need some kind of multi-year guarantee to leave an established beat at a solid paper for a recruiting site that already has three staffers. In five years, I feel confident the Tennessean is still covering UT; I'm not as sure Volquest will have four staffers. Nothing against Chris at all, just impressed, I suppose.

 

My understanding is that these guys are signing multi-year deals -- at the site's request. They want to lock up the talent for the long term. And some guys might be able to craft deals that -- in addition to a nice base salary -- include a piece of the subscription pie. Pretty sure Volquest will have no fewer than four full-timers in 2011. Probably more like six.

 

What about travel?