Clarion-Ledger Mississippi State beat

Hopefully Marcello's leaving isn't a negative. Dude did great work far as I could tell.

 

Not to be snarky but it shouldn't matter matter. The point is there is an opening and a damn good one.

 

Marcello took the Auburn beat job with al.com.

 

You almost make this sound like it's working for some piddle-butt weekly shopper in the middle of nowhere. It ain't. This is big boy town.
The list of folks who have gone on to even bigger or national gigs directly from this beat is long and distinguished. The most recent one that comes to mind is the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, who parlayed a couple of years in Starkville into the Patriots' beat writer job with the Boston Herald. He was on this beat less than 10 years ago.

And Mississippi State is a better athletic program than you give it credit for. Football is on the rise, going to bowls and expanding its stadium; men's basketball has been a perennially solid team (this year has been a mess, but historically they've been pretty good); and the baseball team is ranked in the Top 10 this season, has been to the super regionals a few times recently, and ought to be knocking on the door of the CWS again.
This is a primo gig in every sense of the word. Lots to do, lots to write about. If you do it well, it'll open a lot of doors for you.

 

Ian went to Birmingham for a few years before Boston, but you're right — before the C-L he was a high school reporter.

Another notable is Kyle Veazey, who's now the enterprise sports writer in Memphis.

Sekou Smith also covered MSU for a while with the C-L. He went from there to Indianapolis and now works for NBA.com.

 

I didn't get the impression he was dissing the C-L. at all, nor Mississippi State.

Mississippi State does not have a great athletic program.

 

State's not on the level of, say, Florida or LSU, but it's not a bad program overall. It's at least a B-level program in the SEC, and better in some sports.
Might have flown off the handle a bit, there.

 

Forgot about Ian's side trip to Birmingham. Thought he went from the C-L straight to Boston.
And, IIRC, wasn't Sekou Smith on the Ole Miss beat for a good bit? More than the MSU beat?

 

Point taken. In regard to your last statement Been there, done that.

 

Sounds right. Kyle switched to Ole Miss after a while. The over-arching point though remains that it's definitely a big beat. You're considered the writer-of-record for an SEC team, and there are only 14 of those.

 

Sorry for hoping for the best for one of our own. Sincerest apologies.

 

It's not you. Drip's preaching to the masses a little bit.