Sports reporter wanted to cover Va.Tech

I think if Richmond were to hire another person, he or she would cover colleges -- JMU, W&M, Virginia Union, Virginia State, Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney. The small colleges have been pretty much ignored. There are great stories at the D3 schools and lots of dirt at the D2s that deserves to be written. Sad as it is, I think a second prep person would come next after colleges.

 

John O'Connor and Tim Pearrell cover JMU and W&M football in addition to Richmond as well as any two people could possibly cover three Division I (AA) programs at the same time. Tim also does a great job on VCU hoops.

Part-timers handle the D-2s and D-3s, four schools in all.

Fact remains, Richmond's coverage area includes (in some form) about 75 high schools and there's no way to do a thorough job of covering preps when you have one overworked full-timer and a bunch of equally overworked part-timers running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

And while there are great stories to tell at the D-2/D-3 schools, it's pretty much a given that you generate more interest from local readers through preps than small colleges that only alumni really care about.

If I were sports editor at the T-D, I'd feel comfortable with coverage if I had one FT reporter at VT, one at U.Va., two for UR/CAA football and hoops, two for preps and one for women's sports (as they had for years with Vic Dorr, who is now essentially an editor, I think).

You wouldn't think seven full-time reporters would be too much for a storied paper like the T-D. But as someone else noted, the new normal is far from ideal.

 

I am guessing that there are double or triple the people at a Varina, L.C. Bird, Hanover or Deep Run football game than at a Randolph Macon or Virginia Union football game.

 

I will say that I am very suprised they give so much play to the Richmond Kickers. Although, I have no idea how many people attend those games. I guess web hits would tell the true story.

 

In 2010, Virginia Union averaged 6,815 a game. 16th among D-II schools. Randy Mac averaged 2,349, and I think that was a year where The Game was at Hampden-Sydney. Not that Bird and Varina don't draw well, and Bird-Thomas Dale or Varina-Highland Springs might do much better than R-MC or Union's worse game, but double or triple on average is way off.

Kickers averaged 2,544 this season and have topped 2,000 every year since 1998. Plus it's the summer, and there's a lot less competition for newshole. Flying Squirrels, golf tournaments and a fluctuating number of indoor football teams. That's about it for local copy.

 

The RTD used four different writers to cover JMU this year. They are far from having someone (or two) dedicated to that school. And MMII is right about Union. They average over 6,000. Bird-Dale, the best rivalry in the region, gets around 6,000. Any other good matchup averages closer to 3,000.

Hampden-Sydney is one of the top draws in all of DIII football. I think they average somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000.

Lest we forget, Richmond is one of the top tennis towns in America. Perhaps that deserves its own writer?

 

I don't think they ever had a dedicated JMU writer. Back in the day, they'd have a VT writer, a UVA writer, a Richmond writer and a I-AA writer that would go to JMU or William & Mary (or VMI/Hampton/Liberty every once in a while). They'd peel off a PTer or two to cover Virginia Union/Virginia State/Randolph-Macon/Hampden-Sydney. That's not far from what they do now, but they're less likely to cover JMU and William and Mary on the same day unless they were playing Richmond or an in-state team like Liberty or Old Dominion. I don't think they had anyone cover an ODU game until the last three weeks of the season, when they played JMU, Richmond and W&M (they might have had someone do the Towson game, but I forget)

 

Not questioning you - and definitely taking this thread further down the rabbit hole - but is Bird-Dale a bigger rivalry than Varina-Highland Springs? To be fair, I don't know what the latter usually draws, and I've seen some huge crowds at the Battle of Chester.

 

I would imagine Varina-Highland Springs comes in second to Bird-Dale. Bird and Dale did play each other twice this year. And while the first game was packed, I heard the second one wasn't nearly as popular.

 

I'd say Bird-Dale and Varina-Highland Springs are pretty even. They both get overflow crowds. Varina-HS still got great crowds the last two seasons even though, for the first time since the surrender at Appomattox, that game wasn't for the Capital District title. Petersburg-Hopewell used to be big, and there's definitely a long history there, but not so much anymore, I don't think. Lee-Davis-Patrick Henry was a lot bigger deal when they were the only schools in Hanover County.

 

Bird-Dale, Varina-Highland Springs, Petersburg-Dinwiddie, Hopewell-Prince George and I still like a Patrick Henry-Lee-Davis confrontation.

 

Jacking the jack here...is there really anything to this idea of redistricting to D6 North, D6 South, D5 North and D5 South?