statewide prep sports positions

So Greg... how's that profitability thing workin out now....

 

Twitter feed @gswain, e-mail - greg@gregswaim.com

Wonder what his thoughts are now on the subject.

 

If i wasn't such a nice guy I'd call the guy who constantly bugged me to come to Tulsa to meet up and ask if the offer was still open since they have million dollar investors.

 

Yeah, our e-mail and team p-word are cut off, bro.

 

Ya know, I think I predicted way back on screen 2 or 3 of this thread that this venture wouldn't make millions, or whatever the H it claimed it would. I think at this point I'll stick by that prediction. Meanwhile, for those of us who are just trying to make a living doing what we love, keep at it. Chin up! Something good will happen ... eventually. As we read every day, trashy Internet Web sites like comcast.net, aol and the like are NOT the way of the future.

 

As someone who works at the Tulsa World, yeah, we're not making what we used to, and yeah, we've had layoffs. But a lot of companies in other sectors have had problems, too, and you don't see people saying, "Well, the auto industry is laying people off. I guess in 10 years we won't have cars any more." Newspapers aren't getting bailout money, but many are finally doing a good job adapting to the Internet age, even if we have been a little late getting to the show. I can say for a fact that in Oklahoma, nothing Coaches Aid does can come close to what we offer readers when it comes to coverage of high school sports in our part of the state, and I'm not talking about just print. We have more stories online, more video, more photos. They can't touch our coverage, even in these down economic times. So if Mr. Swaim thinks we're about to disappear and leave a market for him to exploit, he needs to seriously re-think his business model, something he's apparently been forced to do anyway because not enough thought was put into it before the national launch.

 

Here's an email from a Coaches Aid investor yesterday.

i want to extend my apologies to everyone who has lost their jobs. coaches aid is a great corporation and will be strong. some of you may have been self employed before and know that a new company is difficult. we do not have bottomless checking accounts we are not a huge corporation we are individuals just like you. i know that myself have cashed part of my retirement to make payroll last month. i know other investors have gone to the bank and borrowed money. i know jason has put a huge chunk of his retirement into the company things just haven't happened the big ad contracts aren't done. i feel like you guys would appreciate being let go than come to the first the month and us tell you weren't paid for the last two weeks because we have no money.i know the job market is tight right know and its hard to get a good job right now. speaking for the investor and myself we wish each one of you the best of luck. I know that I am no writer no need to tell me!

Sincerely Micheal Poage

 

and.. another email from a State Coordinator on the matter:

Guys,

As one of the victims of this Sooner purge I just want to say how sorry I am for my fellow journalists. They cut us off at the knees, but one thing we all know as talented writers is this: Our pens are mightier than their corporate swords.

So I urge you all to fight for your rights as journalists. Seek the truth about this company and its questionable investors. We as journalists should question this corporation's history and motives. The Oklahoma media might be curious to learn of CoachesAid's corporate mugging of so-many hard-working citizens.

I also urge journalists to check your states' individual labor laws. It's quite possible that many states may do not allow a company to simply release people without notice. I also question whether it is legal in some states for a company to lay off people and then hold onto their final wages for more than 72 hours. They are paying us through October 14th, but some of us may not have been notified about this shutdown until days later. So, in a final kick South of the Border, some of us may have worked a day or two for free. If that's isn't a labor violation, then the cow manure doesn't stink in Oklahoma.

As far as that e-mail from one of their investors, expressing his sorrow, I am angry and even more amazed. My 10-year-old nephew asked me a question that none of these hot shots seemed to figure out. How can you hire so many people if you can't afford to pay them?

I would be interested to know what promises you guys were pitched at the Oklahoma summit. I personally was told several times that this company had huge financial backing from a wealthy investor who was in it for the long haul. I was told that this key investor realized that the company would have to grow slowly at first, but he was committed for years and would wait for the company to take off after an economic revival.

Many of us were here three months or less, but football season basically got under way Sept. 1. So, this site had six weeks to give the content a chance to catch on, without any marketing support. Now, it appears they lied. They lied to a lot of talented and experienced people about the solvency of this venture.

How can you seek out people and encourage them to quit jobs if you already know that your company's financial ground is so shaky. Do you roll the dice, without letting any of your new hires know you are gambling their future on big ad dollars that have not yet been secured. So now, we are expected to believe that within weeks of this launch, these solid investors were forced to borrow cash from retirement funds and refinance their homes? If things were that bleak for these guys, then wouldn't the Christian thing have been to honestly tell potential employees how risky this company's expansion was? This would have given us all the opportunity to make an informed decision about going to work for CoachesAid.

Had we have been properly informed, how many of us would have been financially able to this high risk, along with CoachesAid? As journalists, we should investigate whether this company has the right to so blatantly make false promises to its workers. Remember guys, there is power in a verbal agreement.

Although the execs at CoachesAid didn't alert us of their fiscal chaos, we all saw the comedy of errors that would be laughable if didn't cause so much personal pain. My financee has had major positions at places like Microsoft and GE. She has also directed PR and marketing launches for startups, with responsibility in high-tech strategy. She was concerned about the technical capability of this nationwide venture, and stunned that we had no marketing approach.

Recently, we were given a lecture about Obama and the evils of socialism. We've now seen an example of capitalism at its worst, from people who do not practice what they preach.

Should we band together, stand up for our rights as citizens, and demand fair severance, delivered in a reasonable fashion?

So, guys, seek the truth, and fight back as journalists in whatever way you feel is right.

Good luck to my dedicated co-workers. And to CoachesAid: A final thoughts. Don't make promises you can't keep. It is neither decent, or Christian.

 

Exactly. I found it quite comical at the numbers Swaim was pulling out of his ass as to the losses.

As most people know in this business, newspapers aren't necessarily losing money like that. They just aren't making enough for the executives.

 

Good grief. That's borderline criminal. I hope there is some way to hold these people accountable.

I suppose there is a lesson for all of us here: The grass isn't always greener. Sometimes it's just painted green to cover up the brown.

 

Funny that most of the scores on that coaches' aid site (Ohio) have been shamelessly cut and pasted from the state's major metros. Who needs newspapers indeed.