University of Kentucky beat, Louisville, KY

A) It's the Louisville paper.
B) I don't cover preps, and if hadn't just bought a house, I'd love to take a crack, even though I'd have little chance considering the competition.
C) Kentucky is a great place to live.
D) You're serving the most passionate fan base I've ever been around, and that includes my time in Wisconsin covering the Packers.
E) You're a dolt.

 

Mike Waters from the Syracuse Post-Standard is pretty damn good. 18 years on that beat.

That's just my two cents. Haven't gotten to read too much Tipton.

But to be on that beat, I'm sure he's one of the best.

Although, it doesn't get much bigger than Cuse hoops up in that region either.

 

Guys, as one who once worked this beat, let me add my 2 cents.

Michael has done a hell of a job. I feel like I held my own against some very tough competition, and the others Eric listed -- Mark Woods, Mark Coomes, Pat Forde and Scott Fowler -- all worked their asses off.

It is a very challenging and demanding beat. It's you against the Herald-Leader, a very good newspaper when it comes to covering UK. When Jason Watts crashed his truck while driving drunk and killed a teammate and Tim Couch's best friend, my charge was to get the details about what they were doing the night before the crash. The LHL beat me to it. Their story did not have a byline but listed eight contributing writers, 3 from sports and 5 from news. That's what you're up against.

You often do get help from a sports GA or news on big stories, but for the routine it's usually you and sometimes a columnist. It's not unusual for the LHL to have 5-6 reporters/columnists at a football game and 3 or 4 at a basketball game, vs. you.

Chip Cosby does a good job for the LHL covering football. Tipton is a beast on hoops. John Clay covered football for years and is now a columnist with UK institutional knowledge that's hard to match. Mark Story is a very good columnist. They all know UK inside and out. I dreaded picking up my LHL every morning, fearing what they would have that I didn't have.

All that said, it's still a damn good job.

Lexington is a nice place to live. There are few beats with a more intense readership than UK basketball fans, and you'd be surprised at how zealous UK football fans are.

 

Rusty, in your opinion, what type of person will they seek for this job now that it's open? What will the ideal candidate look like?

 

Sorry, had to do it

I'm biased here, of course, having read the C-J sports section for 25 years and contributed to it for a fraction of that time. There is no better paper when it comes to covering major college athletics.

Some papers may cover a school. The C-J covers three. Not just any three -- Indiana, Kentucky and Louisville. In addition, they still cover what's happening at Murray, Eastern Kentucky, WKU and other state schools.

As Rusty and others have said, it's tough to go up against the Herald-Leader, but the C-J staff has more than held its own. And those who have done well, have certainly gone on to even bigger jobs. See Rusty and Pat Forde as examples of that.

It's one of the most glamorous (but grueling) beats in the nation. If you have a passion for college sports, then you should apply for it.

Plus, it looks like there's a good chance you'll go to Omaha this year.

 

I know it's kentucky basketball, but because I'm not from the area, how does the readership stack up since its in Louisville? I'm sure the majority of readers are still UK dominated, but just to humor me, what's an approximation?
Thanks in advance.

 

If you want to be a big-time college writer, apply for this job and stop asking questions.

Goodness. All the nitpicking makes me want to puke. Major paper. Major beat. What else do you need to know?

 

Ooh, I'm too scared to be big-time.

I was not nitpicking, nor am I applying. Just asking a question because I'm curious about another part of the country.

 

Don't have the most recent figures, but (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) daily circ has been around 250K and Sunday is more than 300K. The C-J is one of the few papers who have experienced a growth in circulation in recent years.

Obviously, most of the subs are in Louisville, where the big three has strong factions (I think Louisville and Kentucky fans each would say they outnumber the other). Once you leave Louisville, it's like 85-15 UK over Louisville. Southern Indiana is more mixed.

 

You are a freaking idiot.
Have you ever covered a UK basketball game?
It's like covering Alabama football. Or the New York Yankees. Or the Green Bay Packers.
Some of us - more than you might imagine - are doing far better than "covering preps", and we'd love that job. It's a big paper in UK's backyard.
And Jerry Tipton doesn't need to apologize to anyone for staying there. He's a hell of a good reporter who knows his beat like the back of his hand.
This is a tough job for the 'Ville guy who gets his break..... and you are a moron.

 

Snap.