This morning I "invested" $2.00 for today's Houston Chronicle only to discover that the Sports editor decided that it was not important enough to feature a preview of tonight's University of Houston vs. Rice men's basketball game. I also went on line to the chron.com website to see if there would be something posted on the site....nope...

However, we were treated to over 50 column inches about the "long snapper" on the Aggies, (including a nice picture!) and about 32 column inches on the "news" that Rice is an underdog to LSU (surprise!!).

Editorial decisions? Resource decisions? Lack of proactive marketing or ineffective "pitch" of the story by either (or both) school's sports information and/or marketing staff?

I understand that getting "earned media" is tough, especially in the era of shrinking newspaper revenues and staff reductions at most major media...but the decision by the Chronicle to not have a preview for the game tonight is short sighted and stupid, a disservice to the community, and I intend to let Jenny Creech (jenny.creech@chron.com) and Glynn Hill (glynn.hill@chron.com) who cover UH and Rice, respectively know how disappointed I am at their lack of preview coverage.

I hope you will take a few moments and let them know your thoughts as well. If you prefer to contact them via twitter, their handles are @jennydialcreech and @glynn_hill

This is odd.. I mean, I fully understand not covering Rice, but the Chron usually has a steady stream of articles on the Powerhouse. Especially since UH was 27-8 last year.

Weird.

(11-14-2018 11:56 AM)Kayjay Wrote:  This morning I "invested" $2.00 for today's Houston Chronicle only to discover that the Sports editor decided that it was not important enough to feature a preview of tonight's University of Houston vs. Rice men's basketball game. I also went on line to the chron.com website to see if there would be something posted on the site....nope...

However, we were treated to over 50 column inches about the "long snapper" on the Aggies, (including a nice picture!) and about 32 column inches on the "news" that Rice is an underdog to LSU (surprise!!).

Editorial decisions? Resource decisions? Lack of proactive marketing or ineffective "pitch" of the story by either (or both) school's sports information and/or marketing staff?

I understand that getting "earned media" is tough, especially in the era of shrinking newspaper revenues and staff reductions at most major media...but the decision by the Chronicle to not have a preview for the game tonight is short sighted and stupid, a disservice to the community, and I intend to let Jenny Creech (jenny.creech@chron.com) and Glynn Hill (glynn.hill@chron.com) who cover UH and Rice, respectively know how disappointed I am at their lack of preview coverage.

I hope you will take a few moments and let them know your thoughts as well. If you prefer to contact them via twitter, their handles are @jennydialcreech and @glynn_hill

I will.
Also, I’m canceling my subscription, that I’d started (don’t laugh) for the Rice Athletics coverage.

Don’t blame Glynn Hill. He does a great job with the minimal time and resources his editors allow him in his coverage of the Rice beat. He’s been requesting the editors to send him to cover road Rice football games ever since he’s been on the beat. They won’t budget it.

Agreed that Glynn does his best with what he has to work with...

He’s far better than the Kuzydym or Coleman IMO.

(11-14-2018 11:42 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Don’t blame Glynn Hill. He does a great job with the minimal time and resources his editors allow him in his coverage of the Rice beat. He’s been requesting the editors to send him to cover road Rice football games ever since he’s been on the beat. They won’t budget it.

I recognize the limitations that Glynn Hill has and the choices he has to make. I do believe that their choice of articles and decision not to preview the basketball game on Wednesday was the wrong one and they need appropriate feedback for future decisions.

(11-15-2018 11:45 AM)Kayjay Wrote:  

(11-14-2018 11:42 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Don’t blame Glynn Hill. He does a great job with the minimal time and resources his editors allow him in his coverage of the Rice beat. He’s been requesting the editors to send him to cover road Rice football games ever since he’s been on the beat. They won’t budget it.

I recognize the limitations that Glynn Hill has and the choices he has to make. I do believe that their choice of articles and decision not to preview the basketball game on Wednesday was the wrong one and they need appropriate feedback for future decisions.

Right you are. And feedback is the key. If we had more comments appended to his story posts (somewhere north of zero) he might get to cover our road games. When MK Bower was covering us, he implored us to post more comments, replies. Didn’t happen (except for the ever-loyal, ever-reliable Tiki)...

(11-14-2018 11:42 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Don’t blame Glynn Hill. He does a great job with the minimal time and resources his editors allow him in his coverage of the Rice beat. He’s been requesting the editors to send him to cover road Rice football games ever since he’s been on the beat. They won’t budget it.

Rice should fund the trips in order to get coverage in the Chronicle. It would be worth the continued exposure.

(11-17-2018 07:09 AM)WIowl Wrote:  

(11-14-2018 11:42 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Don’t blame Glynn Hill. He does a great job with the minimal time and resources his editors allow him in his coverage of the Rice beat. He’s been requesting the editors to send him to cover road Rice football games ever since he’s been on the beat. They won’t budget it.

Rice should fund the trips in order to get coverage in the Chronicle. It would be worth the continued exposure.

How hard would it be to get him a spot on the team bus or plane? Just consider it buying ad time. Preview the game Friday. An in depth feature on a player the day of the game from the trip there. A write up of the game on Sunday after returning.

Just get a 3 article guarantee each week.

For what it’s worth I think he does the best job since MK covering Rice sports. Between him and the Roost this has been a pretty solid year for news.

Rice really screwed the pooch by pushing out MK and Saltzman.

Our lack of ability to take quality seriously sent a pretty good message that no one else needs to as well.

The Chronicle doesn't write much about Rice because not many people care. Facts are facts.

(11-17-2018 07:09 AM)WIowl Wrote:  

(11-14-2018 11:42 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Don’t blame Glynn Hill. He does a great job with the minimal time and resources his editors allow him in his coverage of the Rice beat. He’s been requesting the editors to send him to cover road Rice football games ever since he’s been on the beat. They won’t budget it.

Rice should fund the trips in order to get coverage in the Chronicle. It would be worth the continued exposure.

This is a great example of unconventional wisdom. It’s minimal cost to reserve a seat and room for the beat writer in exchange for a little better publicity

(11-17-2018 12:17 PM)Antarius Wrote:  Rice really screwed the pooch by pushing out MK and Saltzman.

Our lack of ability to take quality seriously sent a pretty good message that no one else needs to as well.

agree 100%. Both top quality guys. I still follow MK and he is terrific.....

Why are we still talking about the Chronicle? That's the only institution in Houston more obsolete than Rice athletics. I just was waiting on my car and read today's paper while waiting in the lobby. The entire sports section consisted of some Texans stories (with 3 or maybe 4 reporters there in DC, and several AP stories on the game). The only other local stories in the entire paper were something from the A&M beat writer, and something from the UT beat writer. And that was it - everything else was AP wire stories. No mention of the Rice VB title of course, but that was assumed by me in advance.

There are plenty of online options to get Rice updates. Everyone on this site obviously can access those alternative media outlets. Perhaps a few non-internet savvy folks are out of luck but that's the only group that is thirsting for Rice coverage really.