(11-09-2019 07:42 AM)Muskrat Wrote: "If we could've we probably would've traded every first rounder for a washed up vet that LeBron was friends with." LOL So true.
David, I couldn't agree more with everything you say. It NEVER was easy to get information about Kent State sports, unless you had access to about three newspapers. Now, it is worse than ever. I imagine it is that way now all over the nation, to one extent or another.
Hi Muskrat,
It certainly is that way for coverage of "mid-major" teams, especially in areas like ours – close to Cleveland where pro sports dominate and in a state where Ohio State gets top billing even in northeast Ohio.
When I decided to leave the Record Courier to work at Kent State, part of it was because of the changes in the newspaper business. I had gone from being a full-time KSU beat writer to splitting that time covering high school games and laying out the sports section as a desk editor two or three nights a week.
Nielsen seemed to like my idea of following the NHL model and turning kentstatesports.com into a one-stop-shop for Golden Flashes news. But after I was hired, that never really happened.
Within a few months, our director of athletic communications (who was already an interim after the previous director had quit following a "disagreement" with Nielsen) resigned to take a job in Florida. I ended up taking on the duties of sports information director for men's basketball. At the time, we did not have a graphic designer on staff. We were outsourcing all design work, and the inherent delays in doing that made it difficult for our communications staff to be nimble.
I ended up teaching myself how to do graphic design and by the time I left, I was doing more design work (season tickets, advertisements, social media graphics, website design, installments at the arena and stadium) than the job I was supposed to be doing as an in-house reporter. With no discussion or forewarning, I was moved from communications to marketing, and all of a sudden I was doing work that didn't fit my skillset. I wasn't very good at it, to be honest.
On the night I finally decided to quit, I was sitting courtside at a men's basketball game, serving again as sports information director for the team after yet another director and MBB SID had resigned, designing in-game graphics for social media... AND, because I had also been given the duties of men's and women's golf SID, I was at the same time coordinating media interviews with our men's and women's golf teams. The women's golf team had completed a win at its tournament at around tip-off of the basketball game, and reporters were calling me for quotes. AND, it was the eve of national signing day for football, so I was being sent all of the images I needed to create the social media graphics for our signees the next morning. Because I had to write the basketball game story for the website, I knew I wouldn't get out of work until midnight, and I would need to be back at the MACC five hours later to be ready for signing day.... I was doing the job of three people, and not well, for $35,000 a year and working between 50-70 hours per week. To make ends meet for my family, I had a second job doing freelance design and PR work.
I remember a mistake while juggling all of these duties, congratulating Jaylin Walker on social media for scoring his 10,000th point... Which of course was really his 1,000th point... I realized I couldn't justify continuing to stay at a job where I couldn't do my best work, and where the work I was doing was not appreciated. I had faith in myself that I could at least find a job match the $35k, and turned in my two weeks notice in an email sent from courtside during the second half of the game. Fortunately, it didn't take me long to find a job that paid me more than twice what I was making and never required me to work more than the traditional 40 hours per week. And best of all, for the first time since 2012 when I started working at KSU, I felt valued by my boss.
It's harder for people who want to stay in athletics. KSU replaced me with someone who could also do graphic design work, but that person lasted only a year. Since she left during the summer, KSU has not replaced the position. You can track the decline in social media posts and figure out the exact date when she left. Not only are fans not getting what they need, companies with contracts through KSU's IMG partnership are not getting those contracts fulfilled, so the department's poor management is damaging external business relationships as well.
Anyway, the long post is meant to show that you can't even get adequate info on the men's basketball team or any other KSU team from the department's website or social media as it is today. People like Ty and Nick Kane work their tails off and get us the information they can, but the communications department is simply stretched too thin and has too few resources to provide a Division I experience for KSU fans.
At least we still have Allen Moff at the Record Courier. If only his newspaper would allow him to spend his time doing the work he is so good at providing for the KSU athletics community.
Maybe I'll start a Kent State sports blog and find a way to bring on people like Moff, Steve Hare, and more of the people who cared about covering these teams over the years! I'm sure Nielsen would make sure I never get credentialed, though.