RE: VP/DAILY PRESS embarsement (need more proofreaders)
The thing is they're not going to give anyone a press pass just because they want to ask questions. It's probably easier to get credentialed now than it was 10 or 20 years ago when there were more media outlets, but you still have to represent a newsgathering organization that has an audience. And no, this board isn't audience enough.
If you're serious about this, my best suggestion would be to latch on to an existing publication, but there aren't many options.
Southside Daily might be the most promising. It covers the region and has good corporate support, but to date they have no sports presence. Someone would have to sell them on the potential for expanded readership and ad sales based on adding ODU sports coverage. It's not out of the question but it would require a really good business case.
The Suffolk News-Herald is the other daily newspaper in the region, but they don't leave Suffolk, so they most likely wouldn't be interested. The rest of the existing pubs are too hyperlocal or too niche to even consider it (the African-American newspaper New Journal & Guide covered ODU basketball in the 90s but I don't think they've done sports in a long time).
You could start a sports blog, but unless you already have a relationship with the athletic department, you're probably not going to get credentialed until you prove your site's worth over months and perhaps years. They're not going to be in a hurry to give a press pass to a blog that has 50 views a day. There's a site that covers state women's basketball, Lady Swish, that's run by two former Pilot reporters, but I don't know if they get credentialed, and they're more established.
If you're serious about doing an ODU sports site, the best way to win the AD's interest and sow the seeds for football/basketball coverage is starting with the Olympic sports. Cover the stuff that only the Mace and Crown will pay attention to: field hockey, soccer, women's lacrosse, that sort of thing. Limit the football/basketball coverage to features on players and short writeups of the game from press releases to establish your interest. Don't do much commentary/analysis until you've proven your credibility; if this is just Joe ODU's Hot Ass Takes, you won't get far. Once you've established yourself as a legitimate news source, they'll be a lot more likely to get you on press row.
The other thing you have to consider is that you have to ask questions like a reporter and not a fan, and DEFINITELY not a frustrated fan. I presume most of you wouldn't go full message board in the post-game presser, but there's a decorum there and they won't hesitate to pull your credential and blacklist you and your site/publication if you lose your crap demanding to know why Green hasn't been benched or why JJ can't get consistent shooters into the program. You get more latitude if you're from an established publication, but you won't be and you'll have a very short leach accordingly.
I've never started my own publication (I know people who have; spoiler alert: they're all dead [the sites, not the people]), but I have reasonable sports journalism experience. I don't live down there and wouldn't probably have the time to do too much even if I did, but I can provide guidance and assistance if there's powder to be lit.
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