Embracing a new chapter of what sports journalism should look like

One of the best perceptual shifts I’ve ever coaxed myself into trying on for fit was embracing the unknown instead of tiptoeing timidly into it or walking the other way.

And today, July 1, offers yet another chance to celebrate that decision and the incredible opportunity that I’ve been given to join the team at blueandgold.com and the On3 Network. In doing so, Tyler James and I both leave behind the comfort zone of insideNDsports.com, where we had been co-publishers for the past 3 ½ years since parachuting out of the newspaper business.

With insideNDsports.com, we were part of the Rivals Network, which has been acquired and merged with the On3 family. It’s been an ambitious and whirlwind experience for the On3 leadership team to figure out how to do that seamlessly across the entire network of college sites. And doing so without taking the cookie-cutter trap that newspaper chains have fallen into.

That’s not to say all the questions have been answered. In fact, the unknowns still outnumber the knowns by a lot. But what we do know excites me, and should do the same for you — as a subscriber or as someone who is pondering becoming one.

And the most important one is this: On3 is what the future of sports journalism should look like. And the leadership — including Shannon Terry and Will Crall — has the vision, the playbook and the business model to merge that into the present.

For blueandgold.com specifically, the non-buried lede/lead here is joining a new team and bringing along old teammate Tyler James to form a talent pool that I believe will give us the collective resources, creativity and ambition to cover Notre Dame sports at an unparalleled level.

I can’t wait to collaborate with Tyler as well as Jack Soble, Tyler Horka, Mike Singer and Kyle Kelly — and Ryan Tice from a distance. And learn from them as well. And see who picks up the lunch tab when we’re all in the same space later this week for the first time.

Someone with only passing familiarity of both Notre Dame football and what I do for a living (who has since become inundated with both) asked me shortly after the Irish loss to Northern Illinois last fall what it’s like covering a team with so much rich history.

My answer was — and still is — the most exciting part of it is when that history you’re covering is in the making. And that’s the era we’re all wading into together.     

As far as my own history, for those who haven’t stumbled upon it yet or are brave enough for a refresher …

What has long been a passion that came with a paycheck for me started out very much as an accidental journey. Four academic quarters into my time as a student at The Ohio State University, I was a struggling business major on academic probation when my older sister — a broadcast journalism major at OSU — needed some help with a sports-writing project during my sophomore year.

She got an A. I got a life-changing trajectory. Oh, and having that direction in life helped inspire a better academic/social life balance. From that point forward, I was a Dean’s List student for the remainder of my college career.

During that business major-to-journalism major transition, a man named Sandy Schwartz took a chance on me when I was looking for a part-time job to align with my new path.

Schwartz was the sports editor at the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen-Journal, and was sort of aghast at how someone with so little experience could ask him for a job. He politely but firmly asked me to call back when I had taken more journalism classes and had a more proven track record. For some reason, a few days later he changed his mind and hired me.

The more than 25 national awards and dozens of state writing awards that I have been lucky enough to fall into since moving into the profession full-time in 1983 are, above all, the result of people believing in me and creating a work environment where I could grow and excel. Team glory is the best in our world too.

From the Columbus (Ind.) Republic for 3 ½ years to the Hammond (Ind.) Times for 18 months, to a more than 33-year run at the South Bend Tribune, my emphasis has been college sports. More to the point, it’s been about covering the people who make college sports what they are.

On Jan. 1, 2022, the journey continued for the first time outside the traditional newspaper business as SB Trib co-worker Tyler James and I started our own publishing company and joined the Rivals Network as the Notre Dame athletics team site. And finally, those business classes from Ohio State came in handy.

And now comes a new chapter, but with time-tested values and standards baked in. What made sports journalism worth waking up for, with the sound of a rolled up newspaper hitting the porch, is made from the same stuff that made us all fall in love with college sports in the first place.

It’s just in a different, evolved form. With a lot of unknowns for some, including me, but well worth the adventure, I think. I hope you’ll join us on this new journey.