Tim Stephens is passionate about college sports and digital journalism.
His move to assistant managing editor at CBSSports.com allows him to be heavily involved in both.
That opportunity led Stephens, the APSE first vice president, to leave his position as Florida Sports Topics Manager for the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“It has been a terrific experience with the Sentinel and the Sun Sentinel,” Stephens, whose first day at CBS was July 16. “It has been an honor to be part of such a great team. I am equally excited to be joining a strong team and competing on a national stage at CBS.”
Stephens had been at the Orlando Sentinel since 2003, with promotions to assistant sports editor in 2004, deputy sports editor in 2007 and sports editor since 2009. In 2010, he was named sports editor of the Sun Sentinel as well and led the merger of the two departments into a single management structure. That also meant traveling back and forth between Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
With CBS, he will relocate to Fort Lauderdale. His new role will be to oversee college sports and also work closely with editorial, product development, advertising and marketing, among other duties.
Before joining the Sentinel, Stephens spent eight years at the Post-Herald in Birmingham, rising from intern to sports editor for a section that won multiple APSE awards.
Graham, Adams to San Diego
Larry Graham has left ESPN.com for the newly created position of executive sports editor at U-T San Diego. His first day is Sept. 4. Graham spent a year in Bristol as a general editor for NFL coverage.
“I was very happy with the situation I was in and the position I had at ESPN.com,” Graham said. “But when I saw what could be done at the U-T and the lengths they were willing to go to in order to improve the paper, I knew I had to be a part of it.”
His ambitious agenda includes building what he termed “a truly multimedia organization” from high schools to the pros. That includes starting a Padres blog and a second Chargers blog, and adding television programming. The company is hiring multimedia beat reporters for the Padres and Chargers, several two-year multimedia reporters along with a high school writer.
“The ‘more with less’ anthem has been the norm in this business for too long,” he said. “We're going to change that by hiring more people and enhancing our coverage in almost every way possible.”
Graham had been the sports editor of the Fayetteville (N.C.). Observer for less than a year before joining ESPN.com. He previously worked as assistant sports editor at ThisWeek Community Newspapers in Columbus, Ohio; preps copy editor and page designer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; sports editor at the Lima News; assistant sports editor at the Oshkosh (Wis.) Northwestern, sports reporter at the Lee’s Summit Journal and preps reporter at the Kansas City Star.
Graham’s initial hire was his predecessor as sports editor in Fayetteville, Todd M. Adams, who will be the sports editor of UT San Diego. Adams had been an assistant sports editor in charge of colleges at the Orlando Sentinel since October 2010. He was the sports editor in Fayetteville for more than two years and helped lead the section to numerous APSE awards.
“You're always judged by your first set of hires, and I think adding Todd to the staff lets people know how serious we are,” Graham said. “He's a beast when it comes to developing young writers, and I think we're going to do great things together.”
Rodriguez to Cincinnati
Angel Rodriguez, of the Arizona Republic, has been named sports editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He has been the home page editor for the last five years, supervising six editors and producers for azcentral.com. He also served as the online sports editor of the Republic for three years. During his tenure, he led the online coverage that was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in 2011 and won two Arizona Press Club awards for breaking news for Arizona Cardinals coverage and the death of Pat Tillman.
He previously worked as a senior editor at ESPN.com for five years, helping plan the editorial coverage for ESPNdeportes.com through its launch and coordinating special events coverage with ESPN's TV, online and magazine divisions. He also spent a year atMLB.com.
His first day in Cincinnati is July 23.
USA TODAY adds seven
As part of the ongoing restructuring of the sports staff, USA Today has announced the hiring of seven people:
· Jeffrey Martin, from the Oregonian, as an enterprise reporter. Martin had been at the Oregonian for six months, covering the Ducks. His previous stops include the Houston Chronicle, Wichita Eagle, the York (Pa.) Dispatch/Daily Record and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus in Vermont.
· Brent Schrotenboer from the San Diego Union-Tribune, as an investigative reporter. Schrotenboer spent the last eight years at the U-T. He previously covered Auburn football and basketball for the Press-Register and Texas Tech football and basketball for the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.
· Rachel George, from the Orlando Sentinel, as an investigative reporter. George has covered the University of Florida for the Orlando Sentinel since September 2010. She previously spent four years covering high school sports in North Carolina.
· Eric Prisbell, from the Washington Post, as a college basketball reporter. He had covered the Maryland football and basketball teams and the national college sports landscape since 2003. Prisbell has relocated to Texas.
· Michael Katz, from the Washington Post, as social media editor. Prior to his tenure at the Post, Katz was a web producer for the AOL Fanhouse and also has been a contributor to the SBNation site in Washington.
· David Meeks, from the Los Angeles Times, as an assistant editor on the breaking news/enterprise team. Meeks most recently has been the Times’ online political editor after serving as the assistant bureau chief in the Washington bureau. He previously worked for the Associated Press for two years as the East Coast sports editor and also in a news position as assistant managing editor after nearly 18 years at the Times Picayune in New Orleans in a variety of roles.
· Simon Samano, from NFL.com, as a digital producer. He has been an associate editor at NFL.com based in San Francisco since 2009 after more than five years combined as a sports writer for the Vallejo Times Herald and North County Times.
In other moves around the nation:
Houston Chronicle: Hired Reid Laymance as assistant sports editor and Tania Ganguli to cover the Houston Texans and NFL with a focus on enterprise.
Laymance most recently was the AME/Sports at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and returns to the Chronicle, where he worked as deputy sports editor from 1991 to ’97. He previously worked in management roles at the Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, National Sports Daily and Dallas Morning News.
Ganguli has spent the last two years at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, where she covered the Jaguars. She placed fifth in the new best writing category in the 75,000 to 175,000 circulation category. A Northwestern graduate, she previously spent nearly four years at the Orlando Sentinel.
South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale): Hired Michael Casagrande, previously University of Alabama beat writer for the Decatur (Ala.) Daily, to cover the Miami Hurricanes. Casagrande has worked in Decatur since 2009. A Western Kentucky graduate, he also worked at the Star Press in Muncie, Ind., covering high schools for nearly two years.
In related moves, Steve Gorten will move from the Miami beat to local sports and Dieter Kurtenbach will shift from local sports to cover Florida Atlantic sports and recruiting.
Knoxville News Sentinel: Hired Auburn beat reporter Evan Woodbery, of the Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register, to cover Tennessee football, and Matt Lutey as a sports copy editor and page designer.
Woodberry has been at the Press-Register for eight years. He previously spent eight months as a reporter covering high schools, minor leagues and handling general assignment at The State in Columbia, S.C., and nearly two years as the Alabama beat writer for the Aniston Star.
Lutey had worked for Media General's consolidated desk in Lynchburg, Va., since September 2010. His job duties there included laying out more than 10 newspapers. He previously worked for the News Sentinel as part of his practicum in the spring semester of 2009 and then as a part-time clerk for a little more than a year before taking the job with Media General.
Louisville Courier Journal: Hired Tim Sullivan as a columnist. Sullivan had been dismissed by the San Diego Union-Tribune in June in controversial fashion. He had spent 10 years at the Union-Tribune after 25 years at the Cincinnati Enquirer, the last 18 as a sports columnist. His columns will begin appearing in August.
“My departure from San Diego was involuntary,” he said in an article published in the Courier Journal, “but I can’t think of many places that I would rather land — so close to my journalistic roots in Cincinnati and within driving distance of my daughter (Megan) at The Ohio State University — and in a town where 364 days a year there is tremendous interest in sports and on the first Saturday in May there is a happening unlike anything I have witnessed anywhere else.”
Sullivan joins the paper following the loss of two longtime sports columnists – Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford – to Louisville TV station WDRB, where their work will appear on the station’s web site and they also will make appearances on television. Bozich had been with the C-J since 1981. Crawford had been with the paper since 2000, and had been a columnist since 2006.
"This is an ongoing effort to make WDRB the leader in news, weather and sports information," WDRB vice president and director of news Barry Fulmer said in announcing the hires.
In other Courier-Journal news, Jody Demling is leaving the paper after 22 years as a sports writer to run the Scout.com website devoted to Louisville sports and recruiting.
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.): Pierce Huff, formerly of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, is the new online sports editor. Mike McCall is the new Southern University beat writer.
News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.): Hired Laura Keeley to cover Duke basketball and football, ACC Olympic sports and do general assignment reporting. Keeley spent the past year at the Tampa Times. She is a 2011 graduate of Duke.
Casper (Wyoming) Star Tribune: Ben Frederickson, a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, has been hired as the Wyoming beat writer, primarily covering football, basketball and wrestling. Frederickson is interning at the Las Vegas Review Journal this summer. He replaces Eric Schmidt, who left the paper to become the managing editor of the ProRodeo Sports News, the PRCA's official magazine.
Idaho Statesman (Boise): Nick Jezierny has been shifted to the copy desk from beat writer for Boise State basketball and Idaho football. The paper is seeking a replacement on those beats.
Kansas City Star: Named Kent Babb as sports columnist. Babb, a multiple APSE winner, has been the Chiefs beat reporter and sports enterprise writer at the Star since December 2007. He previously spent three years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina and writing enterprise pieces.
Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Ill.): John Sahly has moved from sports editor to a web producer. Sahly had been the sports editor since June 2010 after spending two years as a sports reporter, covering Northern Illinois football and basketball, and high schools. Before joining the Chronicle, he spent a year covering high school and area sports for the Aurora Beacon News. The Chronicle is seeking a sports editor.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Don McKee has retired after 38 years at the newspaper in a variety of writing and editing roles. After beginning his career in 1966, he joined the Inquirer as the South Jersey columnist in 1974. Over the years, he has covered Penn State, Pitt and West Virginia football; the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers, along with high schools. He also was a longtime radio talk show host in the area on WIP.
The Inquirer has hired Zach Berman to cover the Eagles. Berman previously worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, Newark Star-Ledger and Washington Post. He replaces Jonathan Tamari, who is moving to the paper’s Washington bureau. Tamari spent two years covering the Eagles after covering New Jersey politics since he joined the staff.
Philly.com: Announced the departure of online sports editor and blogger Sheil Kapadia. Kapadia, author of the Moving the Chains blog for the last four years, has accepted a position with the website for Philadelphia magazine, which is devoting an area of its site to 24/7 Eagles coverage. Kapadia will be partnered with Tim McManus, who formerly wrote forPhillySportsDaily.com and works for sports radio station The Fanatic (97.5-FM).
Des Moines Register: Named sports editor Bryce Miller as sports columnist. Miller, a lifelong Iowan, has been the sports editor for seven and a half years. The paper has won two APSE Triple Crowns under his direction. Since 1914, the Register has only had four previous lead sports columnists. The most recent, Marc Hansen, retired in April. His first column is scheduled for Aug. 26, after he returns from covering his fifth Olympics.
Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald: Darin Gannt has left the paper to work for ProFootballTalk.com. Gannt spent 14 years covering the Carolina Panthers before being moved to Winthrop University sports in the spring of 2011.
Oklahoman: Hired Stephanie Kuzydym as beat writer for Oklahoma football. A 2012 graduate of Indiana University, she has had internships at the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel and USA Today.
Buffalo News: Tim Graham has returned to sports full-time at the Buffalo News, where he will be part of the new “Press Coverage” blog, along with Mark Gaughan and Jay Skurski. Graham was previously the AFC East blogger for ESPN.com after covering the Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post. In his previous stint in Buffalo, he mainly focused on boxing and the NHL and was a two-time president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Athens (Ga.) Banner Herald: Hired Rachel Bowers as assistant sports editor. She starts July 23. She spent seven months after graduating from the University of Georgia as a paginator at the Villages Daily Sun in Lady Lake, Fla., designing for sports, news and business sections. While at Georgia, she served in many roles at the Red & Black, the independent student news organization, including editor in chief, sports editor, Georgia football beat writer, leading the papers to numerous awards. “I am looking forward to being back in sports with opportunities to write, design, do multimedia and help manage as well,” she said. “In a college town like Athens — which also has a strong prep scene — and with close proximity to professional sports in Atlanta, there are endless story lines to deliver to our readers on multiple platforms.”
Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser: Jay G. Tate, who has covered Auburn sports since 1998, has left to become a senior staff writer for AuburnSports.com. He starts July 23. Tate has won many awards and is noted for the Hottest Auburn Blog on the Net known as HABOTN, the first blog by a newspapers devoted to Auburn.
News-Journal (Wilmington, Del.): Hired Chris Branch as Phillies beat writer. Branch is a recent graduate of LSU. He interned at the News-Journal in the summer of 2010 and interned at the Baltimore Sun in the summer of 2011. He replaces David Hale, who left the newspaper to cover Florida State for ESPN.com.
