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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Every Job Is Different

We are very fortunate in Galesburg to have two radio stations and one local newspaper that covers our basketball games. The positive part is that all the publicity gives us exposure, which increases our attendance at games.

As I "scout" through the newspaper internet, I am only aware of one paper that gives as much coverage to their high school girls basketball team. That is the coverage that the Ottawa, Illinois paper gives to local sports.


Originally to get our "story" in the paper, I would write up a game summary and stats, and then take it down to the Register-Mail to leave in the mail slot. That was before internet, faxes, and the RM was an evening paper. By giving as much info as possible to the paper, they made our stories larger to fit eveything in, and eventually moved stories to page 1.

My first AD, George Lundeen made the point that I was to send in results whether we won or lost. His point was that if you wanted people to follow you, you had to get info in for all games- not just the good games. My first year after a cross country loss, he was at my door at 8:00am to tell me that I had failed to call in cc results.

The tough part of the publicity is that it is not fun after losses. When you lose a tough game, it is not fun to talk about it to 2 radio stations, 1 local paper, and then to some area papers. But you can't have it just when you win.

I was struck by the difference coaching in Galesburg vs. some other places. We scouted a game in which there were 4 technical fouls assessed to the teams. Two different newspapers covered the game (I think they probably just had the scores and info called in.), and neither paper has a mention of any of the events pertaining to the technicals. I am guessing that if it had been a Galesburg boys or girls game, somewhere in the first two paragraphs there would have been mention. I am not saying this to infer that the info should not be in an article- just saying our players and coaches are under a little more scrutiny than some other places.

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