Chronicle sports page discussion w/Jeff Welsch

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Thu May 12, 2005 11:42 am

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/sports/

It appears the sports editor is attempting to placate many of upset MSU alumni and fans; given the cost of paper (that's actually an excuse Billy Morris used with his Morris Publication syndicate) what should Mr. Welsch do to better serve his many fans and active supporters of the Comical

And don't say hire Andrew Hinckleman from the rag in Kalispell

Jeff Welsch · Post by **Jeff Welsch** » Thu May 12, 2005 12:40 pm

All right, I'll bite ... since you're on one of my favorite topics.

I have no problem with criticism, and certainly some is warranted in our case, but it'd be more helpful if you guys were specific about how we can best serve Bobcat faithful.

My opening mea culpas:
* Yep, we've missed a few stories -- the product of youth in most cases -- but day in and day out nobody does more on the 'Cats than the Chronicle.
* Too many mistakes -- again a product of youth and inexperience.

You guys are a critical part of our tremendously diverse readership, which is why I check in here from time to time to see what you're thinking. Tell me what it is the Chronicle has been lacking over the years, and what you think our new staff needs to do better.

FYI: We are not a part of the Lee chain ... who is Billy Morris?

Thanks.

Jeff Welsch
Sports editor
Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

jagur1 · Post by **jagur1** » Thu May 12, 2005 12:45 pm

Wow. standing up, I'm impressed. I guess I have to buy the newspaper in Bozeman this year for the big game. Saturday & Sundays

(the big spender that I am)

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Thu May 12, 2005 12:53 pm

There's probably not enough days in the year, but it would be great if you would have 1 or 2 expose's on the student athletes every week, no matter what season it is.

That will do 2 things. First, it will increase male readership because we yearn for Cat sports 24/7. Second, it will increase female readership because it will present the human side of the student athlete.

I don't know if your reporters have a 'beat' per se. If not, you should assign one person to cover MSU athletics, and they should have some sort of column every day.

I think if you worked hard to show the athletic department that you at least have a mutual respect for each other's profession, at some point, I would think you could virtually eliminate getting scooped on any story involving MSU athletics.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Thu May 12, 2005 12:59 pm

Selfishly, I want to see a few more stories either citing or being critical of this website. Every time that happens, our hits and users spike dramatically. It is (seriously) the best marketing we have, and I sincerely appreciate the mentions.

"The only bad publicity is none at all."

Of course, this has nothing to do at all with your specific request.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:03 pm

Come on

Morris Publications owns another newspaper conglomerate primarily in the south to include but not limited to Athens, Savannah, Jacksonville, Augusta in Georgia and the Juneau papers. He's obviously filthy rich and as a good will gesture opened the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, GA on their revitalized riverfront. Very conservative and would appear from many of his editorials to be anti-educational establishment, but that's besides the point by all outward appearances, but literally refused to give decent coverage to sports. High schools and their athletes in his hometown paper would get better coverage in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

In my opinion, and this is just an opinion, what hurts me about growing up in the Valley and attending one of the high schools west of Bozo was the fact that we got better coverage in the Billings and Butte papers when I was young--would recommend a larger portion devoted to high school sports and I'm not talking about just the Hawks.

As far as coverage of MSU athletics, more is definitely better. Would think many human interest stories covering our athletes, their decision making process on choosing Bozo and our coaches over other schools, and this may be an area you don't want to go yet, but the politics of our programs. If memory serves me correctly, North Dakota and NDSU face many of the same issues.

I for one can't stand not seeing at least something each and every day about the Cats

Last, we've got many, many athletes that have gone on to decent careers at the next level.

Anyway, these are just a few of the things I'd like to see the Comical get better at as the Valley continues to grow, which it is.

p.s. Maybe a little of the badmouthing that the Lee paper 202 miles to the west does of our school would be greatly appreciated after your editor got rid of the URL Address of: GoMontana

Cat Pride · Post by **Cat Pride** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:09 pm

WOW, I commend you for standing up and laying it all out Jeff.

I totally agree with Bleeding. Once a week profile a student athlete (or coach), great start!

I dont know if or what you all do for game days (football and basketball), but a pull out section would be great. Rosters, team rundowns, signs for fans to take to games or hang in windows, etc. Basically, produce a program that people could take to the games. MSU Athletic Department puts out some great information to boosters every week. If the Chronicle is missing out on this information, bite the budget bullet and buy a $200 membership. Maybe even have a paperboy handing these out for the first couple games, people will be buying weekend editions by mid season! You could make some easy sales if a paperboy was selling the sports section in the tailgate areas. The Missoulian does a great job of this kind of production on Griz game days. Dont copy what they do, expand on what they do!

I know you said youth and inexperience is costing some scoops, but honestly, Jenny Heringer story is almost as big as the new TBB news. How can this be missed. Gazette reported it as an AP story, therefore it was on the wires.

Chronicle could be better, but is light years better than it was 2-3-10 years ago. Keep up the good work Jeff.

Robcat · Post by **Robcat** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:15 pm

My kudos to Jeff and overall I think the coverage by the Chronicle has improved over the past year. Living in Billings I check the Chronicle out on line. The first place I look on Sat & Sun is the Chronicle then the GF paper. The Gazette has terrible coverage for both UM and MSU.

I really like some of the in depth coverage Jeff has done on some of the athletes. I would like to see more. It gives us fans a chance to get to know the athletes.

Jeff, dig a little deeper on some of the rumors, ie Mike Bass.

We will make a Cat fan out of you before your tenure is up!

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:28 pm

You realize how highly thought of our school is in many areas; ESPN even did a special on our 41 football team, Coach will vacation in Normandy and go to the site of the Battle of the Bulge before game preparations begin along the lines of human interest stories.

Like the idea of selling subscriptions to the sports section--think Norm Cash did that with the Billings Gazette years ago (before he left for Cincinatti.) There's several hundred folks who frequent this site alone

Robcat · Post by **Robcat** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:35 pm

Game dy pull out and banner is agreat idea.

mquast53000 · Post by **mquast53000** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:39 pm

An idea that I think would be really interesting and for that matter unique would do follow-up interviews with past athletes. A “where are they now” segment. Do it on every Thurs or something. I would like to know what happened to some of the past Bobcats. I know some of them became very successful over the years.

Another thing I think you should do is ask us to elaborate on topics that you don’t understand or agree with. The topic that I am thinking of is when you wrote about our poll asking, “who the second most hated school in the conference was”. You wrote about not seeing any correlation or hostilities between Idaho State and MSU, and I think before you wrote that you should have asked us to elaborate. I have some instances that would certainly back up my feelings and really enlighten you on the topic.

There are my ideas… Take them for what they are worth. Most likely nothing…

94VegasCat · Post by **94VegasCat** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:15 pm

Expanding on what the Missoulian does as far as the multiple stories that they put in the paper on game days and such.

Talk about how various athletes have come back from injury. Where did kids come from and why here. Is Bozeman what they expected for better or worse?

When I grew up in the Gallatin Valley, there wasn't much to read about. It was very limited. More coverage for Valley kids would be great also.

All in all though, things have improved dramatically over the last 3-5 years.

Jeff Welsch · Post by **Jeff Welsch** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:42 pm

Wow ... I didn't expect so much response so quickly. I'm truly gratified by your interest.

We're on the same page with many ideas and plans, and when we get up to full staff in the next month (we've been fully staffed for two of my 10 months here), we'll be able to provide much more local coverage. Keep in mind that we're smaller, staff-wise, than the Tribune and Gazette, which are both regional newspapers.

* "Where Are They Now" is a great idea and one we implemented in the fall. You might remember that some of those stories were on former 'Cats. We'll start that again when we're fully staffed.

* In-depth profiles of athletes will increase, and I appreciate the acknowledgement of our attempt to humanize the athletes. This is priority No. 1.

* Stay tuned regarding a Game Day pullout. We didn't arrive in time to make any significant changes here last fall, but when I was in Corvallis, covering Oregon State, we did an eight-pager every week. I envision the same here, home and away. It isn't as practical for basketball for many reasons.

* We DID have something every day on the 'Cats during football and six days a week in basketball. That's quite a commitment from a staff our size, but one I believe in.

You won't turn me into a 'Cat fan or a Griz hater -- sorry 'bout that, but I honestly don't think either is in your best interest -- but I do know what butters our bread here, and MSU will always be our backbone.

If you want to explore any of these matters further, I'd be happy to drop in for a chat some time (if I can figure out the technology)...

Thanks for all your feedback and interest. Can't put a finger on it, but this board is FAR more reasoned and rational than the one at Oregon State, digs at the "Comical" notwithstanding.

Jeff Welsch

Post by **SonomaCat** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:46 pm

I hope nobody minds, but I am going to pull these posts off as their own thread -- I'm thinking that a discussion with Jeff shouldn't be buried in a thread with a competitor's newspaper on the subject line.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:50 pm

Thank you, Mr. Welsch. Were you on staff with Hinkleman?

Jeff Welsch · Post by **Jeff Welsch** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:59 pm

Cat Grad wrote:Thank you, Mr. Welsch. Were you on staff with Hinkleman?

Actually, Hink worked for me in Corvallis years ago. How do you know of him?

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:02 pm

My Southern Belle wife thinks she's died and gone to heaven in the Flathead, so I get mad when I go home on the weekends after reading his top ten list in the Daily Interlake and go get a Great Falls Tribune. Plus, he's going over to the dark side...writing smarmy crap about that place and their facilities south of Flathead Lake.

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:15 pm

More articles about cycling and pro soccer!

I will now duck as other posters hurl insults and debris at me.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:25 pm

Women's pro soccer maybe--and some beach volleyball--and Anna and Maria...Maybe get them to play in a fundraising for our women's tennis and golf teams?

gtapp · Post by **gtapp** » Thu May 12, 2005 7:14 pm

I would love to see an article about Torlief Aasheim. He has made every home game since 1936 (I think) and most practices. He is the NUMBER ONE BOBCAT FAN!