I've teased this a couple times, but we're (mostly) ready to formally announce what has been in the works behind the scenes.
I'll start with the what and then get into the how and why ...
First, as I've mentioned before, Jeff McCulloch is going to be doing a lot more for this site. He expressed an interest in helping us this fall and was a major asset, though most of it was behind the scenes. He was out a bunch during fall camp and then with me at practice every week during the season, all home games and even the Arizona State road game, mostly contributing to gathering interviews, taking photos, etc. He's got a firm grasp of the depth chart and storylines at this point and will do a lot more writing moving forward while stepping into a larger role and pretty much becoming a fixture at all events with me. I'll have Jeff jump on here later in the thread and introduce himself so you can get to know him better, but he's a great guy, really knows football well and is eager to contribute in any way he can here. That also includes recruiting coverage. Jeff has expressed an interest in getting involved in that area as well, and I look forward to the additional help there. He will be an immense asset to us moving forward.
Tajwar Khandaker is graduating and moving on to the real world, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's leaving us. Tajwar has an open invitation to contribute in any way he wants moving forward, and depending on how his work situation sets up we will see what is viable for next season. He's also still here in Los Angeles for a few months and will probably do a few more things for us in that time, but either way, he's part of the TrojanSports team and it's just a matter of seeing what he's able to do in the future. I really value Tajwar's analysis and football eye and want to keep him in the mix in whatever way works on his end.
Max Browne will continue to be a frequent podcast contributor. If his schedule ever allows for him to do the video breakdowns again, I'll always push and try to get more of that, but he's getting busier and busier as his career grows. But I do think we'll have an audience more eager for game previews and game breakdowns in the Lincoln Riley era and we can really utilize his analysis on the podcast in that way.
Now for the new stuff ...
We are adding a full-time west coast/Pac-12 recruiting reporter who I will manage. While nothing is going to change in terms of the time I put into recruiting coverage, traveling around to the big showcases, 7-on-7 tournaments, camps and all-star games and keeping a pulse on where things stand with USC's recruiting picture, having another experienced recruiting reporter is a major asset. I will be able to formally introduce him in a few days probably -- I can't just yet until some moving parts are finalized -- but he is an experienced reporter who knows how to cover recruiting and will be based in Los Angeles, giving us another person to bounce around to high schools and check in on all the local prospects, which is especially valuable when I'm largely tied up with team coverage in season. While he will be contributing to our Pac-12 sites in general, I'm personally overseeing this position and he will significantly augment our USC recruiting coverage.
How has this come to be?
About a month and a half ago, or so, Rivals reached out to me with an idea and opportunity. They were expecting publisher turnover at a few of the other Pac-12 sites, and because those sites are much smaller than this one in terms of subscribers (and revenue), it's simply a challenging equation from a staffing and growth standpoint. So the idea that came together was to pool the resources of those several other sites together, use that to hire the full-time Pac-12 recruiting reporter to contribute to all of those sites, and have me oversee them all in sort of a super publisher role. I saw a lot of potential in this idea, as first and foremost it allows us here to benefit from an additional recruiting reporter that I could not afford to hire otherwise. My role in the other sites will be largely managerial from a staffing, planning and coordinating perspective. I'll also introduce myself on those boards and make sure they get to know me as well and I will be strategic in trying to bring growth to those sites. But the bottom line is nothing changes at all in terms of my time investment in covering USC daily and being a fixture here. I made that clear in agreeing to take on this plan from Rivals and it is understood. We've had great growth at the site the last month and I expect this to be a huge year for TrojanSports.com and our community here. Now more than ever I am motivated to deliver the best coverage possible on a daily basis, so if anything you should be getting even more from me this year.
As has been noticeable, I have taken some downtime over the last couple weeks around the holidays, in part to recover from the whirlwind of the last few months (particularly the first half of December), in part because I then came down with a very bad cold the first part of this week that knocked me down quite a bit (I am now feeling back to normal again thankfully), but also in part because I'm going to be a very busy guy starting ... pretty much now. So I appreciate all understanding on last week and this week being a little lighter content-wise than usual, but that ends today. It served a purpose -- I'm rested, I'm well, I'm eager and excited to deliver a huge 2022 here at TrojanSports.com. I'm also excited that Rivals has extended this opportunity to allow me to hire and manage a full-time recruiting reporter who will benefit us greatly and that I also think will allow Rivals to grow those other sites as well.
As for what other sites fall under my purview now, I will certainly tell you as soon as I get clearance -- the outgoing publishers need to make their announcements to their boards first. I can say that Oregon is one, as A.J. Jacobson is making his announcement there now. There will be a couple others taking effect tomorrow, and then probably one or two more in the spring.
But truly, nothing changes here. I'm going to hire contributors to produce the content for those sites, I'm going to manage the recruiting reporter and probably make Monday mornings a weekly admin time where I make sure everyone is on track at each site. But I plan to have my best year of USC coverage yet.
Fire away if you have any questions, though.
I'll start with the what and then get into the how and why ...
First, as I've mentioned before, Jeff McCulloch is going to be doing a lot more for this site. He expressed an interest in helping us this fall and was a major asset, though most of it was behind the scenes. He was out a bunch during fall camp and then with me at practice every week during the season, all home games and even the Arizona State road game, mostly contributing to gathering interviews, taking photos, etc. He's got a firm grasp of the depth chart and storylines at this point and will do a lot more writing moving forward while stepping into a larger role and pretty much becoming a fixture at all events with me. I'll have Jeff jump on here later in the thread and introduce himself so you can get to know him better, but he's a great guy, really knows football well and is eager to contribute in any way he can here. That also includes recruiting coverage. Jeff has expressed an interest in getting involved in that area as well, and I look forward to the additional help there. He will be an immense asset to us moving forward.
Tajwar Khandaker is graduating and moving on to the real world, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's leaving us. Tajwar has an open invitation to contribute in any way he wants moving forward, and depending on how his work situation sets up we will see what is viable for next season. He's also still here in Los Angeles for a few months and will probably do a few more things for us in that time, but either way, he's part of the TrojanSports team and it's just a matter of seeing what he's able to do in the future. I really value Tajwar's analysis and football eye and want to keep him in the mix in whatever way works on his end.
Max Browne will continue to be a frequent podcast contributor. If his schedule ever allows for him to do the video breakdowns again, I'll always push and try to get more of that, but he's getting busier and busier as his career grows. But I do think we'll have an audience more eager for game previews and game breakdowns in the Lincoln Riley era and we can really utilize his analysis on the podcast in that way.
Now for the new stuff ...
We are adding a full-time west coast/Pac-12 recruiting reporter who I will manage. While nothing is going to change in terms of the time I put into recruiting coverage, traveling around to the big showcases, 7-on-7 tournaments, camps and all-star games and keeping a pulse on where things stand with USC's recruiting picture, having another experienced recruiting reporter is a major asset. I will be able to formally introduce him in a few days probably -- I can't just yet until some moving parts are finalized -- but he is an experienced reporter who knows how to cover recruiting and will be based in Los Angeles, giving us another person to bounce around to high schools and check in on all the local prospects, which is especially valuable when I'm largely tied up with team coverage in season. While he will be contributing to our Pac-12 sites in general, I'm personally overseeing this position and he will significantly augment our USC recruiting coverage.
How has this come to be?
About a month and a half ago, or so, Rivals reached out to me with an idea and opportunity. They were expecting publisher turnover at a few of the other Pac-12 sites, and because those sites are much smaller than this one in terms of subscribers (and revenue), it's simply a challenging equation from a staffing and growth standpoint. So the idea that came together was to pool the resources of those several other sites together, use that to hire the full-time Pac-12 recruiting reporter to contribute to all of those sites, and have me oversee them all in sort of a super publisher role. I saw a lot of potential in this idea, as first and foremost it allows us here to benefit from an additional recruiting reporter that I could not afford to hire otherwise. My role in the other sites will be largely managerial from a staffing, planning and coordinating perspective. I'll also introduce myself on those boards and make sure they get to know me as well and I will be strategic in trying to bring growth to those sites. But the bottom line is nothing changes at all in terms of my time investment in covering USC daily and being a fixture here. I made that clear in agreeing to take on this plan from Rivals and it is understood. We've had great growth at the site the last month and I expect this to be a huge year for TrojanSports.com and our community here. Now more than ever I am motivated to deliver the best coverage possible on a daily basis, so if anything you should be getting even more from me this year.
As has been noticeable, I have taken some downtime over the last couple weeks around the holidays, in part to recover from the whirlwind of the last few months (particularly the first half of December), in part because I then came down with a very bad cold the first part of this week that knocked me down quite a bit (I am now feeling back to normal again thankfully), but also in part because I'm going to be a very busy guy starting ... pretty much now. So I appreciate all understanding on last week and this week being a little lighter content-wise than usual, but that ends today. It served a purpose -- I'm rested, I'm well, I'm eager and excited to deliver a huge 2022 here at TrojanSports.com. I'm also excited that Rivals has extended this opportunity to allow me to hire and manage a full-time recruiting reporter who will benefit us greatly and that I also think will allow Rivals to grow those other sites as well.
As for what other sites fall under my purview now, I will certainly tell you as soon as I get clearance -- the outgoing publishers need to make their announcements to their boards first. I can say that Oregon is one, as A.J. Jacobson is making his announcement there now. There will be a couple others taking effect tomorrow, and then probably one or two more in the spring.
But truly, nothing changes here. I'm going to hire contributors to produce the content for those sites, I'm going to manage the recruiting reporter and probably make Monday mornings a weekly admin time where I make sure everyone is on track at each site. But I plan to have my best year of USC coverage yet.
Fire away if you have any questions, though.
