Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford discusses present and future topics concerning the ACC leading up to the College Football Playoff National Championship. Grad students Frank Gogola and Zach Wagner covered the weeklong festivities.
By Malcolm Moran | @malcolm_moran
Director, Sports Capital Journalism Program
INDIANAPOLIS – The Sports Capital Journalism Program website is 100 days old. The student work it features, and the program that strives to create an unmatched series of opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students on the IUPUI campus, is much older than that.
In the 100 days since the Sports Capital Journalism Program in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at IUPUI launched its web and social media presence, 10 students have produced a total of 65 articles about major sporting events, the kind that present logistical challenges that can test the resourcefulness and endurance of veteran reporters.
Within that period, students have covered the Big Ten football championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium; the College Football Playoff Semifinal in Arlington, Texas, and Championship in Glendale, Arizona; the National Football League Scouting Combine in Indianapolis; and the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament and men’s tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Bill Polian (left) and Mark Dominik prepare to discuss growing media coverage of the NFL prior to taking questions from IUPUI students and attendees from the Sports Management Worldwide NFL Combine Career Conference on Thursday at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. (Photo via Frank Gogola)
In the next 100 days, IUPUI students will cover the NCAA men’s regional at Chicago, the Final Four at Houston, the Women’s Final Four at Indianapolis and the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.
A total of 13 IUPUI students have covered, or will cover, NCAA tournament games in 2015 and 2016.
The Twitter presence has highlighted each student article, best practices from professional media outlets, and news from the industry.
The M.A. program in Sports Journalism, the first of its kind in the nation, was introduced on the IUPUI campus in 2009. Graduate and undergraduate students from IUPUI have benefitted from the support of event organizers and administrators that have provided highly sought-after media credentials for national events. The student coverage has been made possible by resources offered by the Department of Journalism and Public Relations and the School of Liberal Arts. Students have discovered that the distance between their IUPUI classrooms and some of these high-profile events can be a short walk away.
The students have left stadiums after 3 a.m. in the morning. They have made the discovery that the events they are covering bear little resemblance to the ones they have watched on television. The difference is that the television broadcast is an often-seamless production, the work of dozens of people the viewers never see. The events the students are covering challenge their initiative, their creativity and even their stamina.
Dave Revsine, of the Big Ten Network, speaks to a SCJP grad class on March 8 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis leading up to the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament.
“Do you ever get tired?” one of the students asked, and the answer was yes, but not now.
The value of the experience is based upon an observation made by Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated soon after the end of the 2013 Bowl Championship Series championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame. As the platform for the trophy presentation was being constructed on the field and two IUPUI students navigated through the post-game chaos, Layden said, “You can’t teach this.”
He was right, of course. The classroom experience prepares the students for that moment and identifies the most deserving candidates through the quality of their work, their attention to detail and the commitment they display. But the ability to navigate can only be developed by being there, taking advantage of preparation, and developing the story.
And when the clock has ticked way past midnight and much work remains to be done, there is this valuable advice: If you sit down to type and find yourself looking at three computer screens, type on the one in the middle. That usually works best.
Students’ work can be found here.
IUPUI students Dennis Glade (left) and Rebecca Harris cover the Big Ten football championship game on Dec. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Sports Capital Journalism Program students Jessica Wimsatt (left) and Elizabeth Cotter (right) at Cotton Bowl media day on Dec. 28.
Jessica Wimsatt poses with the Heisman Trophy at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas.
Elizabeth Cotter speaks with Michigan State offensive line coach Mark Staten on Dec. 29 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Cotter and Jessica Wimsatt covered the Cotton Bowl semifinal for the SCJP website
Frank Gogola (right) and Zach Wagner preparing before the start of Media Day on Jan. 9.
Sports Capital Journalism Program graduate student Ralan Wardlaw went through the NCAA Mock Selection Exercise for men’s basketball on Feb. 12 and 13 at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.
Alaa Abdeldaiem (left) and Kim Dunlap at the 2016 NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
Alaa Abdeldaiem (left) and Emily Kennedy cover the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
SCJP grad students Zach Wagner (left) and Jennifer Brugh cover the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament from March 10 to 13 in Indianapolis.
