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The AG Interview: David Wasson

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David Wasson, Executive Sports Editor of The Tuscaloosa News is a busy guy. Covering the Crimson Tide, not only for the print addition, but for TideSports.com, is more than a full time gig. But he did manage to find time to talk with us about covering sports in the new media age, and the future of the Tide, from next week’s game on into the future.

Thanks for talking with us. Do you normally get blog geeks pestering you?
Not too many. But I interact with a lot of people via e-mail and our forums, which can at times be an overwhelming proposition. The BlackBerry is a blessing and a curse. With this medium, people seem to expect a level of access they don’t have with the newspaper. It is something we have had to embrace and get used to, for sure.

Do you think forums and blogs enhance traditional media or detract from it?
I think they enhance, in that they allow reporters to break down barriers that have existed forever. No longer are we standing on top of our presses shouting down at our readers once a day. It is more of a conversation, which empowers the readers and makes them feel closer to the product.

Probably makes you guys work harder to get the facts right.
There is certainly a fair amount of chasing dead ends, both from blog folks as well as forum folks asking whether we have heard this or that rumor. Fortunately, Cecil Hurt and Chris Walsh are about as dialed-in as we could possibly ask for, so between their and my contacts, we can snuff out pretty much anything. When coaching searches come up (and we have had more than our share), it is doubly difficult – because there is so much more speculation and hunger out there for ‘news’ than there is actual news to report. But we spend a bunch of time chasing false leads, both from forums/blogs, and from TV folks trying to throw darts at the wall.

What sites do you read regularly? (not a hint for a plug)
Let’s see … I go to our site first, naturally. TiderInsider, BamaOnline and BamaMag all get visits a couple times a day. I check out al.com, Montgomery and Anniston once a day to see what they wrote in relation to us.

You guys really have embraced the new media, with Cecil’s new webcast and you being on the forums. Must be nice being referred to as Guru by the fans.
We have made new media a real priority since I got here in 2002. And we continue to push the envelope with different things to see what people like. We have been pleasantly amazed at our forum growth, and the numbers we produce with video/audio content. As for the ‘guru’ stuff, I only wish my wife felt the same way.

The growth of forums and blogs – places like TiderInsider, BOL and BamaMag – really forces us in newspapers to think quickly. There is so much more competition out there now, and we have to be correct first. We ran into that with the Rich Rodriguez deal. We weren’t about to get it wrong.

Excellent example. I have to commend the TN for waiting until they had the story, instead of being first.
That was a challenging 18-hour period. I was in South Bend, covering the UA-Notre Dame game for Cecil so he could stay here. We had Tommy flying overnight to Huntington, WVa., so he could be on the ground there if they hired him. I remember sitting in Notre Dame’s gym with a great basketball game in front of me, burning up the IM and my cell phone back to the paper trying to make sure we had the right info.

After the game, I spent half the night on our forums basically defending our position – while watching ESPN say over and over again that Birmingham was reporting Rodriguez’s hire. I vividly remember pulling into the Midway Airport rental car place just as Rodriguez announced he was staying, and breathing a big sigh of relief.

Sweet vindication. When did you feel comfortable enough to run with something?
Honestly, I was never comfortable that night at all. It isn’t often we are 180 degrees different than our competition. But in talking to my guys throughout the night, and knowing who they were talking to, I felt as good as I could writing what we did – which was, basically, nothing concrete had happened. It certainly helped to have the full support of my bosses to make a gut call like that … especially being in Indiana.

And it looks like the story had a much happier ending than it might have.
It did for Alabama fans, certainly. A pleasant turn of events. The sigh of relief on Jan. 3 was even nicer than that Rodriguez day, for sure. I made it a point to seek out Gottfried a little while later to apologize for half-assing his game.

So you’re the reason he was in a huff about the attention Saban was getting…
Who was in a huff?

Well, if I remember right, Coach G was frustrated by the lack of attention the basketball team was getting at the time.
Coach Gottfried occasionally complains about lack of attention, usually during the non-conference season. I can see his point, as we are hard into football in November when they start up. But Coach Gottfried also understands that to get attention during that time, he has to schedule good games. Going to Hawaii in November 2008 is a good example of that. I will never complain about Hawaii trips, or this year’s trip to Vegas, or going to NYC.

He also has to know going in that UA is a football school first and foremost.
Yes, he knows that basketball is No. 2 at Alabama. But it is his job to make that margin between No. 2 and No. 1 as close as possible. He sees no reason it can’t be like at Florida.

Now there’s an Athletic Director that’s earning his keep.
Jeremy Foley is the best in the business as what he does. They are aggressive in facilities, push their product through marketing like no other school, and relentlessly seek and hire talented coaches. He also isn’t shy about pulling the trigger on coaches that aren’t performing. They want to win a national title in every sport. High, high goals.

A high bar for Alabama, in terms of the AD. Is Gene Hallman auditioning?
Good question. I think Gene Hallman would be a worthy candidate, as would Wright Waters – the commissioner of the Sun Belt. One person I would be surprised if he got the AD job would be Ozzie Newsome. No offense to Ozzie, whom I know well from my days in Florence, but I think the modern athletic director is more CEO than football-only man.

He’s always the guy fans mention. I bet he’d have to fight Ray Perkins for it.
Another guy I like and respect, but I don’t think Ray Perkins would be an option at this stage.

Did he burn some bridges by propping up Shula, or have I been reading too many message boards?
I was about to bring up Shula. I don’t believe Perkins would be the next guy even if Shula was still around. His burned bridges existed from 20 years ago – though he did have the ear of a few folks to get Shula in here to start with. Ray is from a slightly different time, and also fits into that football-only guy instead of the modern CEO AD.

So in addition to hiring coaches ‘outside the family,’ the next AD likely would be the same.
The family keeps getting smaller, after all. And Wright Waters is kinda family, as I think he was here at some point and has a daughter here in school.

Speaking of family, do the former players feel more or less welcome under Saban, as opposed to Shula?
I think Coach Saban has made a strong effort to reach out to and embrace former players. He sees them as an important link to tradition, as well as an invaluable tool for recruiting. Not that Coach Shula didn’t feel the same way, but I think that for the first couple years, they were more hamstrung by NCAA-related issues.

Saban seems to be philosophical about all the tradition of Alabama. He sort of uses it to his advantage, but doesnt go out of his way to cater to it, which has been the trap past coaches fell into.
I think one of the hardest facets of being the head football coach at Alabama is embracing the concept of tradition. You’re correct that past coaches have either been swallowed up by it, or blithely ignored it to the point that it was harmful. You want to cast your own shadows, for sure, but there are really long ones already on campus.

Saban’s advantage is, he already has a reputation coming into it.
I will be fascinated to see how Coach Saban’s reputation evolves as his tenure at Alabama continues.

The armchair coaches are pointing out John Parker Wilson’s failings, right or wrong. Whats your take on the offensive struggles?
Good defense by the other teams

I walked right into that one.
Seriously, John Parker Wilson is a good quarterback who has not played all that great here recently. What should be encouraging to Alabama fans is that he has driven the team twice in the final minutes of games for touchdowns. Bad quarterbacks (read: Brandon Cox) can’t do that.

Maybe we should run the two-minute drill all game.
I bet that has been talked about the past few weeks in the football building. Good defense is the same concept I like to rely on when The Birmingham News gets something we don’t have. Those other guys are trying, too. As much as I want to put all the other folks out of business with our sterling coverage, they seem to be stubborn.

Good analogy there. Old-school fans would go berzerk if we went to the no-huddle.
Old-school fans would go berzerk over a lot of things. That’s what old-school fans do.

Like being asked not to call the offensive coordinator at home.
Yeah, how about that? That is the downside to being at a place where the passion runs so deep. Kinda like there being no reason to throw stuff on the field, there is no reason to go calling assistant coaches griping about this or that.

So that wasn’t you in either case?
Ha. No, I have alibis.

I’ll take you at your word. Okay, so do we get a moral victory next week, or what?
I think Alabama gets an old-fashioned victory against Florida State – a team that seems to be underachieving like a champion this year. They are also motivated to atone for last week’s loss.

You heard it here first.
A sneak preview of my Saturday pick!

David, I really do appreciate it.
My pleasure.