LOCAL MEDIA COVERAGE

[Drakey]

At MSU we have a really good beat writer in Wyatt Wheeler for the News Leader. He does cover the Bears very well with frequent articles as well as the Lady Bears. I do think it really helps create interest. The local TV news broadcasts cover both bears teams very well too. Below is an example of Wyatt's work. He's really outstanding.

https://www.news-leader.com/story/sport ... 727496001/

I agree on Wyatt. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite opposing beat writers. I like Todd Golden (ISUB), Paul Oren (Valpo0 and Todd Hefferman(SIU) as well. Chad does a good job for us, and like musiccitybulldog said, has been covering the McCarty ordeal pretty solidly.

When I have tried to find info on Drake, I too noticed that the beat writer assigned to them also was assigned to both Iowa and Iowa State. That's tough in a town the size of Des Moines to split the beat writer like that. Obviously being the largest city in the state as well as state capitol, many alumns from the large state colleges are going to gravitate there. For years, Butler had the same issue in Indy with all the Indiana and Purdue alumni and coverage. Even with their success, they often still take 3rd fiddle in the Indianapolis media.

He is assigned to Iowa and Iowa State along with the multiple full time writers who cover nothing BUT Iowa and Iowa State. Todays Register sport section had nearly 5 full pages devoted to Iowa State, 1 and 3/4 pages to Iowa. 1/4 page to Drakes win over Indiana State and 1/4 page to Drakes women win over UNI. Iowa State did not actually play any games to be covered, it was just fluff pieces.

[isumvc1]

Golden does a great job for Indiana State, it's unusual these days to have a reporter assigned to a specific team in a small market such as Terre Haute

[glm38]

Print newspapers are dying and there's no way refuting that. Budgets have been clipped resulting in good writers being pink slipped all over the country. What local sports coverage exists often panders to the masses, which in Des Moines is likely going to be Iowa State or maybe Iowa coverage. Larger schools with bigger alumni bases who will buy more papers and click more links online. Unfortunately, things probably will get worse before they get better.

That will be a sad day if we lose our local papers. Hopefully some or most can adapt by going to an online format. We haven't taken our local paper in years in print format. But we do subscribe to the online version.

[veeny009]

I have no idea if he's writing articles, because I'm not 60, but Matthew Bain is at most Drake home games tweeting updates, as well as discussing Drake recruiting on his weekly mailbag.

Drake's coverage on local radio however, has increased significantly over the past 3 years, especially since the Devries hire.

[Drakey]

There are people under 60 who know how to read.

[veeny009]

If you think Newspaper coverage is the key to Drake attendance or any other issues, I've got nothing for ya.

[ahunte1]

I agree on Wyatt. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite opposing beat writers. I like Todd Golden (ISUB), Paul Oren (Valpo0 and Todd Hefferman(SIU) as well. Chad does a good job for us, and like musiccitybulldog said, has been covering the McCarty ordeal pretty solidly.

Wyatt and Todd Golden are my favorites to read. I like Oren's Valpo podcast, but it doesn't actually seem like he's covered very many games this year. Not sure what's up with that.

[Bulldog2323]

Drake is competing with Iowa, Iowa State, and even UNI for traction even in its home market. Attendance & team success also makes a big difference: Iowa, Iowa State, and UNI have all had multiple sell outs and multiple NCAA Tournament appearances since Drake's last of either in 2008. The Iowa City Press-Citizen, another Gannett paper, is quite literally in Iowa's backyard so easy coverage copy there. Ames (where Iowa State is located) has a significant amount of its residents commute to Des Moines for work it's so close.

Newspaper staff isn't what it used to be. While newsrooms didn't care about who was and who wasn't reading their articles 15 years ago now social media engagement and click counts on your articles are considered part of a journalist's annual performance review.

The newspapers for Bradley (Peoria Journal Star), Drake (Des Moines Register), Evansville (Courier & Press), and Springfield (Springfield News-Leader) are all owned by Gannett now.

If you want coverage: get people to go to games, post on Twitter about your school as much as possible, and have the Valley consistently get teams to at least the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

[musiccitybulldog]

What I think would work more than anything is two sided large Video Billboards on I-235 , like around 35th and one on the North side or downtown, and one around Jordan Creek.

It works on me around here. Belmont and Western Ky have them, or at least advertise on them.

[Bulldog2323]

I did also see for the first time since I think 2008 a TV advertisement the other night to buy tickets. Overall Drake's marketing department has been beyond terrible the last 10 years which hasn't helped.