The lead story in Friday's Charleston Gazette-Mail sports section tackled - hey, it's football season - the topic of the new.
New coaches, new season, new opportunities. We're all 0-0.
That seems apropos, given what we've experienced at Charleston Newspapers over the past month. It was announced July 19 that two award-winning newspapers - the Charleston Gazette and Charleston Daily Mail - were combining "to produce the most comprehensive news product in West Virginia."
It doesn't matter if you like the feel of the print product and the ink residue on your fingers, the easy perusal of the website with a few mouse clicks or the quick finger scrolls on our smart phone app, Friday's effort is the new normal.
"Wow, today's @GazMailSports is stuffed," Gazette-Mail co-editor Brad McElhinny commented on the social media website Twitter on Friday morning.
Indeed, it was. There were stories from Morgantown, Buckhannon, Charleston and Huntington. Coverage of football at the Division I, D-II and prep levels. There was live game coverage of football and soccer. There was a preview of Friday night's prep football action - the first full night of games - that took a look at 16 teams across all classes. Our columnist, Mitch Vingle, talked with WVU president Gordon Gee and WVU athletic director Shane Lyons.
Today's Gazette-Mail product is similar: WVU, Marshall and West Virginia State stories; a piece on a unique high school football game being played at Mountaineer Field on Saturday between two out-of-state teams; and coverage of eight prep football games from Huntington to Parkersburg to Fairmont.
That's why it's such a thrill to be the first sports editor of the Gazette-Mail. It's like being grooved a fastball - my eyes are as wide as saucers at the opportunity spinning toward me.
The new sports staff here has strength in numbers and years. The 11-person staff is bigger than either of the previous staffs at the Gazette and Daily Mail. Combined, the staff has more than 240 years of experience in the newspaper industry.
In the effort to combine the best elements of two distinguished sports departments, this editor's call has not been to change, but to create. The beats at WVU and Marshall will be handled by familiar people - Mike Casazza and Doug Smock, respectively - but we've also created a position designed to provide unprecedented coverage of Division II athletics and the Mountain East Conference. Derek Redd, who has experience covering Florida State and Marshall, is wired to provide big-beat treatment to the University of Charleston, West Virginia State, WVU Tech and the MEC.
We have Jeff Rider, who will continue designing quality pages, but he'll also provide upkeep to our digital products. Tom Bragg, a versatile member of our staff, also has a knack for page design and has maintained our high school football website, www.wvhuddle.com, since its inception. He'll continue wearing both hats.
Assistant sports editor Derek Taylor will coordinate prep coverage with two other full-time positions dedicated to high schools. Rick Ryan, our most veteran staff member, and Ryan Pritt will lead coverage of football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, track, cross country and more. The Huddle will be a one-stop shop for prep coverage: stories, statistics, rosters, schedules, photos and videos.
Nick Scala, with 36 years of newspaper experience, brings it all together. He produces eye-catching layouts, writes headlines and decides which story goes where.
That's one heck of a depth chart, folks.
It allows us to provide the comprehensive news product promised last month. Take Thursday night, for example.
The Gazette-Mail sent five people to University of Charleston's Laidley Field, where Capital defeated Riverside 50-0 on West Virginia's first night of prep football. Ryan and Taylor wrote stories that appeared in print, on the Huddle and on our app. Bragg used a live video streaming app called Periscope to broadcast pregame coverage, and he posted photos and videos to Instagram and Twitter.
Kenny Kemp, the Gazette-Mail's visuals editor, took photos. Marcus Constantino, our new multimedia wizard, put together a 3-minute, 29-second video that included the pregame festivities and in-game highlights.
It's a new season and expectations are higher than ever. We're OK with that.