NEWSPAPERS (large) – In-Depth Reporting

• First Place: “The courting of Jason Cope: Behind the scenes of a $1 million withdrawal” by Doug Brown, Kent State University
• Second Place: “Board highlights praise, hides criticism in Lefton evaluation” by Doug Brown and Rex Santus, Kent State University

NEWSPAPERS (large) – Sports Writing

• First Place: “90ksu reached with help of departmental money” by Doug Brown, Kent State University

NEWSPAPERS (large) - Breaking News Reporting

• Third Place: “‘Cope Court’ donor withdraws $1 million gift” by Doug Brown, Kent State University

ONLINE (large) – Online In-Depth Reporting

• First Place: “The courting of Jason Cope: Behind the scenes of a $1 million withdrawal” by Doug Brown, Frank Yonkof and Rachel Kilroy, Kent State University
• Second Place: “Board highlights praise, hides criticism in Lefton evaluation” by Doug Brown and Rex Santus, Kent State University

ONLINE (large) – Online Sports Reporting

• First Place: “90ksu reached with help of departmental money” by Doug Brown, Kent State University

At more than 5,300 words, it’s the longest I’ve ever written. And with 200,000 views and 500 comments in the first three days since it’s been published, it’s also my most widely read.

I began working on this story in Late January, doing basic research and talking with people on the phone from my apartment in Kent, Ohio. On Monday, Feb. 3, I traveled to Toledo for three days to gather more information in person. That was valuable. I wrote the piece on Thursday, Feb. 7 and we published the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 12.

Here’s the story on Deadspin.com:

… Interviews with former athletes, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggest a charismatic coach who maintained few boundaries with his runners. There were physical and romantic relationships with athletes and at least one non-athlete student from the beginning of his time in Toledo. Those relationships, in our sources’ telling, tended to unfold in similar fashion.

In addition, the runners we spoke to said Hadsell would regularly talk to them about sex and send them sexually suggestive text messages. He hounded runners who tried to quit the team. He used his authority as a coach to exert dominion over the private lives of his athletes, pressuring his female runners to stay off birth control. Former runners also recall Hadsell drunk-driving the team van, drinking during practices, and buying alcohol for underage runners.

One source described a “cover-up culture” among the athletes—female athletes too uncomfortable to bring up the matter with each other or with school officials. Some worried that nobody would believe their word against that of a highly respected coach. Some didn’t want to risk their position with the team. Others worried about outing their friends.

“Still to this day I wish I would have done something,” said a former runner who’s now in his early 30s. The runner learned of one female teammate who had a sexual relationship with Hadsell. He and a male teammate confronted the coach; Hadsell “freaked out” on them, denying everything and saying that the woman who’d told them about the relationship was crazy and hungry for attention… continue reading on Deadspin

Also, this story was involved in somewhat of “disagreement” with the local paper, The Toledo Blade, which published their version of the story after Deadspin. Here are some links from around the internet discussing that:

Jim Romenesko: “Toledo Blade managing editor disses Deadspin” (my fifth time on Romenesko in the past 13 months…)

… Deadspin’s Doug Brown had a long investigative pieceyesterday about sexual harassment claims against a University of Toledo coach who recently resigned. In the comments section of today’s Blade story today on the coach, managing editor Dave Murray writes what I think is a cheap blast against Deadspin…

Politico: “Old media vs. new media, sports edition“

… As editor of a venerable, 175-year-old newspaper, it can be hard to lose a local story to a bunch of profanity-loving kids from a New York-based website*. But the inability to accept that Deadspin is a legitimate news outlet — and a strong one at that — is so archaic and tin-eared I’m surprised Murray could even figure out how to post it online…

The Atlantic Wire: “Get used to Deadspin scooping your old media idols“

… Murray picked the wrong time to pick a fight with Deadspin. Their reporting credentials have never been stronger — and this is a far cry from Brett Favre’s privates. Besides the Te’o story, they’vereceivedpraise for John Koblin’s work on the decline in ESPN’s journalistic standards. Before going to Deadspin, Koblin worked as a media reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, and previously put in stints working for The New York Times and the New York Observer. The writer who broke the Toledo story, Douglas Brown, has written investigative pieces about college sports for Deadspin and has been published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer…

Boing Boing: “Newspaper editor on website that scooped it: don’t trust them, we’re the pros!“

… It’s bloggers vs. newspapers time again! And on this occasion, we have the special soupçons of access-dependent local sportswriters, deranged editors, and Gawker’s well-tuned nose for drama.

On February 12, Deadspin broke the details of an incredible scandal:Toledo running coach Kevin Hadsell had a bad habit of bullying, threatening and banging his students. The site reported that university and government officials were uncooperative, and insinuated that the coach was trying to get a more sympathetic story placed in The Toledo Blade.

Jim Romenesko: “Why newspaper sports journalists don’t like Deadspin“

…Deadspin really breaks the unspoken, but long-standing tradition that sports reporters only cover what goes on between the lines….I suspect that it has more than a little to do with the relationship between the sports departments and the institutions they cover…

Awful Announcing: “Deadspin vs The Toledo Blade – How new media is changing reporting“

Brown’s story was worlds different than Autullo’s. Brown didn’t start by waxing poetical nonsense about Hadsell’s good deeds of caring for his sister’s children while she struggled with alcoholism. Brown’s picture of the situation was much more cutting than the Blade’s. He paints a much uglier picture of Hadsell being an alcoholic himself, blackmailing athletes into staying on the team, forcing them to run when they didn’t want to, being responsible for a number of eating disorders, and being an overall bully in general. We can only assume Autullo was forced to hold back on reporting certain things for whatever reason.

… Among the applications you can find résumés for Utah State coach Gary Andersen, who wound up getting the job, not to mention Mel Tucker, the Wisconsin grad who recently became the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator.

Other applicants were marginally less qualified. Those include a local Walgreen’s pharmacist, a recent college graduate who was the captain of his football team, a veteran FedEx driver, an executive recruiter who played one season of Division III baseball, and a lawyer who listed among his “relevant experience” the fact that he has “excelled in various fantasy baseball and football leagues.”

Continue reading on Deadspin.com….

… Sources and documents obtained by Deadspin recount clashes between training staff and coaches over player safety, and physical—and nearly physical—altercations between coaches and players. They describe “dangerously excessive” workouts used as punishments, including an episode in which coaches supposedly sprayed players in the face with water from a hose while making them exercise in a sandpit in cold weather.

“If you run players and roll them in sand till they puke, is that abuse?” one player’s parent said to Deadspin. “I don’t know. There are no rules or laws and nothing defined in any handbook that says rolling a kid in the sand until he pukes is abusive. But some people might say, ‘That seems abusive to me.’”

One “concerned parent” wrote in an email to university president that “some of the things that are going on with WSU are completely out of control.” In another email, this one sent to the athletic department, someone wrote: “I played—I wouldn’t have played for Leach.”

That person added: “Sooner or later you’re going to get sued over Leach.” (Documents and emails referenced in the story are available at the bottom of this post.)

Wilson was not interviewed during Washington State University’s internal review, according to records and sources, and the players who were interviewed were never specifically asked about the receiver’s allegations.

Nor did the investigation interview Bill Drake, the school’s head athletic trainer. Before this season, Drake was responsible for the day-to-day training of the football team. This past fall, athletic director Bill Moos installed a trainer specifically for the team. …

Continue reading on Deadspin.com.

December 26: “Cash-Strapped Southern Miss Tries To Wring More Money Out Of Its Schedule, Considers Canceling BYU Series“

…Hammond, we’ve learned, may not be done trying to wring more money out of the Golden Eagles’ schedule. In July 2011, then-AD Richard Giannini—whom Hammond blamed for USM’s sorry finances—finalized an agreement with BYU for a home-and-home series in 2014 and 2015. That contract is published here, and it’s a fascinating glimpse at the legal framework behind football scheduling, but the thing to focus on is the guaranteed payments… (continue reading on Deadspin.com)

December 27: “‘In The Oil Business, We Call It A Dry Hole’: Angry Letters Boosters Send The AD When The Football Team Goes 0-12“:

… Our FOIA requests, which turned up evidence of Hammond filling out USM’s future schedule to recoup some of its losses, also revealed a number of emails from angry fans and alumni—more often than not donors and members of the university’s Eagle Club. We have scores of letters to Hammond from boosters, sent over the course of the season, demanding the termination of Ellis Johnson. Some threaten to withhold their donations if he’s not fired; others offer to donate to a fund specifically to cover Johnson’s buyout… (continue reading on Deadspin.com)

…The email is part of a release of correspondence surrounding the Leach investigation, in response to a public records request. The name of the sender and many of the details have been redacted, but it’s a nice introduction to the released documents, which provide an avalanche of complaints against Leach and his staff—including a coach striking players, the football staff rejecting the regular university medical trainers, and professors’ offices being blasted with canned crowd noise from the practice field… Continue reading on Deadspin.com

The Multimedia Story of the Year contest is also sponsored by the Deadline Club. Entries are accepted in the following categories: Multimedia News Multimedia Feature, Multimedia Sports and Photo Slideshow. All entries were accepted online. Entries are judged based on innovation in the use of multimedia, including audio, video, slide shows and graphics, technical quality of multimedia elements, respect of copyright laws, quality of reporting and quotes, quality of writing and reader/viewer impact. There were 275 total entries.

Thank you to fellow Daily Kent Stater staffers Frank Yoncoff, Rebecca Reis, Taylor Rogers and Jennifer Shore for making this happen.

For the sixth year in a row, the Kent State Board of Trustees evaluated and voted to award Kent State President Lester Lefton his full performance bonus, $102,402, at its June 6 meeting.But documents from an outside evaluator raise questions about Lefton’s role in his own evaluation, including his influence in choosing interviewees and how the evaluation was conducted. continue reading on kentwired.com

June 6, 2012: Towpath Trail builders have new way to get around contaminated land in Cleveland

“… Plans to connect the Towpath Trail through a plot of radioactive land south of Steelyard Commons have been ditched. Instead, officials are working on an ambitious multimillion-dollar detour that would finally connect the Harvard Avenue trailhead with the shopping area, and complete one of the last links in the 110-mile trail…”

June 26, 2012: Ohio officials encourage re-entry program for felons

“…In the past decade, government leaders have increasingly focused on programs that help newly released felons obtain housing, employment, transportation, education and drug and alcohol counseling. Without those resources, and the sense of hope it brings to the people who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity, felons are much more likely to fall back into the old habits that landed them in prison, the speakers said…”

June 27, 2012: Ohio beaches still second worst among coastline states

“… ‘Ohio and other Great Lakes states have the same set of problems,’ said Karen Hobbs, senior analyst in NRDC’s Water Program. These include aging and failing infrastructure, combined sewer systems that flow directly to the lake, and increased rain that the organization attributes to climate change…”

July 12, 2012: Man killed during store robbery in Cleveland committed another one outside the store three years ago

“… The man shot and killed by an East Side store owner during a suspected armed robbery Tuesday was supposed to be in a Cleveland halfway house, finishing a sentence for an armed robbery committed outside the same store more than three years ago…”

July 12, 2012: Cuyahoga County election board disagrees on extending early voting hours

… Democrats say Husted’s decision will affect thousands of likely Barack Obama voters. They fear that restricting hours in the heavily Democratic county during the early voting period 35 days before the election could give Republican challenger Mitt Romney the edge in this crucial swing state…

July 21, 2012: 18 hours of digging turns up no clues on what happened to Amanda Berry

“… An inmate’s tip led authorities to dig up an entire vacant West Side lot looking for the missing teen’s remains and got people from that neighborhood telling tales of the inmate’s troubled upbringing there. But the combined 18-hour search turned up no clues as to what happened to Amanda…”

August 5, 2012: Proposed income tax increase divides Shaker Heights residents

“… A proposed increase in the income tax from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent is causing a rift in Shaker Heights between residents who demand an end to what they consider wasteful spending and others willing to pay more to maintain the city’s high quality of life…”

August 16, 2012: Two Lorain police officers under investigation

…Lorain City Councilman Dennis Flores said he received phone calls and emails from residents saying that Gonzalez’s guns, still fully working with serial numbers matching the ones supposedly burned, were found during a recent drug raid…