Jeff White Set to Debut on VirginiaSports.com
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Charlottesville, VA – Former Richmond Times-Dispatch sportswriter Jeff White will make his debut this weekend as the Director of News Content for VirginiaSports.com. White’s first contributions will come when he covers the Atlantic Coast Conference’s annual football media days in Greensboro that begins Sunday.
For the past 21 years White has worked for newspapers in Richmond. He began as a prep writer for the afternoon News-Leader and then moved to the Times-Dispatch when the papers merged in 1992. He has covered the UVa beat since 2000. The National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association has honored White six times since 2001 as the Sportswriter of the Year in Virginia.
“Jeff’s hire will allow VirginiaSports.com to increase its original content to a level that has not been seen before,” said Executive Associate Director of Athletics Jon Oliver. “Over the years Jeff has earned the respect of our coaches, staff and student-athletes for his comprehensive knowledge of Virginia athletics and his objective reporting. His in-depth profiles, commentary and analysis will make VirginiaSports.com a trusted source of information for our fans.”
In addition to writing for VirginiaSports.com, he will contribute to Virginia’s athletics Facebook and Twitter sites throughout the year.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for me, and I’m eager to get started,” White said. “I’ve learned much about the University and its athletics department over the years, and that knowledge will inform my coverage for VirginiaSports.com. I hope to provide behind-the-scenes looks at UVa athletics that can’t be found anywhere else. Fascinating stories abound here, and I look forward to telling them.”
“Jeff will have a great deal of latitude in covering our sports,” Oliver said. “It will be natural to question his objectivity now that he is writing stories for us but we really want him to cover our sports programs the same way he did during his very successful run at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It is our hope that over time our fans will seek out Jeff’s stories as a credible source of information.”
Virginia becomes the second ACC school to have a newspaper reporter join its Official Athletics Website as a contributing writer. NC State hired Tim Peeler from the Greensboro News & Record for GoPack.com in 2004. He is now the managing editor for the site.
Hiring newspaper reporters to supplement department communications has been a new trend in college athletics in recent years. The Big 12 Conference hired Wendell Barnhouse, formerly of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, in a similar capacity last summer. Baylor recently hired Jerry Hill from the Waco Tribune-Herald. Last fall Texas brought Natalie England from the San Antonio Express-News onboard for TexasSports.com and earlier this month Colorado hired long-time beat writer B.G. Brooks for CUBuffs.com. Rice, Stanford and New Mexico are other schools that have made similar moves.
“If you follow the newspaper sports industry, these are some people with very impressive credentials that schools have brought to their respective staffs,” said UVa Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations Jim Daves. “This is a trend that has been prevalent in the NBA, NFL and MLB for several years and those teams have found it to be a tremendous benefit. The traditional news media is shrinking and so is the news hole and amount of coverage. This is a very forward-thinking move that will greatly benefit UVa fans who are hungry for more in-depth information on the Cavaliers from one of the region’s top writers.”