APSE

Michael Parsons has returned to the sports department of Florida Today, taking over in late September as sports editor when Lee Nessel moved to the position of quick launch editor.
Parsons is no stranger to sports at the paper in Melbourne, Fla., and now brings his background as one of the two leaders on the universal copy desk, which will help him relate with those who produce the sports section."I have the advantage that I come from there, so I probably have more pull than some others," Parsons joked.
Parsons had served in the Florida Today sports department from 2004 to 2008, working on the sports copy desk and eventually becoming the assistant sports editor.
He left the paper and spent a year as the sports editor for the Charlotte Sun in Charlotte, Fla., where he also worked previously.
He returned to Florida Today a little over a year ago and became one of the leaders on the universal desk. During that time, Parsons worked on a project to expand coverage of college football, putting him back in the sports mix.
"We just kind of focused the college football coverage into a themed page with a lot of balance toward state stories," Parsons said. "Now, there are two pages inside for our three state teams."
Parsons said the pages include rails with quick-hit information. While the Sunday postgame coverage already was in place, the addition included Saturday preview pages, and adding more Florida State and Miami coverage to the Florida coverage.
"I met with reporters over the summer and took off with it last year," Parsons said. "The preview was big because that was a totally new thing.
"I was very excited when it was approached to me that it was what we wanted to do. Like everyone else, we've been cutting back, but you knew this was going to be something every Saturday when it came out."
Parsons said the balance of schools is something people notice.
"We have a real strong Gator Nation, but if there's too much Gators, I hear about it," he said. "It makes it interesting, but there's never a dull Saturday."
Parsons said the newshole for the section has "come back … a little closer to the olden days."
In addition to the expanded college coverage, he said the section's strengths include its high school writers and long-time columnist Peter Karasotis.
He said the section has been strong online, in large part due to Nessel's influence.
"She brought that to the sports department, for sure," Parsons said. "She was very good at making sure everything was going online and that everyone got things online fast.
"She's very organized and has everything ready to go every day."
Parsons described Nessel's new role as turning breaking news into enterprise.
He describes himself as a guy who appreciates writing.
"I really enjoy the storytelling aspect," Parsons said. "If you're engaging readers, everything else falls into place."
The upstate New York native's own story of getting into newspapers is interesting. He said he "got into the business the old-fashioned way." After some time at SUNY-Morrisville, he landed in the sports department at the Corning (N.Y.) Leader in 1992 and stayed seven years.
"It's kind of weird how it all worked out," Parsons said. "I never thought in high school that I'd be doing this. I was an agate clerk at the Leader and started doing odds and ends and taking more of a role and just kept going."

SOUTHEAST
Knoxville News Sentinel: Named Gregg Hampton assistant sports editor. Hampton has been with the News Sentinel for 6 1/2 years, first as a sports copy editor and designer, then as the sports copy desk chief. Previously, he was executive sports editor of the Jackson Sun, and he also has worked in Biloxi, Miss., Florence, S.C., and Carbondale, Ill. … Hired Andrew Gribble to cover football recruiting and Tennessee football. He had been with the Opelika-Auburn News since October 2008, primarily covering football.
The Orlando Sentinel: Hired Todd M. Adams, formerly sports editor of the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, as its college editor. Adams replaces Barry Forbis, who left to become sports editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Adams will supervise all college coverage in print and online for the Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida.
Jackson Clarion-Ledger: Hired Brandon Marcello from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to cover Mississippi State. … Moved Kyle Veazey from the MSU beat to the Ole Miss beat. … David Brandt, who had covered Ole Miss for the past three years, resigned in August to become the Associated Press sports writer in the Jackson Bureau.
The Palm Beach Post: Hired Ethan Skolnick to be its Heat columnist/reporter. Skolnick had been a general sports columnist at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. He began his career at the Post. His beats included the Dolphins and Heat.
The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle: Wayne Staats joined the staff in August as a prep writer. He replaced Matt Middleton, who left to go to business school. Staats is a recent Penn State grad.

GREAT LAKES
Yankton (S.D.) Press & Dakotan: Justin Rust, a part-time sports writer, moved to a full-time position in news. Rust won a regional APME award for best sports feature in 2009.
The Indianapolis Star: Ppromoted Nat Newell to assistant sports editor/high schools. Newell had been a sports reporter for The Star for the past seven years, working out of one of the paper's community/zones offices. He replaces Kristen Leigh Porter, who took a position with the NCAA. … Chris Wright, assistant sports editor/Pacers and colleges, left the paper to work for a tennis web site.

SOUTHWEST
San Antonio Express-News: Blake Hurtik, a recent graduate of the University of Texas, joined the sports staff as a high school beat reporter. Hurtik had served as a correspondent for several papers in the state before taking the full-time job in San Antonio. … Tim Griffin came back to the Express-News after serving two years as the Big 12 Conference blogger for ESPN.com. Griffin, who worked for the Express-News from 1984-2008, will write daily blogs for the paper’s new San Antonio Spurs/NBA website, which is set to launch near the start of the regular season.

NORTHWEST
Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune: Hired Zack Creglow as sports editor. Creglow was the assistant sports editor in Galesburg, Ill. The sports editor position was created when the Star-Tribune lost a sports paginator. David Mayberry ran both the city and sports desks for the previous 18 months. He will continue to play a role in the department as the AME/City & Sports, but day-to-day duties will be Creglow's responsibilities.
The Missoulian: John Heaney, a sports page designer, left the newspaper in Missoula, Mont., to become the editor of the Montanan, the University of Montana's alumni magazine.

WEST
Salt Lake Tribune: Hired Brian T. Smith to cover the Utah Jazz. Smith had been covering the Portland Trail Blazers for the (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian. He worked previously at the Bristol
(Conn.) Herald Courier and the Oregonian. Smith replaces Ross Siler, who left the profession to attend law school. … Hired Kyle Goon as a preps reporter. Goon was the organization's Sports
Journalism Institute intern this summer. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland.
The Arizona Republic: Hired Brian Manzullo as a night/weekend online producer for the online operation, azcentral.com. Manzullo is a graduate of Central Michigan University and was the Michigan Press Association college journalist of the year in 2009. He replaces Jeremy Cluff, who was promoted to the lead dayside online producer position left vacant when longtime Republic editor and producer Randy Brickley became assistant managing editor for CBSSports.com. … Hired Brandon Ferrill to be lead sports designer, replacing Luke Knox, who went to the Boston Globe. Ferrill most recently had been a designer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and previously worked at the Washington Times.