When it comes to field goals, journalism alum has only one: Get the story right
By Joe Arney
Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18)
Tips for aspiring reporters
When he worked in Lubbock, Texas, covering Texas Tech, Brent Schrotenboer admitted he didn’t appreciate how cool of a college town it was, and all the activities it had for residents.
That sort of thing can be hard to tell with your nose to the grindstone. Schrotenboer said his willingness to work hard is why he’s become a national reporter with USA Today, but admitted his tunnel vision prevented him from enjoying the stops he’s had on the way.
“It’s important to find balance, but you also gotta remember that the only way to get ahead is work really hard,” he said.
He shared a few other tips with students who want to work in journalism:
- ٷɴǰ£Ƿ. Schrotenboer’s first two jobs in newspapers came from the network he started to build as a student. CU alumni and brothers Tracy and Troy Renck, now a Denver Post sports columnist, gave Schrotenboer leads on his first two jobs that kicked off his career in Louisiana and Yuma, Arizona. “From there, it was off to the races,” he said.
- Read. And not just your subject area. Schrotenboer prefers books about history or novels to sports books: “Reading broadens your horizons, and it also makes you a better writer. Things kind of rub off by osmosis.”
- Be original. So many news websites today just aggregate content, as opposed to landing actual scoops, “which comes from getting interviews, digging into documents and public records,” Schrotenboer said. “You don’t see enough original reporting out there.”
Any reporter who’s been in news long enough knows the heart-stopping, sweaty-palmed moment when a public figure holds up your story in a press conference and says something to the effect of, “Now, we need to talk about something that was in the paper this morning.”
Earlier this spring, it’s a moment Brent Schrotenboer (Jour’96) endured while watching one of Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’ press conferences. That week, Schrotenboer, an investigative sports reporter with USA Today, published a piece examining Sanders’ unique recruiting strategy and to prospective players.
“It’s sort of a moment of truth, when he brings up your story in front of everybody,” Schrotenboer said. “Because if there’s a single inaccurate thing in there, I’m about to hear about it—like, maybe he went on a visit that I couldn’t find a record of, and that the school didn’t even know about. But he didn’t dispute any of it, so it was sort of a sigh of relief.”
Instead, Coach Prime explained his strategy on how he attracts scholarship athletes—a story Schrotenboer said he tried to get for a week before finally publishing.
Chasing what’s new
His coverage of Coach Prime and the Buffs is not critical, he said, but open minded. “There’s nothing wrong with trying new things and zigging while everybody else is zagging. With the recruiting thing—the jury’s out as to whether it will work, but it’s very different, and I like that he’s trying new things and trying to exploit the transfer portal, NIL and so on.”
Last season was like an extended homecoming for Schrotenboer, who said he attended almost all 12 Buffaloes games as he covered a coach who generated as many headlines for his sheer popularity as his willingness to innovate on and off the field.
But landing the “Coach Prime beat” has nothing to do with having attended the 鶹Ƶ. Instead, he said, it was about working hard and never turning down an opportunity—which is how he got his first job, as the sports editor of a small paper in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
“I was a big baseball fan, and thought I could travel with a team and cover all 162 games a year,” Schrotenboer said. “But my career took a few different turns as I was offered opportunities in college football and more investigative work. A lot of people coming out of college have this fixed idea of what they want to do, some pro team they want to cover, but it almost never works out that way.
“I’m so happy with where my career turned out. But it’s not where I had ever imagined myself, so I think it’s important to always say, yes, and to be open minded.”
Brent Schrotenboer (Jour’96), investigative reporter, USA Today
Leading amid industry challenges
Being open to new techniques was something Schrotenboer learned in college, as email became a thing—though the only place he could check it was Norlin Library—and he started asking professors for their thoughts on the future of print news in a digital world.
“The current climate—yeah, it’s tough out there. But there are still people doing great work,” he said. “A lot of people are trying hard and fighting the fight for journalism.”
The old dog may have a few new tricks, but above all, Schrotenboer prizes traditional journalism values like fairness, objectivity and accuracy—all of which come into play when he’s covering his alma mater.
“My job is to hold the institution accountable, which in turn makes the institution better,” he said. “When I’m in the press box at a game, I’m not hoping CU scores a touchdown, I’m worrying about getting my story right and writing something people want to read.”
That kind of perspective was something he was happy to share while speaking in the Prime Time course. Although he graduated before CMCI was formed, he called the course “a smart play to take advantage of this cultural moment CU is having” and said a broad education that encompasses journalism, media studies, communication and related disciplines is very valuable for professionals.
In fact, while he had inspirations as a journalism student—including Douglas Looney (dzܰ’63), formerly of Sports Illustrated, who taught sports writing at CU Boulder—some of the classes that left the deepest impression were in areas like law and anthropology.
“I grew up in a small town in Michigan, a first-generation college student, and it was eye-opening to come to a big university and take classes in things like Black history and culture, nuclear warfare, and stuff like that,” he said. “All this stuff was like forbidden fruit to me. I grew up in a small town, but I never lived there again. CU changed everything for me.”