BMarkey said

If Kurtenbach has been threatened with having his credentials pulled, my guess would be that it involved some of his tweets, which could be interpreted as nasty, biting, acerbic and perhaps humorous (the latter, arguably).

It's been an interesting week in the college football media universe, with Los Angeles Daily News reporter Scott Wolf briefly banned from USC practices, Washington following in USC's footsteps by prohibiting media from reporting on injuries and SB Nation's Spencer Hall denied a credential for the Florida-Tennessee game. These situations all have their own unique elements, but they illustrate three related points: many big college football programs are unnecessarily paranoid, college coaches have too much power, and no one on the team side really understands how denying access or prohibiting reporting topics will backfire.

BMarkey said

If Kurtenbach has been threatened with having his credentials pulled, my guess would be that it involved some of his tweets, which could be interpreted as nasty, biting, acerbic and perhaps humorous (the latter, arguably).

My email address is [email protected] and my phone number is 954.319.8504. Feel free to contact me regarding your concerns in coverage. I try to balance my half-dozen responsibilities as well as possible, and I'm always advocating for more space for a team that's lost more than a dozen conference games in a row, but as you could expect, it's a hard sell. Beyond that, access to the team is extremely limited and my credential has been threatened for routine reporting more than once since taking the beat.

I do appreciate his problems in mid-week coverage, but there are plenty of potential stories to investigate about up-and-coming players, schedules, news from the new AD, etc.

I appreciate Kurtenbach's willingness to accept criticism, and his response. I understand that he has other responsibilities that might not allow him to cover FAU the way it should be covered. If the S-S has him covering high schools, the Marlins or even Panthers, that is a mistake made by the powers that be of that newspaper. My criticisms over the depth of FAU coverage were not meant to be pointed at him, solely.

That said, I have heard it mentioned that because FAU is not a winner any longer, it does not deserve the coverage other programs receive. That is absolute garbage.

FAU, as  a major institution in South Florida and one of the most important institutions in Palm Beach County, deserves more coverage than programs two or even six counties away. Those places get lots of coverage the S-S and Post could easily pick up, and they are far less important to local readers. Name another place to which 30,000-plus local people belong every weekday.

The "lose-get no coverage" argument holds no water at all! If it did, the Marlins would not receive any of the multiple daily stories they receive because they are a joke to baseball. The Panthers, in recent years, would receive a story per week, if they were lucky. The Hurricanes, who have been mostly a failure in recent years and are teetering on the brink of sanctions that could drop them to Division II status (along with Pen State), couldn't draw 20,000 people to an in-state game against Bethune Cookman a couple of weeks ago, yet they receive pages of pre- and post-game coverage in the Post and S-S.

Maybe the S-S covers those other losing programs more completely because they are considered community institutions of merit in its home community (Broward, and to some extent, Dade).

More FAU coverage should be an easy business decision for these newspapers. FAU has far more alumni in the readership area of the Post and S-S than Miami does.

Maybe the S-S covers those other losing programs more completely because they are considered community institutions of merit in its home community (Broward, and to some extent, Dade). The culture of what deserves the most coverage and how is o,d and outdated. It needs to be re imagined with the new landscape and demographics of South Florida - not the glory of the "big-three" from the 1980s - in mind.

BMarkey said

So what? The Marlins, Panthers, Hurricanes, Owls, Dolphins are currently losers, yet only one team is ignored.

Fans are developed and grown. That can't happen without coverage. A newspaper owes it to its community to cover its institutions - win or lose.

BMarkey said

Dieter Kurtenbach's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/dkurtenbach

BMarkey said

So what? The Marlins PRO team has won two World series , Panthers, do not get that much coverage but still a pro team Hurricanes has won 5 national titles , Owls, Dolphins South Florida team no matter bad or not are currently losers, yet only one team is ignored.

Fans are developed and grown. That can't happen without coverage. A newspaper owes it to its community to cover its institutions - win or lose.