Parables of the Press Box: Medill Alums in Sports Journalism

Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism tends to produce graduates that go into illustrious jobs. The class of 2022 alone has seen members go on to work at The Atlantic, CBS, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post. The majority of Medill alumni will go into either news reporting or some form of public relations and communications. However, according to the most recent data from Medill, 3% of the Class of 2022 is working in sports journalism. While that’s not exactly a massive number, it’s not zero, either. The Medill school typically churns out about 5-10 graduates a year who stick to the sports beat post-graduation, as evidenced by many recent graduating classes. These are some of their stories. 

[Song: On Repeat. From Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos]

Daniel Olinger is one example of an alum from the Class of 2023 who works in sports journalism. Olinger covers the Philadelphia 76ers for The Rights to Ricky Sanchez Podcast. Olinger blogs and podcasts for the site, which is very much a familiar feeling for him. While at Northwestern, he became the editor in chief of the sports blog Inside NU, which exclusively covers any and all Northwestern sports. Olinger says working for the site helped him figure out how to best use his sportswriting talents.

DANIEL OLINGER: You get out what you put into it. So like just being, going…they had a great women’s basketball team my freshman year, I wrote about them a ton. I broke down their zone. I did, also, a ton of films on them. I was willing to write. Because of that, I got promoted to…like managing editor by the people running it at the time just because they saw that I was writing good stuff and clearly invested in it. And then the next year through I got promoted to editor in chief after my sophomore year because, again, I was writing stuff all the time doing film rooms, contacting people to set up good stories. That was a good thing, it did feel just like whoever does some of the most work or the best work kind of gets rewarded for it. I kind of like just that pretty basic cause and effect thing. So I just kind of kept working at it and yeah, it’s basically basically it was just it wasn’t anything special, just that I kind of correctly identified where my talents best fit at Northwestern and kind of just went to go from there.

Patrick Andres (anndris) was also a member of the class of 2023, but ended up graduating with the Class of 2022. Much like Olinger, Andres credits his time at campus publications with helping make him who he is today. For Andres specifically, he basically went from illustrious publication straight to illustrious publication. During his undergraduate career, he wrote for the Daily Northwestern, and after a brief stint at the Toledo Blade, now works for Sports Illustrated. While he did learn a lot about the industry and writing at the Daily, the lessons he treasures most are ones that came outside the field of journalism proper.

PATRICK ANDRES: I almost think I learned more of how to be…how to be a human being than I did, than I did a journalist with the Daily and I, and I learned a lot about being a journalist at the Daily. Covering, covering football and covering men’s basketball and various other sports. I think that…I think that that’s the case for a lot of different publications. And I think, I think we’re…we’re blessed in that regard to have all these different publications from The Daily, Inside NU, NBN WNUR, more, more more specialized publications that are escaping me at the moment. But I think, I think yeah, that’s definitely one of the…one of the…one of the draws of Northwestern for me. And my time with the daily, it was special, I’ll always treasure it. 

Both Andres and Olinger also talked about the networks they were able to form while at Northwestern. They both believe that Northwestern was the right choice for them because Medill was able to provide something they’ve needed in their professional careers.

ANDRES: I knew I was interested in eventually getting to Sports Illustrated. And I knew that, I knew people that if I needed someone to vouch for me, within Sports Illustrated, there were people there. I knew people I knew from Northwestern. And I think that has remained the case, is that I feel like I have connections in a lot of different places inside and outside the journalism industry. I think it has, it has provided a sense of security in that regard, just knowing that I think again, it goes back to kind of the shared experience of Medill, the shared experience of looking for jobs in journalism, which can be scarce, I think.

While the people were a key part of Olinger’s college experience, Medill’s biggest aid to him was its platform. As he explains, being able to write at a well-known school under a well-known program enabled him to more easily find professional opportunities.

OLINGER: Northwestern does, like because it’s a good school with a good rep, it has these resources, you’re being given a platform…No one really knows anyone’s internal talent level, knowledge, what they’re capable of. What’s different, what the differences we can see is that certain platforms are bigger than others. Northwestern did offer that to me where it’s a platform, like for me to like, maybe I’ve gone to a small school like, you know, there were small local colleges near me, I could have done other stuff. Maybe I was still gonna end up going into sports writing and maybe I still would have been just as good as, as I am now. But I doubt people would have recognized it as much if I was just talking about like a local, like talking about a local d3 school they’ve never heard of, or you know, just not doing as much, it’s like it’s just the fact of the matter is that those things don’t get noticed as much. 

Those networks and connections can be created even in the graduate school. JP Acosta attended Florida Atlantic University for undergrad, but came to Medill for graduate school thanks to the encouragement of his professors. Since completing the masters program, he’s gone to work for sports blog SB Nation, for which he publishes lots of analytical football content. He already boasted professional experience and lots of college publication work, but Medill helped bring his journalistic acumen to another level.

JP ACOSTA: When I got to Northwestern, I got to Medill, I think the skill that I developed was confidence in what I do. I think because of what I do now — I do a lot of analytical film descriptions, content for football — I realized at Medill one of the things I was able to do was effectively communicate those things that are happening on the field. To people, to…to students who are still my friends, honestly, who didn’t really see the game that I, the way that I did. So I think going to Medill, one of the skills that I learned is just the confidence in knowing this might not be for everybody. But I know that I’m really good at this and I can continue to work in this lane. 

Acosta also acknowledged the level of access to the journalism world Medill gave him was beyond anything else he had experienced in the undergraduate world. 

ACOSTA: I think the first thing that I would say is it gives you incredible access to the world of journalism, not only the individual — like here’s the things that you’re going to be honing and refining. Like I said, there’s video, audio, print, you can do so many different things in the grad school, in grad school, but I think it’s more just the, the access to all the alumni, the alumni networks, the people who are well connected in the industry. And you’re gonna you’re more than likely going to find someone who does the same thing that you do. And you can kind of connect with them and be able to talk with them. The professors are all, have extreme, extremely high amounts of experience. And you’re never going to feel alone walking through the world of journalism. 

Indeed, that sense of community has remained with these sports journalists long after they marched back through the arch. All of them treasure their time at Northwestern and remember it very fondly. Whether it was covering sports or just being around fellow students, their time on campus holds some of the highlights of their lives thus far. For Andres specifically, it’s an experience he’s done his best to keep alive.

ANDRES: Then I was able to move back to Evanston for six months, last year and then and now I’m, now I’m based in Chicago Although I’m making this phone call from my family home, which is kind of funny, but I think that I always tell people I feel like between graduating early and then post grad I’ve kind of orbited Northwestern since graduating.

An orbit like that only makes sense. When you’ve been part of a community this tight-knit and talented, you never want to leave it.

For WNUR News, I’m Brendan Preisman.