The Athletic continues to justify its subscription price (in my humble opinion) with this long-form day-in-the-life profile of Nik Valdiserri, Vanderbilt's recruiting coordinator under Clark Lea. I'll give a short excerpt below, but the whole thing is an excellent, well-written piece for subscribers only.
[P.S. If you're a subscriber, Valdiserri should already be familiar to you from the interview The Athletic did with him at a conference a few months ago. Valdiserri acknowledged at that time the reality of current Vandy players being enticed away by NIL deals elsewhere.]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It’s 8:24 a.m. inside Vanderbilt’s football offices on a Tuesday morning in early August, and Nik Valdiserri has already been at work for about two hours.
The Commodores’ 27-year-old director of recruiting arrived around 6:30 a.m. and will work until about 8:30 p.m. He and the rest of his staff recently navigated the gauntlet of June — the most hectic month on the calendar due to the number of official visits — but he knows that recruiting never really stops...
No two days are the same, but last week, The Athletic had the opportunity to shadow Valdiserri and his staff during a jam-packed morning in order to get a glimpse of life as an SEC recruiting coordinator. Valdiserri admits it can be quite the grind. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m like a 5-year-old right now,” he says, giddy about this time of year.
“It’s just football 24/7...”
The Athletic (Premium): 'It's just football 24/7': A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator (by Grace Raynor)
https://theathletic.com/3491590/2022/08 ... ign=601983
The Athletic (premium): A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator [VU's Nik Valdiserri]
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Re: The Athletic (premium): A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator [VU's Nik Valdiserri]
The Tennessean is basically ignoring the fact that Vandy is heavy into preseason practices in preparation for its Aug. 27 opener. (With the single exception of Gentry Estes's one scrimmage report from last Saturday). Again today... nada.
Meanwhile, over in Knoxville, Adam Sparks is pumping out daily practice updates, scrimmage reports and player profiles in the lead-up to Tennessee's opener (which is not until Sept. 4).
I don't recall it ever being this bad. They're not even putting up a pretense. High school football is getting tons better coverage than Vandy is right now.
Meanwhile, over in Knoxville, Adam Sparks is pumping out daily practice updates, scrimmage reports and player profiles in the lead-up to Tennessee's opener (which is not until Sept. 4).
I don't recall it ever being this bad. They're not even putting up a pretense. High school football is getting tons better coverage than Vandy is right now.
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Re: The Athletic (premium): A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator [VU's Nik Valdiserri]
That's a really fascinating story from The Athletic. Thanks for sharing.
Re: The Athletic (premium): A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator [VU's Nik Valdiserri]
Regarding the Tennessean - I wonder if it's limited press access for our practices (aren't they closed?) or is it just complete indifference to Vandy? Regardless, I cancelled my subscription (again, silly me thinking things had changed) when I became exhausted by pictures of players (name the sport-season) from other schools basically always being the lead photo on the Vandy page of the online paper and the majority of the articles there being about other schools.
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Re: The Athletic (premium): A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator [VU's Nik Valdiserri]
It ain't that... all practices are open to the media!
Re: The Athletic (premium): A day in the life of a Power 5 recruiting coordinator [VU's Nik Valdiserri]
Then it must be complete indifference. Thankfully, we are getting more info from folks like you Brent, Robbie over on 247, Zemek here, and VU itself.