Part 1 of this 2 part Q&A consists of general basketball questions and background on Jerry Carino. Part 2 which will be posted Wed will be Seton Hall centric.
By Zack Cziryak
Tell us about your time competing on Seton Hall’s track and field team and your transition to journalism.
I did two years of cross country and track at Seton Hall, freshman and sophomore years. Walked onto the team. Seton hall was a powerhouse in the sport at that time, top 25 loaded with all Americans. It was a great experience. I got my butt kicked pretty good, but I competed at distance races. I contributed to the cross country team, but the track team didn’t really need me. I competed in the Big East Championship in 1993 and got a ring which I still own. Can’t really wear it because my fingers are too fat, but it’s a great keepsake.
I wanted to pursue journalism and knew that’s what I wanted to do and to be involved in.... the Setonian and WSOU. I didn’t have the time… I retired as I like to say, hung up the spikes after two years on the track team and threw my focus into the Setonian and WSOU. That really helped me prepare for my career, especially the Setonian.
I became editor and chief and learned all of what I really needed to know to get into this business through that experience. It was invaluable. A big thing that year was the Richie Parker scandal. We were ahead of the curve on the recognition of it. Got great coverage from the New York Times and that gave me great contacts for later on.
I had a terrific experience at Seton Hall through all the people I met through track. It was a golden era for Seton Hall sports with the basketball team, with PJ Carlesimo a perennial power, the soccer program and baseball, and women’s basketball was in the Sweet 16. Seton Hall was kind of the model athletic program for a school that didn’t maybe have the biggest budget, they were just successful in a lot of things. It was great to see it up close and be a part of it.
I reconnected with a guy who had written about me in high school during track in Middlesex County. We kept in touch… I started out freelancing high school football. Started out part time at the Home News Tribune. Eventually got the full time job. Started out covering high school sports. Then the opening came in 2003 to cover college basketball, cause I’d always loved it. In 2014, 5 years ago, I had the chance to move to the Asbury Park Press, which is the flagship in our Gannett coverage. Half news features and half sports. It’s a lot of work but it’s fascinating. I thoroughly enjoy it. It keeps me on my toes for sure.
What are your thoughts on the future of newspapers at this point in time?
The state of the industry is perilous, I think perilous is the word. It’s been discussed many times but what ails the newspaper industry is probably a combination of two things. One is a lack of classified ads, display ads, because it’s been absorbed by the internet specifically. That’s cost us a lot of money. Two, the readership, the younger generations are reading it online. People are still reading news but they’re doing it online. We put up a paywall where you get to read 10 free articles a month. Only $1 or 2 a month. Those subscriber rates and page view rates are very closely watched. The Seton Hall and college basketball numbers have been great, which is why I get to fly out to the NCAA tournament and why I get to spend time covering the team. Your reading the stories online and sometimes subscribing is important for the coverage.
We’ve been giving all this news away for so long. It’s hard to train the younger generation [to pay for news]. We have to capture the millennials as subscribers or we have no subscribers. Every year we have a round of layoffs or buyouts and you worry or wonder if they’ll one day put a padlock on the door. We’re fighting that battle now, because the current product....you’re not sure how much longer it’s going to hang out. I have developed a loyal readership base through my twitter handle and blog. That’s good for me, but the industry at large hasn’t developed that kind of brand loyalty and we’re in trouble.
Given some time, what is your opinion about Eugne Omoruyi leaving Rutgers? Do you still strongly believe tampering took place?
I was completely shocked. Got a text in the middle of the night that woke me up that it was happening and posted on Instagram. I don’t follow any players on social media with the exception of Myles Powell. He’s gotten to the point where he’s so big that you’ve got to keep track of him, especially when he was trying to decide if he was going to the pros. I like the other players to have their space without me reporting anything.
I was directed to [Omoruyi’s] Instagram account. You never expect someone you thought was all in, a captain, a leader, who played his rear end off, to up and leave on May 29 in the middle of the night. Shocked Rutgers staff and the players. It shows you two things. You never really know what’s going through a player’s head. The most shocking one I’ve ever seen on my turf. The second thing is it reeks of tampering.
Now I know that tampering goes on all the time and a majority of transfers are probably tampered with. I’m not ignorant and I’m not naive. This strikes me as particularly egregious given his profile and position at Rutgers. Discussions I’ve had with people who know more than me have kind of confirmed that. That that was what they’d believed to be the case. I’m not shocked he only took two weeks or 13 days [to commit to Oregon]. People who know more than me think he already had it figured out before he left and the [Texas] A&M visit was for show.
This was a gut punch to the program that treated him well, empowered him to play and coached him up.
I do think it didn’t help that Jay Young left in terms of retaining Omoruyi and in hindsight, because Eugene loved Jay, the players walked around quoting the guy. They quoted his mantras, really bought into Jay. He’s a terrific assistant and I think that's just a personal opinion, but an informed one, that if Jay was still there, it would have been a lot harder for Eugene to walk out the door and maybe he wouldn’t have done it. It’s kind of sad commentary on loyalty in sports. I know coaches can leave at any time… what I’m saying is that Steve Pikiell was really good to Eugene. It was his team, it had his imprint, his tough guy, scrappy imprint on it… it’s a shame what happened on May 29, in the middle of the night no less, it’s just really, really sad.
What are your current thoughts on the grad transfer rule? Does it need any changes?
Grad transfer. I’m all for rewarding guys who graduate. I don’t think it’s going to change. If athletes get their degree and want to go somewhere you let them go somewhere. The whole point of this is to get a degree, to have a college degree, and basketball as a means to this is fine. I’m very skeptical of the hardship waiver potentially being re-instituted. I feel bad for the legitimate hardship waivers for guys, but this was wildly abused the first time. When I saw Jahvon Quinerly was applying for a hardship waiver I thought it was just crazy. He’s from Hudson county and now he’s going to Alabama for a hardship after leaving from Villanova half an hour away. That’s nonsense and just opening the door for a real can of worms. I respect that players have earned some freedom of movement for sure. They should get to have some freedom of movement that the coaches get, but the hardship waiver will just be abused and an avenue for cheating, unfortunately.
By Zack Cziryak
Tell us about your time competing on Seton Hall’s track and field team and your transition to journalism.
I did two years of cross country and track at Seton Hall, freshman and sophomore years. Walked onto the team. Seton hall was a powerhouse in the sport at that time, top 25 loaded with all Americans. It was a great experience. I got my butt kicked pretty good, but I competed at distance races. I contributed to the cross country team, but the track team didn’t really need me. I competed in the Big East Championship in 1993 and got a ring which I still own. Can’t really wear it because my fingers are too fat, but it’s a great keepsake.
I wanted to pursue journalism and knew that’s what I wanted to do and to be involved in.... the Setonian and WSOU. I didn’t have the time… I retired as I like to say, hung up the spikes after two years on the track team and threw my focus into the Setonian and WSOU. That really helped me prepare for my career, especially the Setonian.
I became editor and chief and learned all of what I really needed to know to get into this business through that experience. It was invaluable. A big thing that year was the Richie Parker scandal. We were ahead of the curve on the recognition of it. Got great coverage from the New York Times and that gave me great contacts for later on.
I had a terrific experience at Seton Hall through all the people I met through track. It was a golden era for Seton Hall sports with the basketball team, with PJ Carlesimo a perennial power, the soccer program and baseball, and women’s basketball was in the Sweet 16. Seton Hall was kind of the model athletic program for a school that didn’t maybe have the biggest budget, they were just successful in a lot of things. It was great to see it up close and be a part of it.
I reconnected with a guy who had written about me in high school during track in Middlesex County. We kept in touch… I started out freelancing high school football. Started out part time at the Home News Tribune. Eventually got the full time job. Started out covering high school sports. Then the opening came in 2003 to cover college basketball, cause I’d always loved it. In 2014, 5 years ago, I had the chance to move to the Asbury Park Press, which is the flagship in our Gannett coverage. Half news features and half sports. It’s a lot of work but it’s fascinating. I thoroughly enjoy it. It keeps me on my toes for sure.
What are your thoughts on the future of newspapers at this point in time?
The state of the industry is perilous, I think perilous is the word. It’s been discussed many times but what ails the newspaper industry is probably a combination of two things. One is a lack of classified ads, display ads, because it’s been absorbed by the internet specifically. That’s cost us a lot of money. Two, the readership, the younger generations are reading it online. People are still reading news but they’re doing it online. We put up a paywall where you get to read 10 free articles a month. Only $1 or 2 a month. Those subscriber rates and page view rates are very closely watched. The Seton Hall and college basketball numbers have been great, which is why I get to fly out to the NCAA tournament and why I get to spend time covering the team. Your reading the stories online and sometimes subscribing is important for the coverage.
We’ve been giving all this news away for so long. It’s hard to train the younger generation [to pay for news]. We have to capture the millennials as subscribers or we have no subscribers. Every year we have a round of layoffs or buyouts and you worry or wonder if they’ll one day put a padlock on the door. We’re fighting that battle now, because the current product....you’re not sure how much longer it’s going to hang out. I have developed a loyal readership base through my twitter handle and blog. That’s good for me, but the industry at large hasn’t developed that kind of brand loyalty and we’re in trouble.
Given some time, what is your opinion about Eugne Omoruyi leaving Rutgers? Do you still strongly believe tampering took place?
I was completely shocked. Got a text in the middle of the night that woke me up that it was happening and posted on Instagram. I don’t follow any players on social media with the exception of Myles Powell. He’s gotten to the point where he’s so big that you’ve got to keep track of him, especially when he was trying to decide if he was going to the pros. I like the other players to have their space without me reporting anything.
I was directed to [Omoruyi’s] Instagram account. You never expect someone you thought was all in, a captain, a leader, who played his rear end off, to up and leave on May 29 in the middle of the night. Shocked Rutgers staff and the players. It shows you two things. You never really know what’s going through a player’s head. The most shocking one I’ve ever seen on my turf. The second thing is it reeks of tampering.
Now I know that tampering goes on all the time and a majority of transfers are probably tampered with. I’m not ignorant and I’m not naive. This strikes me as particularly egregious given his profile and position at Rutgers. Discussions I’ve had with people who know more than me have kind of confirmed that. That that was what they’d believed to be the case. I’m not shocked he only took two weeks or 13 days [to commit to Oregon]. People who know more than me think he already had it figured out before he left and the [Texas] A&M visit was for show.
This was a gut punch to the program that treated him well, empowered him to play and coached him up.
I do think it didn’t help that Jay Young left in terms of retaining Omoruyi and in hindsight, because Eugene loved Jay, the players walked around quoting the guy. They quoted his mantras, really bought into Jay. He’s a terrific assistant and I think that's just a personal opinion, but an informed one, that if Jay was still there, it would have been a lot harder for Eugene to walk out the door and maybe he wouldn’t have done it. It’s kind of sad commentary on loyalty in sports. I know coaches can leave at any time… what I’m saying is that Steve Pikiell was really good to Eugene. It was his team, it had his imprint, his tough guy, scrappy imprint on it… it’s a shame what happened on May 29, in the middle of the night no less, it’s just really, really sad.
What are your current thoughts on the grad transfer rule? Does it need any changes?
Grad transfer. I’m all for rewarding guys who graduate. I don’t think it’s going to change. If athletes get their degree and want to go somewhere you let them go somewhere. The whole point of this is to get a degree, to have a college degree, and basketball as a means to this is fine. I’m very skeptical of the hardship waiver potentially being re-instituted. I feel bad for the legitimate hardship waivers for guys, but this was wildly abused the first time. When I saw Jahvon Quinerly was applying for a hardship waiver I thought it was just crazy. He’s from Hudson county and now he’s going to Alabama for a hardship after leaving from Villanova half an hour away. That’s nonsense and just opening the door for a real can of worms. I respect that players have earned some freedom of movement for sure. They should get to have some freedom of movement that the coaches get, but the hardship waiver will just be abused and an avenue for cheating, unfortunately.
