Back in November, long-tenured ESPN college football writer Ivan Maisel was one of around 300 employees let go around that company’s most recent wave of layoffs. In 2002, Maisel was the first college football writer hired for ESPN.com, and he had played a large role in their coverage since then. Now, he’s announced his next move, joining soon-to-launch college sports site network On3.com, which involves Shannon Terry (as CEO) and many others who previously worked at Rivals and 247 Sports. Maisel said he’s headed there as vice president of editorial, as a senior writer, and as an investor. Here’s more from Maisel’s post on the new site on why he made that move:
I figured out that what I want to do is to keep covering college football nationally, just as I have done since 1987. I will be doing so via a new platform. Today is my first day at On3.com, the name derived from what players say to time how they break their huddle.
Our goal at On3 is to be the college sports destination for the fans who love not just the games but the spectacle. That may be redundant, now that I think about it, but we intend to cover college sports from the end of the eighth grade to the minute that Roger Goodell (or Adam Silver) walks to the lectern to begin the draft. We will try to capture the wonder of college sports, both the wonderment (How did that player do that?) and the wonder aloud (Why did that coach do that?).
On3 is new, but the people behind it are not. CEO Shannon Terry and his team created Rivals.com. They created 247sports.com. Like those sites, On3 will focus on recruiting. We intend to mine data to bring insight to recruiting, to define and explain the creation of student-athlete name, image and likeness rights, and, of course, to better explain the play on the field, too.
There will be a difference in On3 from those sites – a greater focus on writing. We want On3 to be the voice trusted by fans from College Park to College Station, from Boulder to Rocky Top. The staff we are assembling will bring a considerable amount of talent and experience to our readers, all with the mission to become synonymous with national college sports.
It’s interesting to see another network of college sports sites launching (their main site says the launch is coming August 15). AA has learned that this one already has arrangements with some established sites, including sites covering Clemson and Ohio State. We’ll see how it does, and we’ll see what Maisel does there. But it’s certainly notable for a new site to bring in someone this well-established months ahead of their launch.
[Photo from Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser, via On3.com]
