Q-and-A with ESPN's Dana O'Neil

If you read our site, then you should be fully aware -- we are huge fans of Dana O'Neil. If there is a better story teller covering college basketball, we haven't read them. O'Neil made her way to the World Wide Leader after spending eight years with the Philly Daily News where she covered the Villanova beat. She was gracious enough to answer a few questions we emailed her way over the weekend. Among the questions she answered: the process behind finding topics to write about, the state of amateur hoops in this country, her favorite player to cover, and why her recruitment to ESPN was similar to OJ Mayo's.

For more, you can find an archive of Dana's work at ESPN here or follow her on twitter.




Anyone that reads our site knows that we at BIAH are huge fans of your feature stories. You not only write about what’s happening in major college hoops, you manage to dig up stories that are well off the national radar – the articles on Corey Fisher’s uncle and the Haskell Indian Nations University team immediately come to mind. Take me through that process. How do you come up with the story ideas? How difficult is it to churn them out on a weekly basis? How much travel is involved?

I think the best word for the process is fluid. Some times I find stories, some times my editors do, some times someone emails me something and sometimes it's sheer dumb luck. It's definitely a struggle and a challenge to come up with something fresh and interesting every week. I spend a lot of time in the off-season scouring the internet and various team websites for ideas and make a list. My editor does the same. That's our jumping-off point. I also email all of the conference SIDs and ask them to tell their people to reach out to me if something comes there way. But we try to be flexible. If, during the season, someone comes out of nowhere to make a name for himself, we want to be able to find out what's up with him. I'll call the SID and ask for a backstory, go look through hometown newspaper archives, whatever it takes. The travel varies. Very often I try to partner a game with a feature, make it a two-fer. We try to weigh the value of being there versus the phone. With the Haskell Indian Nations story, I absolutely had to go to see those players and their campus. Fortunately, it's 2 minutes from Kansas, so I had a good reason to head that way.


This past season, I remember you mentioning that you felt like ESPN’s Big East beat writer. How much of a say do you have in determining what games you cover and where you go during March?

That wasn't necessarily a complaint. Great hoops, not far from home. Our editor does a great job and splitting up the pie. His goal is that each of us will get to see as many as the top 15 to 20 teams in the country as possible during the course of the season. That way, come tourney time, we have some context. This year, for example, I'm going to Michigan State at Duke. Andy will catch both of those teams for a later game. But geography also plays a part. I live in Philly, so getting to the Big East games is easy for me.


Before coming to ESPN, you covered the Villanova beat for the Philly Daily News. What’s the biggest difference between writing for a newspaper and writing for a site like ESPN? Obviously, no deadlines or space limitations must be nice. What else about your job has changed?

I'd say the biggest difference is going from a beat writer to one team to the whole country. As a beat writer, I knew Villanova inside out and upside down. I know the players, the coaches, the staff, the administrator and I knew the history. If something happened, I could immediately put it in context as to what the team/program/player had been through previously. As a national writer, you don't have that luxury. You jump in, you jump out and so there's less of a familiarity with the backstories and certainly less with the players, who come and go every couple of years. I think in that regard, the features help. When I can sit down and spend 30 minutes to an hour with someone, they'll hopefully remember me. I was really overwhelmed the first season, trying to keep track of teams that I had never given more than a passing glance to before. DirecTv helps! I also think that the no deadline thing, while a luxury, can be added pressure. I always feel like since I have the time, I ought to use it. Squeeze out every last second in a locker room to try to find something interesting or unique. Sometimes that's just going to happen but I feel like I absolutely have to try and get something more with my extra time.


How did you get the gig at ESPN? Was the recruitment anything like OJ Mayo’s?

Yes, they met me at Starbucks with an envelope full of cash and sneakers. Actually a whole lot less glamorous. I had been doing some freelancing for them prior, just a few things here and there. Andy Katz had been very instrumental in getting me through that door. Then Andy told me they were talking about adding another basketball writer - at the time, he was the only full-time hoops person - and he really pushed on my behalf. Since I had a relationship with the editors and they knew my writing, it made the process pretty painless.


This off-season has been an ugly one for college basketball, but it seems like the defining story of the summer was the article you wrote back in July with anonymous quotes from 20 coaches. Is there anyone that isn’t cheating? And, in your opinion, is there a way to put an end to this, or do college hoops fans just have to accept the fact that amateur basketball is a cesspool?

Ugh. I hate to sound Pollyanna, but I like to think that yeah, plenty of people aren't cheating, or at least not intentionally. I think people make honest mistakes, minor ones, all the time, but flat-out cheating? I'd like to think it's not everyone. I frankly think a lot of the problem right now is that college coaches are forced to deal with people who have less than the best interest of the athlete in their heart. By taking recruiting out of the high schools and putting it into the summer-league coaches, coaches who are being paid by shoe companies and sponsored on the backside by agents, we're letting the idiots run the asylum. I'm not naive enough to think that if it went back to the high schools, all of our problems would be cured, but I think it would help. High school coaches are subjected to background checks, they have to be hired by an impartial school board and have to comply with the academic standards of the school. They have some accountability.

I'm always amazed in the summer when I see 15 and 16 year olds walking the Strip in Vegas in brand-new sneakers, with some brand-name bag slung over their shoulders, having been flown to Vegas from points unknown despite having no money. That's amateurism?


If there is this much cheating going on and it is this well known, why aren’t there more stories being broken?

No one wants to talk, at least not to us. The no-snitch mentality in college athletics is stronger than it is in the streets. Plus you have to remember, I hear rumors all the time. Probably a dozen a day. But that's not enough. Before you can throw something on a national website that could potentially ruin someone's career, you have to have concrete evidence that it's true. We can't just throw it up and say, we heard this or so and so said. Even the word of another coach isn't usually enough because you never know the motivation.


One story that was broken this summer involved Bruce Pearl and a myriad of recruiting violations. You played a part in that story, scooping Pearl’s past violations at UW-Milwaukee. What goes into getting a story like that? How difficult is it to track down a lead when no one is willing to talk on the record?

It takes patience, which isn't my strong suit but it also takes accepting the fact that, as much as you are in a rush to get it first, you first have to get it absolutely right. Our editors were very pointed in what they wanted to see before we could run a story like that and with good reason. We had to turn over every rock we possibly could.


Is Jim Calhoun making a mistake with the way he is handling the NCAA’s findings?

I'm not sure. Certainly the NCAA likes people and universities that fall on their swords, but I wouldn't say UConn is being defiant and arrogant a la USC. They've admitted to committing violations. It's just a matter of whether what they did was enough and if their decision to not hold Calhoun accountable will be a problem.


We’ve all heard about Ines Sainz and her issues with the Jets. What’s your take? You’ve spent quite a bit of time in locker rooms. Have you ever experienced or witnessed something like that?

Oy. What a tempest. Sure, I've been in uncomfortable situations but none recently. I think it cuts both ways. I think the Jets acted like sophomoric twits but I also think that, as a professional, you have to carry yourself a certain way. We expect lawyers to dress and behave in a particular way and accountants and teachers. Why not sportswriters? I also think that we, as women, are doing a crappy job helping the generations behind us. Now that we're in the locker room, the fight is not over. It's our responsibility to teach younger women how to act when you get there and make them understand that, fair or not, you have to work three times as hard and be three times as on your toes as every man around you if you want credibility and respect. And if you're a good-looking women? Make it five times as hard. That's just the reality. We stick out - like the old Sesame Street song, which one is different? So you can either flaunt your differences and be conspicuous or you can do your job and be accepted for what you do and how you act, not what you wear and how you look.


Be honest: What is your opinion of blogs? What about the role twitter plays in breaking news?

Like people, some blogs are good and some blogs are bad. I think the ones who are independent, who treat a blog like a newspaper and actually research their breaking news and hold themselves accountable to the same standards for sourcing, are great. The ones who are more interested in being fans have a place, too, but they can't be a fan site AND a news site. It doesn't cut both ways. And the ones who just write random rumors without checking them or toss hand grenades at people are killing this profession because, unfortunately, John Q. Public doesn't take the time to differentiate.


Some quick hitters for you:

- Which college hoops writers are your must-reads? What about outside of college basketball?

In college hoops: I read the obvious every day: Andy Katz, Pat Forde, the guys at Yahoo, Goodman and Parrish. I also read every word Dick Jerardi, from the Philadelphia Daily News, writes. I read Pete Thamel and the NY Times faithfully. In season I jump around to all of the beat writers who cover national teams really well - Robbi Pickeral in Carolina, Mark Rossner in Texas, Shannon Ryan in Chicago.

Outside: I read everything Wright Thompson and Liz Merrill write on our site. Ditto Howard Bryant and J.A. Adande, Dan Wetzel and Maureen Dowd in the Times. I always joke when I grow up I want to be Maureen Dowd. I read Vanity Fair every month because the long stories fascinate me. I'm also an old newspaper hound. Still get three in the driveway and read them cover to cover.

- What is your second favorite place to watch a game? (We know the Palestra is tops on your list.)

Probably Allen Fieldhouse (a bigger version of the Palestra). When they get the Rock Chalk going, I get chills and I have zero allegiance to KU

- Who is the most quotable player and coach you’ve covered?

Hmmm... Joey Dorsey and Chris Douglas-Roberts probably tie for most quotable player.
Bob Huggins for coach.

- Your favorite memory?

Ugh too many. Three jump out: THE Duke-Kentucky game with Laettner's buzzerbeater. I was two years out of college and had no clue what the hell I was doing. I was only there because it was in Philly and I was working at a Trenton, NJ paper at the time. Sat right behind the Duke bench. When it was over, I walked into the media room and Bob Ryan said out loud to anyone, "We're not worthy to write this.'' And I thought, if he's not worthy, what the hell am I doing here?'

Second: 1993 Northeast Conference championship. Rider vs. Wagner. Tiny gym stuffed to the gills, with Wagner grad Rich Kotite standing in a corner watching. Press seats were on the stage - that kind of gym. With four seconds left, Darrick Suber got the inbounds and went end to end to win it for Rider and send them to their first NCAA Tourney. It was sheer bedlam.

Third: 1996. Princeton at Penn. Princeton trailed, 33-9 at the half when my husband, who works at Princeton, came in. He sat down next to my college roommate in the stands and asked her what was wrong with the scoreboard. He thought a bulb was out or something. Princeton comes back to win, 50-49. Chaos. And it was my birthday.

- Who was your favorite college hooper to watch? To cover?

Another hard one. Second part first: My favorite to cover was Randy Foye. I started on the Villanova beat the year before he arrived. He had such an awful upbringing - abandoned by his parents, grew up in Newark with a woman who wasn't his grandmother, but he called his grandmother. He was fairly shy and quite his freshman year but blossomed into the best player on that team by his senior year and a really open, easy to talk to kid. I remember his junior year when he toyed with going pro early. He decided to stay in and the reason he gave me I'll never forget: "I've been poor my whole life. What's one more year?" You aren't supposed to root for people in this business but I root for that kid every day.

To watch: There are a million nationally I can think of: Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose. But I'll stick locally and say Jameer Nelson. He was such a force on the floor, absolutely unstoppable and he had such an incredible presence. You couldn't stop watching him.