Texas Longhorns Insider

Texas Longhorns Insider

The American-Statesman’s Texas Longhorns Insiderdoesn’tjust cover the team, that personinnovateson the beat. That person files news-breaking and narrative-setting FOIA requests; deftly writes game coverage,hasan eye for angles otherdon’tsee;identifies and focuses coverage on key players each season, with special attentionthis season on Arch Manning;sources well within the department as well as the conference and the NCAA; and picks up trending topics that resonate with readers.

• Help cover Texas athletics with a focus on football,basketballand baseball, but helping in other areas as well

• Take lead on enterprise topics andpublic-recordsreporting related to the Texas Longhorns. We expect novel reporting to comemonthlyin this role.

• Monitor the junior season and Heisman chase for Arch Manning. This meanssourcing uphis family and closely tracking his movements, appearances and what the national media is saying about him.
  
  Lead the coverage of his story this season.

• Mesh on-court success/happenings with off-court developments (NIL, eligibility rules,coachescompensation, etc.)

• Build sources within Texas athletics to help break news; build sources within the SEC to help provide context to different developments or story ideas.
  
  FOIA’ingother universitiesispart of the job as well.

• Write high-interest trending briefs when they arise. The insider usually takes point on in-the-moment,social-media friendly bursts.

• Appear on cameraforvideos and other off-platform content;help record video to be posted on social media accounts;help build alternative story formats using our menu of “C2P” options

• Track metrics to ensurewe’reputting our efforts into areas that engage with the audience

• The successful candidate willhave experience and comfortability pursuing public records and source-building within athletic departments.

• Time management skills,multitaskingskillsandprioritization skills under tightdeadlinesand communication skills will be paramount.

• 3or more years professional experience covering athletics

• Experience working with differentCMSes, with video and with SEO.Experience working with datasets and data visualization.

• Strong ability to use social media and KPIs to guide decision-making on story ideas and beat coverage

• Familiarity with a range of sports and the ability to pinch-hit on certain beats with little notice

The Austin American-Statesman (), a division of Hearst Newspapers, is the largest newspaper in Central Texasandone of the largestin the state.

Acquiredby the Hearst Corporation in 2025,the Statesman was founded in 1871, is an annual winner for different statewide or national awards and has been a Pulitzer finalist.

With2,500 employees across the nation, HNPrepresentsa network of24 daily and 52 weeklypublications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate.

At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions,take actionand be inspired.