The wave report...

[waveclem]

The guy who does "The wave report" just tweeted "Tommy Tuberville left Texas Tech for Cincinnati because the Big East got a lot more respectable by adding #Tulane. " Don't know how anyone would still give their money to this guy to read up on practice reports. He runs a RECRUITING website and doesn't do any recruiting stories on potential prospects. If it seems like I'm bashing guy, well I am. I was a member of that site for a year and never complained about how bad the site was cuz I felt like he was trying his best. Now I'm seeing him putting down the team people pay him to get coverage on. Screw him.

[Highwave]

The guy is a plug. He was exposed last year during Big XII rumors. He brings virtually nothing to the table.

[waveclem]

I miss Kushner running that site. Him and that guy Joe Kennedy (rest in peace) literally built that site from nothing to a pretty damn good bargain. I remember they use to have new stories up of potential recruits every other day atleast. Dexter McCoil, Chad Boyd, Kenny Cain..... alll guys they interviewed and wrote up great stories on. Wish we still had something like that.

[greenphantom]

Agree on the wave report site. It was great before kushner left. I cancelled my subscription after the Big 12 rumors were going around. Why am I going to pay $10/mth to basically have some goober with zero inside knowledge tell me that I'm an idiot for thinking Tulane has any chance to ever get into a better conference.

[golfnut69]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... i-bearcats

Texas Tech...call Kliff Kingsbury...your former QB and the OC at both Houston and Texas AM !!!!!!!!!!!

[tnelly15]

Guerry Smith? Yea, he's pretty worthless.

[DrBox]

FWIW, Kushner did a tweet that was worse on the subject (and Guerry's was bad).
The big shortcoming of that site under either Kushner/Kennedy or Smith is that they have really no access to inside information.
I think that's because none of the publishers are really Tulane fans so they don't develop it. They could have done that over the last year with a new football staff, and really the same thing 2.5 years ago for basketball.

[waveclem]

Have to disagree with you Box. I truly believe Kushner is a fan. And I didn't see what tweet you were referring to that was worst then Smith's. Kushner may not have had access to inside info from Tulane but then again, who does. Though, that didn't stop him from calling up prospects on a regular basis to put together stories. I recall many commitments that were heard first through the wave report back in the day.

[Wavetime]

Kushner broke the Big East story. I believe he has connections.

[DrBox]

Kushner broke the Big East story. I believe he has connections.

He absolutely did not break the Big East story. Tammy had it before him. He kept saying he doesn't believe it because of his conversation with Cowen earlier in the year. But really no one broke that story - Dickson and Cowen just started leaking it Tuesday morning.
The only person who came close was the guy a few days before who said don't be surprised if they reach out to Tulane.


Kushner put a picture of the crowd in Fogleman before the Navy game on twitter, with something like "Big East Basketball".

[capwave]

I have had many issues with G. Smith in the past about his lack of coverage on recruiting and in general, all Tulane athletics. But this tweet is too much for me. I won't be paying for that site anymore. He can try to explain his tweet all day long, but that was a shot at Tulane. When I complained to him earlier in the year about his pathetic coverage, all he had to say was why was I hatin' on him. If that's how he wants to look at it, that's on him.

[DrBox]

The Editor of the Hullaballoo is another one who needs to go.
My guess he's a LSU fan who went to Tulane for an academic upgrade.

[Scott Kushner]

Just a quick explanation from my end on things, and I'm happy to respond to any and all feedback. First off, thanks so much for the kind words from those who had them.

In Guerry's defense, it takes a lot of time to run a successful news-based subscription site, and with a fan base of Tulane's size, the benefits are scarce. As publisher, I grew the site from about 10 subscribers to 300 - the fastest Rivals site growth in Conference USA over that span - but still couldn't cover daily life expenses. Guerry is trying to balance a few different jobs and is great at comprehensive practice reports and team coverage, but admits he struggles to keep his finger on recruiting at all times. Covering recruiting is a time consumer and relies on call volume, which is frustrating when the revenue is minimal. I also understand why someone wouldn't want to pay for a site he doesn't think is providing comprehensive coverage, so it's a chicken-and-egg situation.

As for Dr. Box's comments, Tammy herself would tell you she didn't break the Big East news (although she knew the info first, it wasn't reported because the T-P's sourcing requirements sometimes slows reporters down). If you check the twitter timelines, I was the first to report Tulane is joining the league and it was re-tweeted and commented on 300-plus times. In fairness to your comment, you're correct because it wasn't a big deal, since Tulane announced a press conference and it was widely reported by a slew of reporters within 20 minutes or so of the initial tweet. I also admitted early that morning (once I arrived back in the country and checked around) the situation with Cowen and the Big East had clearly changed and my initial impressions were dead wrong. It happens and I take responsibility for it.

If you don't think I have any inside information, that's fine. In my defense, though, here are some large-scale, non-recruiting stories I unequivocally broke in the past four years.

- Tulane football stadium plans
- Dave Dickerson firing
- Ed Conroy hiring
- Hertz practice facility plans

As for any sort of slam on Tulane, the crowd at that Navy game was a perfect illustration of why people are befuddled by Tulane's selection in the Big East. Five minutes before tipoff, I counted 200 people in attendance at Devlin Fieldhouse, took a picture and tweeted "#BIGEAST basketball!!". I thought it was a perfect image to capture how Tulane has killed off its fanbase through persistent losing and mistreatment over the past decade. I'm not sure what you perceived it to be.

I'm happy to discuss any and all complaints about my coverage, but I'll also stand up for myself when I disagree with comments. I take the thoughts' of readers very seriously.

Thanks,
Scott

[tpstulane]

Scott you're the best! Thanks for your contribution both here and at the Advocate! We are lucky to have someone like yourself covering the Wave!

[DrBox]

As for any sort of slam on Tulane, the crowd at that Navy game was a perfect illustration of why people are befuddled by Tulane's selection in the Big East. Five minutes before tipoff, I counted 200 people in attendance at Devlin Fieldhouse, took a picture and tweeted "#BIGEAST basketball!!". I thought it was a perfect image to capture how Tulane has killed off its fanbase through persistent losing and mistreatment over the past decade. I'm not sure what you perceived it to be.


Thanks,
Scott

Then say that, Scott. Put that (see what happens when you ignore your programs) as your comment/hashtag. But the way you wrote it, you were mocking the Tulane addition. Most of these reporters act like that attendance and our current record is historical reality for Tulane, when it isn't. They pick up your tweet, and it goes to thousands of people.
I apologize about messing up your timing of the BE story. You do a good job covering Tulane, and I mean that.
Here's a suggestion for investigative reporting - find out what's wrong with our basketball team. It's probably internal, because it's the same players playing much worse. Also, why hasn't he hired a young energetic recruiter when staff openings occur.

[Scott Kushner]

Understood and fair point. Twitter is such a strange place for reporters, straddling the line between being interesting and classically professional is difficult. I could certainly understand how that came off as a pot-shot, but it really was a very sobering scene just a few days after the Big East announcement. It shows that things are far from fixed at Tulane, and it's going to be a consistent embarassment for the school if crowds of fewer than 1,000 people show up for Big East games.

As far as the investigative side, there's certainly something to look into with the basketball team. Unfortunately, since I'm also carrying a full-time job it's hard to get to practice and get a good feel for what's happened to them on a day-in, day-out basis. As far as recruiting, Ronnie Hamilton played a large role and I'm told he was the lead recruiter on Tarrant. Losing him to Houston hurts even more now, that the two schools will be in the same league.

-Scott

[jonathanjoseph]

As for any sort of slam on Tulane, the crowd at that Navy game was a perfect illustration of why people are befuddled by Tulane's selection in the Big East. Five minutes before tipoff, I counted 200 people in attendance at Devlin Fieldhouse, took a picture and tweeted "#BIGEAST basketball!!". I thought it was a perfect image to capture how Tulane has killed off its fanbase through persistent losing and mistreatment over the past decade. I'm not sure what you perceived it to be.


Thanks,
Scott

Then say that, Scott. Put that (see what happens when you ignore your programs) as your comment/hashtag. But the way you wrote it, you were mocking the Tulane addition. Most of these reporters act like that attendance and our current record is historical reality for Tulane, when it isn't. They pick up your tweet, and it goes to thousands of people.
I apologize about messing up your timing of the BE story. You do a good job covering Tulane, and I mean that.
Here's a suggestion for investigative reporting - find out what's wrong with our basketball team. It's probably internal, because it's the same players playing much worse. Also, why hasn't he hired a young energetic recruiter when staff openings occur.

Except there's a 140 character limit and in that case a picture told 1000 words. Yes it is true that when you add all the explanations and caveats things may not look as bad, but the fact is that, nationally, we are a joke right now. That's neither Scott nor Guerry's fault.

As I often say, please direct your anger at those responsible. When a picture shows a positive story about Tulane athletics, that picture will get retweeted and that message will be propagated. Until then, stop shooting the messenger.

[thebiggreenegg]

I have had many issues with G. Smith in the past about his lack of coverage on recruiting and in general, all Tulane athletics. But this tweet is too much for me. I won't be paying for that site anymore. He can try to explain his tweet all day long, but that was a shot at Tulane. When I complained to him earlier in the year about his pathetic coverage, all he had to say was why was I hatin' on him. If that's how he wants to look at it, that's on him.

I agree with you. I don't know why anyone would pay money to a site whose primary focus should be inside recruiting news when we can all read rehased information from a multitude of sources. It's now become a waste of money.

[AugWave]

Yeah, that site is pretty wack now. A shame, because I used to go there first. Now it's 247sports and TulaneInsider (Scout).

[NOLABigSteve]

Scott, thanks again for coming on here and responding to both the positive and negative criticism. I wish more would be as real as you.

[thebiggreenegg]

Scott, thanks again for coming on here and responding to both the positive and negative criticism. I wish more would be as real as you.

+1.

And Scott the site was far better when you had it. Thanks for what you've done.

[TURVS71]

Scott is a class act and it is a pleasure to have him covering the Wave for us!