Graduating EA Sports rep to leave void in campus program

While many students are just barely scraping by trying to pay for college by working in the food courts, senior Brent Coyle is getting paid to play video games.\nWhile it may be a little bit more complicated than that, trying out some of the latest video games is a big part of the job description for Coyle, the EA Sports campus representative.\nEA, the largest video game publisher in the world, is responsible for games such as Madden football, Need for Speed and The Sims, which together earn the company nearly $3 billion a year according to gaming site www.gamespot.com.\nCoyle, who has held the job for about four years, has been awarded three out of a possible seven awards by the company in a single year. Before that, no one had ever received more than one.\nHe has also used his success at IU to parlay two consecutive summer internships at the company's headquarters in Redwood City, California. \nBut with graduation approaching in May, Coyle is now looking to pass the torch.\nHe just wants his replacement to know that the job isn't all fun and games. Coyle's job is so time-consuming that he had to stay at IU for a fifth year.\n"The hardest part is dealing (with) handling school and a very demanding work load from EA," Coyle said. "However, the job itself becomes easy as long as you are organized, determined and enjoy what you do -- the rewards that come from that. If you begin to slip, I have seen reps at other schools fired just as quickly as they were hired. They either are unprepared for the change of pace and workload or aren't mature enough to handle responsibility."\nCoyle's longtime friend, senior Phil Nowak echoed that sentiment.\n"It's going to be really hard to fill Brent's shoes," he said. "(Brent) is very unique. I've never met anyone that's as responsible and reliable. He constantly has to make reports and he's constantly on the phone with EA execs. He's sacrificed the last four years of school for his career. I'm not sure he can find anyone to do that."\nAs campus rep, Coyle is responsible for posting fliers around campus advertising upcoming events, putting on said events to promote the newest EA games and letting the company know just how successful he was.\nCoyle's stipulations for a replacement are that he or she must be graduating in spring 2007 or later, and knowledge of the gaming world is a huge plus.\nCurrently he is e-mailing people who have attended previous EA events to gauge interest, but the position is open to anyone who meets those requirements.\n"The person I choose to replace me will take full charge of the program at the end of the semester, but if all goes well I will have a decision made in late March or early April," Coyle said.\nWhen Coyle was hired by the previous campus rep at the end of his freshman year he was given little advice on how to do the job -- something he plans to remedy with his replacement.\n"The best advice to them is to take the job very seriously," Coyle said. "The opportunities that are available far surpass the perks of the job ... I do not plan on pushing them into the deep end before they are ready."\nCoyle hopes to continue working in the video game industry after graduation.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.