This is not easy, but I feel it's necessary everyone should know.
Effective immediately, I will not longer be the IDS football columnist for the 2009 season.
Instead, I accepted an offer from the IU Athletics Department to become a broadcaster for a variety of sports. My duties will include pre-game football, halftime women's basketball, men's and women's soccer and volleyball. Some announcing will be on the IU Radio Network while most will stream on IUHoosiers.com. My spring schedule is still in the works. Also, I will have the opportunity to travel to games and call play-by-play - an aspiring career of mine. It was an offer I simply couldn't pass up.
Even though becoming a play-by-play broadcaster is my dream, I've always enjoyed covering sports for the IDS. Whether it was a beat as small as softball or a column as big as football, I gave it my all and am leaving those stories behind with no regrets. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way, and now I can look back and learn from them.
For the IDSers reading this, here's thanks for all the guidance and support you gave me. Just because you knew my first love was broadcasting, you didn't throw me aside when I wanted to learn how to improve my writing skills. I sincerely appreciate that.
And for the readers out there, here's thanks to you as well. Thanks for reading my stories and thanks for commenting often as so many of you did. Whether you agreed or disagreed with something I wrote, I still appreciated your remarks. Please, keep reading the IDS and let the student voice be heard around campus! The whole paper is filled with talented writers and the sports section, in particular, is making great strides to provide you with the best coverage of IU sports possible.
I'll see you at the next IU sporting event!
Best,
Dave Leno
