Quote:
"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there." - Will Rogers
Favorite Moment(s):
Seeing our original news reporting credited on a competitor's national TV newscast because they couldn't match our information with their own reporting despite having 20x out staff and resources. That was the day Yahoo! Sports landed on the moon, so to speak. The competitor? Think four letters...
What have you done to be a better Yahoo?
I always make sure to leave some candy in the dish for the next person who comes along. And I refrain from shooting foam rockets in the sports department.
Are you able to think big at Yahoo? How?
Seriously, we only think big. When we wanted to make an impact in the college space, the conversation quickly went from adding a couple of reporters on our own, or going deep and buying
Rivals. Once I met Shannon Terry and Bobby Burton and their leadership team, it was obvious that we were an ideal fit for each other. So we got the deal done and now we're the No. 1 sports web site, Rivals is the No. 1 college site and the real winner is our users, who get the best content--college and beyond--all in one stop. And that deal gives us a great footprint for a host of other developments down the road.
What specific Yahoo! project has made the biggest impact on you and why?
There are so many. From a content standpoint, I'd say it has been a) our ability to create an original voice with guys like
Dan Wetzel,
Adrian Wojnarowski,
Tim Brown and
Mike Silver, and b) our distinctive original reporting on issues like Reggie Bush, BALCO and steroids, and the failure of the instant replay system in college football games, including the BCS Championship game in 2006. From a business standpoint, Rivals was clearly the game-changer for us and I learned more in that process than I can possibly articulate.
For more on Dave, see the
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