Many times, opportunities have a way of presenting themselves at moments of inconvenience. “Right place, wrong time” is a customary cliche.
I’ve had multiple of those moments in the past in my own career, and I’ve chosen to stay put instead of moving far away to a destination location.
When I came back to the Times in 2017, it was as a news reporter, and not as sports editor, which had been my position from 2008-11. Within months, though, I found myself back on the sidelines, taking pictures and interviewing coaches.
When I was promoted to editor in 2020, we had the opportunity to look to hire a replacement reporter. My boss was surprised when I said I’d be willing to cede away the sports department should I find the right person.
This is a sports department that not only had I harnessed for nearly eight years, but put my heart and soul into countless times. I gave it possibly too much attention over other aspects of the paper.
These are the same sports pages that I grew up reading as an elementary school student, and the one that inspired me to seek journalism as a career. So yeah, I cherish it quite a bit.
While we didn’t find that “right person” back in 2020, I think we have now.
Over the years I’ve met and watched countless athletes play sports — some of them at the highest levels possible, like international hockey and the NFL. I’ve also tried to follow along as some athletes leave their game of choice to enter the real world.
Natalie Dillon, another former Monroe Cheesemaker who excelled on the ball diamond and played in college, similar to me, fit this billing. When she left for Minnesota to begin her career, I was excited to see how she landed on her feet. Everyone reacts different in this business, and her newspaper, the Crookston Times, is a bi-weekly like us, located far, far away in the boonies away from anyone she’d ever known.
Her career course was again like my own, as my first full-time job out of college was at the Lakeland Times in Minocqua, where I knew exactly zero people when I started. Eventually, Monroe lived up to the motto on the welcome sign: We bring you back.
For Natalie to join us, a few other things had to fall into place, but they did and I think this is all going to be worthwhile. She is more than capable to carry the load, following all of local teams and getting to know the athletes and coaches. Her photography skills are much better than mine was when I was starting out at age 22/23, and she not only understands the social media aspect of the job, she welcomes it. The Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other parts of that were never my forte, and in return, I begrudgingly did the minimum. The sports department is not only in good hands moving forward — it is in great hands.
I will now shift to duties that have long awaited me, but had been put on the back-burner as I was a sports-first editor. Now I can catch up on the mountain of administrative tasks, write more feature and news stories, as well as lend my hands to our sister paper in Darlington, the Republican Journal, who are also in need of newsroom help. This is a win-win for both papers.
In regards to sports, I won’t be out 5-6 days a week anymore, standing on the sidelines snapping pictures. I welcome the opportunity to be with my children in the afternoon when they get home from school, watch their games, concerts and events, maybe do some more youth coaching, and to put them to bed at night.
But if there is day where a couple of big games are going on and Natalie can’t be two places at once, I’ll be there ready to assist. So like I said, I’m only stepping back from the sports department, not stepping away.
Lastly, thank you to all the coaches, players and administrators that I have gotten to work with on and off in a number of capacities over the years — and for the readers who followed along.
Ok, enough of that, let’s start this new chapter.
— Adam Krebs is the editor of the Times and can be reached at editor@themonroetimes.com
