My mission is to give all the fans, students, and parents what they want to see: The way it is. Follow along If you want exclusive coverage and my thoughts on the Rowan University football team.
The semester has ended, and so, that means that my work on this website has come to a close. I thank you all for following me along on this journey, and I had a great time as well. Some of the things I’ve learned are to not be afraid, even if you’re afraid of the word “no”, and it is to always have a back up plan, because trust me, you’ll need it.
If there is one thing I’ve learned from all of this, It’s that dreams will never come true unless you make it come true. The only way to get started on anything you want to do is to stop dreaming and start doing. That is the biggest thing that I have learned, and I believe that this blog allowed me to take a step closer to what I want to do. Even if its just a small step, it is a step closer to where I was yesterday. If you still want to hear from me, you can follow me on twitter on my school account @connor_mason11, or even my real account @ros_mason10. You can even find me on Instagram @ross_mason10. I enjoyed this first chapter, but now it is time for to go on to the next, to continue my dream. Thank you
For months, I had been meeting with reporters, players, former players, and students. Now, I’ve have finally met someone I have been wanting to meet for a long time, Rowan University’s Athletic Director John Giannini. A long time and well accomplished college basketball coach at both the D-I and D-III levels, John Giannini took over as Rowan’s Athletic Director as recently as the summer of 2019. I sat down with Dr. Giannini to ask him about his story as well as what he thinks about the Rowan football program and the direction it’s heading in.
To hear the whole story, find out in the video below.
Rowan’s football season may have come to an end, but for Abu Kaikai, he is on the rise. I sat down with Abu to discuss his plans this offseason and going forward. Held back by injuries the last two seasons, Abu is determined to make his presence felt.
Find out more in this interview to see for yourself:
On Thursday, I got to sit down with former Rowan football player Hussain Abidi. Hussain, who still attends Rowan University, played on the football team for almost 2 years until he left recently to focus on an opportunity that has to do with his future career. When asked about his decision, he made it clear it had nothing to do with the state of the team or any ill-will towards his teammates or coaches, instead he said he had a great opportunity to take the next step in what he wants to become. Abidi said he enjoyed his time with the team but felt he needed to move on in order to accomplish the things he wanted to achieve. Here in this clip you will hear what his career is about, his time with Rowan football and his thoughts on where he thinks the team is heading.
This past week, I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with an extraordinary individual. Someone who to some extent is in a similar position as I am and who covers some of the same elements. Ryan Michael Novozinsky, who is an Allentown, New Jersey resident, is a 19 year old sophomore at Oklahoma State University, and a sports media major who not only has his own website which is featured on Ocolly.com, but his very own radio show “In The Novo”. Ryan Novozinsky not only covers the football team at Oklahoma State, but all the other teams as well and discusses them on his radio show, including interviews with guests such as players and coaches.
When asked how he got started, Novozinsky said that he was feeling “persistent” and “outgoing” one day and decided it was time to make a move. He reached out to the radio manager at Oklahoma State and said “Hey, you know what man? Let’s work out a plan where I can be on the radio.” And ever since then Novozinsky has tackled the subjects of Oklahoma State Athletics head on and according to him it is going “very well”. I then asked Novozinsky what the purpose of his website and radio show was:
“My mission is to get a unique perspective from people week in and week out from people when it comes to college sports, mostly Oklahoma State but college sports” Novozinksy said “But as I go along and gain more prominence as a reporter, as a radio host or whatever it may be, I hope to be at that national level of prominence, to gain the prestige, gain the credibility now and build up to the point where I’m having breaking news and stuff like that, which I’ve done to an extent this year.”
Because he’s 19 years old and still new, Novozinsky says it can be challenging at times, mentioning how not everyone he invites on his show always says yes, which can be real discouraging at times, in my opinion. He calls it an “adventure”, and says how most people he does invite are people that he admires and “looks up to”. He also says it is very rewarding when they do say yes, and he has had LSU football coach Ed Ogeron and Washington State University’s Mike leach on his show, two individuals says he truly looks up to, and describes it as “a dream come true.”
He loves promoting his work through social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and in some cases even Snapchat. I then discussed with him the role social media plays and how a fraction of people spend their time with it, especially with journalism. He describes the role digital media plays in journalism is “vital”.
“My philosophy about new media is that it needs to be intertwined with whatever you do. If you have an article that’s going to be posted in the newspaper, it has to mention some sort of video, digital media aspect of it. For example, If there’s an article about Fantasy Football, why shouldn’t there be a video?” He then continued “If you’re going to be in this field, you need to be a Swiss army knife. As for me, I wanna do radio, but I don’t only do radio, I do television and I’ve done all of them. Novozinsky added “People are online all the time. So for the future going forward, everyone is already on there, so why not have web journalism play a role in it? (media) So let’s just let it do it’s thing. I think, without a doubt, it is the most important thing in journalism going forward.”
Last, I asked Novozinsky what the most interesting and exciting part about his work, and he responded:
“If you have a topic, you’ll start to turn a few heads, and I think turning a few heads is a really fun thing thing because you get people who will want to come with you either to be on your show, or join your site, or even send news to you. I just think It’s a really neat thing.”
He says his favorite part about doing his show is the relationships he has made with his guests, such as ESPN’s Will Cain and Trey Lingo. His advice to anyone who wants to start a blog is to be persistent, and he says to keep going along. I myself would agree with that. Even though I am a couple years older, I really felt that I learned a lot from Ryan Novozinsky, and I hope that anyone reading this will, too. I feel that I have more ideas and most importantly, a plan. I think it doesn’t matter where you’re going, what matters is deciding to get on for the ride.
If you want to hear from him more, you can follow him on Twitter @RyanNovo62 or Instagram @ryannovo
After a much needed and impressive win by Rowan this past weekend, Rowan football was back at practice and back to work before they travel to Maryland this Saturday to take on Salisbury. I attended this practice and wanted to take some shots so i could share as much coverage with you as I could so that you’d have a jump start to see the team before Saturday and keep you posted with their week. After a high emotional week from their first victory, here are some of my photos from Thursday:
Head Coach Jay Accorsi with assistant coach chatting it up before practice starts: by Connor Mason
Rowan defensive backs ready to attack the day: by Connor Mason
Quite the playlist to start practice. Featuring some moves from #7 John Maldonado: by Connor Mason
Players in a great mood. All fired up and positive energy in the huddle to start practice: by Connor Mason
Quarterback Mike Husni perfecting his craft after a strong day against Kean. Continuing to work with his receivers: by Connor Mason
Freshman Ray Bentley getting some work in with the offense: by Connor Mason
Coaches and players on the sideline. Identifying the task: by Connor Mason
Mike Husni to Nick Mainiero for the Touchdown. Working on their timing together: by Connor Mason
First team offense excited to head for the field. Mindset of a team looking to get that second win of the year: by Connor Mason
A final view of the guys going to work with a wide shot of the field. Great day of practice and they appear to be ready for Salisbury: by Connor Mason
On Wednesday evening, October 2nd 2019, I got to sit down with Vince Scian, a senior at Rowan University who has been writing at The Whit for the last two years. Vince is in charge of the sports department for the school newspaper and has plenty of knowledge about what’s going on. I choose to interview him because since he has been at The Whit longer than I have, I felt he is a great individual the people can get answers from and is a very reliable source. I also felt he is a voice that even I could listen to, and maybe learn some things about the subject that I haven’t yet. I wanted to see if he could me just what I wanted to know about the current state of Rowan Football. Here’s what he had to say about Rowan’s Football team:
Q: Where do you think Rowan football is right now and where are they going?
A: Well they’re not in a great spot right now. They’re 0-3, they’ve had a couple of pretty bad losses where they looked really bad in the second half. They’re talking about how they need to tighten up the game in the second half and cut on the penalties. So they hopefully they think they’re going in a good direction and clean it up. What’s going wrong for them is very obvious, so I think once they fix those few things they’ll be going to a pretty decent record. I can see them getting back to .500.
Q: What do you think is wrong right now and how do you think they can improve?
A: Penalties. Penalties is really where it’s hurting them and then they’re play in the second half. I mean, you saw it against Hobart, they were up 17-3 and then ended up losing 20-17. So they really gotta lock down in the second half and they gotta be more disciplined. Not take as many penalties because that is killing them and giving other teams yards is not helping them at all.
Listen for audio below:
Q: Would you agree that they’re struggling because they are a young team?
A: I think they have some good older talent on the team. The other quarterback is a transfer and yes their back ups quarterbacks a transfer, but theirs enough guys on the team that have been around long enough like the senior captains and just the way a football locker room works. There’s enough guys that have been there long enough that they should be able to help out the new guys and let them know what is going on. Once they get their usual opponents they should be able to smooth this thing out.
Listen for audio below:
Q: Do you think if the season continues to go this way could there be a change?
A: Jay Accorsi (head coach) has been here since the dawn of time. I mean he’s been here forever. I think his record is pretty close to .500, If not .500. So if history shows anything its that they’ll come back and be pretty close to .500. Record wise their a lot like the Redskins, which means they’re gonna finish pretty average. So if history says anything they’ll get near .500 but I don’t think there’s any chance they fire Accorsi. I just don’t see that happening.
Q: Do you have any inside information on what the players are thinking right now and what is going on inside the locker room? How do you think they can come together to save the season?
A: They’re not happy. They know that they let the most recent game slip away. I’m not hearing exactly what they’re saying, but I mean they really just need the older guys to lock down and just be the leaders they need to be in the locker room and they can bounce back and have a better season.
“They really just need the older guys to lock down and just be the leaders they need to be in the locker room and they can bounce back and have a better season.”
My name is Connor Mason and I am a student here at Rowan University. My major is journalism, and I’m trying to be a writer. Therefore, I am trying as many things as I can here at Rowan University. One of them is being a reporter. For this site, I will be giving all the Rowan students, fans, and parents of the football team exclusive coverage and what is going on. I am new with this major and I probably won’t be perfect, but one thing I can promise you all is truth and honesty. I will always be honest and I will always tell it like it is. Even if it comes off as a bit negative, my only reasoning is to help Improve Rowan football and to give it any ideas I can. I will also be trying to Improve the atmosphere around it. I will do this by encouraging students in my articles on this website to come out and support. Not only will it bring a more electric energy to the team, but It will also be fun and bring more school spirit to Rowan University. For any further information, you can visit this blog weekly or you can follow me on twitter @connor_mason11. For an example of what to expect from this site, here is a link to my first article here http://thewhitonline.com/2019/09/sports/mason-no-need-to-worry-about-rowan-football-after-second-straight-loss/
Here’s what he had to say about Rowan’s Football team:
Rowan Football Insider 