Column: Hosmer a home run hire for Valparaiso

Valparaiso President José Padilla officially promotes Hosmer as Valpo's Director of Athletics

The path was there for me to get a ton of page clicks.

Charles Small had just shockingly resigned as Valparaiso’s athletic director last March and speculation was running rampant as to what would happen next.

Any opportunistic journalist knows this is the moment when we spring into action with a juicy “Five potential hires for Valparaiso” story. I actually wrote one of these when Mark LaBarbera announced his retirement and it cooked.

I generated 59 new subscriptions after I wrote the piece on Feb. 15, 2022 and that article alone was responsible for an estimated revenue increase of $1,079.92.

Speculation sells.

Now I was staring the opportunity for another boost to The Victory Bell with Small’s resignation. (I’m still not clear as to why and how that all went down. I’ve asked ALL the questions and no one has talked. We may never know.)

I didn’t write the speculation story. I passed on the opportunity to generate hundreds of page clicks and potentially bring in more income. I didn’t do it for one simple reason.

Laurel Hosmer.