I’ll apologize up front, I might bring up Texas a lot.
I was born in Houston and raised in Tyler, a city about two hours east of Dallas. I got my associate’s degree in history from Tyler Junior College, thinking I wanted to be a lawyer. I did well in the history classes because essays were usually a big part of the grade, and it eventually dawned on me that I was a good writer. However, I didn’t really enjoy what I was writing about — nothing new was ever happening in history.
So in 2016, I transferred to the University of Texas at Austin to major in journalism and write about sports, something I enjoyed immensely more than history. I joined the student-run newspaper, The Daily Texan, covered track and field during my first year and women’s basketball during my second.
Basketball has always been my favorite sport. I became a San Antonio Spurs fan fairly early in my childhood, just as the big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili was hitting its prime. It’s the sport I always understood best and the one I’ve always loved playing and watching the most, so I was thrilled to get to cover it at Texas. It didn’t hurt that the women’s team was really good that season either — the Longhorns had four future WNBA players on the roster, were ranked in the top 10 all year and made a Sweet 16 appearance.
That season made me realize I’d made the right decision in switching to journalism. After I graduated, I got a job in San Marcos (a town 30 minutes south of Austin) working for the Daily Record as a high school sports reporter. A few months later, I was promoted to sports editor and took over as beat writer of the Texas State Bobcats.
I’ve written on just about every sport under the sun during the past four years, both high school and college, which helped me improve immensely while working for the Daily Record. But basketball always brought out the best in me. I’d get excited when it approached and disappointed when it ended. And I always wondered how much better my coverage could get if I got to really focus on just hoops again.
That’s what brings me to PowerMizzou. I knew precisely one person in all of Missouri when I applied for this job, but I knew this would be a chance to get back doing what I enjoy most. I cannot wait to geek out with y’all about non-conference schedules, Ken Pomeroy’s luck rating, whether or not there’s such a thing as a “bad” recruiting visit and Dennis Gates’ deep, deep, deep rotations.
I’m a little nervous about moving to a new state and definitely worried I don’t have enough winter coats. And again, I apologize now for how often I’m going to bring up something that reminds me of Texas, something I find wildly different from Texas or anytime my southern drawl slips out — it’s pretty much all I know.
But I’m really excited to try something new and get started with PowerMizzou.
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