Newscast #1 - Sean Lowdermilk- Spring 2023

The first time I ever stepped foot in the Coliseum was as a five-year-old kid on January 8, 2005, to watch the Mountaineers take on the St. John’s Red Storm. I watched a team led by Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnogle, two of the greatest Morgantown has ever seen, and to this day remain some of my favorite Mountaineers. 18 years later, I had the opportunity to do what five-year-old Sean could have only dreamed of… I got the chance to film my home state team on the court as a member of the press! 

It was a nerve-racking first experience, but it was a great learning experience and something I will never forget. I got the chance to meet Tony Caridi as well, and as a kid who grew up listening to Mountaineer games on the radio, it was a little surreal at first. 

I went to the game with the idea of doing a story on WVU’s new assistant coach DerMarr Johnson. I remember him being on the Nuggets with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, who are two of my favorite NBA players and wanted to highlight his level of knowledge and experience and how that can help the Mountaineers moving forward. Unfortunately, I had to make a last-minute pivot, if you will, and switch my story up to the recent career-high breakout performances from Erik Stevenson and James Okonkwo. 

My biggest struggle in putting my story together was the fact I went to the game by myself and was relatively unfamiliar with the coliseum still, especially as a member of the media. Changing my whole story last minute wasn’t as much of a struggle as I initially thought. My time with Professor Dahlia in Mountaineer Playbook last semester really prepared me for a lot of the struggles I may encounter during the writing and editing process. 

I’m glad to be back learning under Professor Dahlia and Professor Marra. Their knowledge and support are absolutely invaluable and I’m grateful for the chance to work with them. Extremely excited to get to work on my second story.