Changes Coming to the ‘Pound

Ten years is a long time.

A lot can happen in a decade. Aspiring young families move cities in search of career opportunities. Little girls with pig tails dragging teddy bears become teenagers with pony tails asking for the car keys. Beloved friends and family members say goodbye to one world and hello to a more glorious one. A certain football program goes from the depths of a winless season to the standard of excellence in a power five conference.

Over the last ten years, I’ve born witness to all of those things happen in my own life. I’ve also had the pleasure of walking that journey with all of you here in this digital forum of all things Husky. It’s become such a part of my life that many people know me primarily as that “Dawg Pound guy” and my good friends can’t remember a time when I wasn’t blogging for the site.

For the last seven years, I’ve acted not just as a contributor but as the site manager here at the ‘Pound. In that capacity, I’ve been responsible for recruiting talent, organizing schedules, facilitating content and moderating the site. When I took over the job from the original founder of the UW Dawg Pound, the venerable John Berkowitz, I had a mission to bring the UWDP to the mainstream and to make it the most valuable PAC 12 property in the SB Nation network.

While we’ve had our share of issues, we’ve also grown. Today we are reliably among the top 10 of all of SB Nation’s college properties in terms of site performance and on most months are leading the PAC 12 properties in categories such as unique site visits, content click-through and, most importantly, member engagement. The growth has been awesome. And though the job is not done, I think it is fair to say that we’ve gone as far as a person with my limited abilities can take us.

It’s time for change.

Today, I’d like to announce that I am transitioning my duties as site leader and managing editor to a new leadership team. My long-time partner and colleague Ryan Priest will assume the mantle of managing editor. He will be joined by Max Vrooman who will now serve as our assistant managing editor. Our excellent blogging staff including John Sayler, Aaron Sieverkropp, Jeffrey Gorman, Gabey Lucas, Jason Cruz, Ed Strong, Andrew Berg, Ben Knibbe, Rob Foxcurran and Lucas Shannon remain intact with the occasional guest appearances by Brad Johnson and Kirk DeGrasse. This transition is effective immediately.

It is my hope that Ryan and our reorganized team will bring a new energy to what is already the premier free-access Washington Huskies athletics site on the ‘net. Grand plans are already being assembled that I believe will enrich the experience of existing members and be attractive to the next generation of Husky fans.

As for me, this is not a goodbye. I intend to stick around and continue to contribute content as a columnist and blogger. And, no, I won’t be doing it incognito like Ichiro. Minny C will not be making any grand reappearances (I think he’s still banned, as a matter of fact).

So, let me take this moment to thank all of you have walked down this path with me. This job has become a part of my identity and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the relationships that I have formed with you all, whether I know your real names or not.

I am eager to see what our new leadership has in store for the ‘Pound. And I look forward to continue being a part of the best Husky blog community on the planet.