Curtis Driscoll: A Man with His Goals in Clear Sight

Story and photos by Jon Cerio

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Growing up in Daly City, just south of San Francisco, soccer consumed Curtis Driscoll. With no high school team, and the nearest pro team about an hour away, Driscoll had to find new ways to play and watch the sport he loved. Fortunately for him, the San Francisco bay area is home to many young soccer fans. 

 "A lot of people are into soccer there...you can always go down to a local park and find people playing," said Driscoll in a recent interview. 

 Most days, that's where you could find him - playing pickup games in area parks. Driscoll also spent a good amount of time watching soccer on TV. Sometimes it was American-based Major League Soccer (MLS). More often than not, he'd be watching his favorite team Arsenal, of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

Putting His Passions to Paper

Still, Driscoll couldn't get enough of soccer.  When he wasn't playing or watching the sport, he was writing about it.  

"I had been writing about soccer in various tournaments, and I wanted to take the next step and pursue a career in soccer journalism," Driscoll said. 

 He considered his options, and applied to several schools.  In his search, only one university stood out.  The Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University offered what no other school could in his search - the Sports Communication Emphasis.  

"For me it just ticked all of the boxes of what I wanted in a graduate program," Driscoll said.  

Grading His Progress

So Driscoll left Daly City and traveled across the country in pursuit of his dream.  Currently, he is in the middle of his studies as a graduate Magazine, Newspaper, and Online major at SU.  There've been some challenges.  

He soon found that the professors there are tough on their students.  They pay attention to the smallest of details on where you need to improve.  But Driscoll said he feels like it's starting to pay off.  

"I feel like I’m improving a lot, in my writing, in my interviewing, and all the skills it takes to be a journalist,” Driscoll said.

Goals for the Future

Driscoll plans to develop his skills over the next year, and hopes to parlay his experience and growing Rolodex into a career in soccer beat writing. He has lofty goals in sight for his future, but some more realistic ones in place for when he concludes his studies at Newhouse. He would like to work as a contributor and potential staff editor soon after college.

And who knows? Maybe some day we could be seeing Curtis Driscoll’s name and words in the pages of the New York Times or Sports Illustrated.

While many other journalism majors are looking to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he says he'd would be just as happy being on the pages inside. So long as those pages deal with soccer, of course.

Click here for the audio version of the interview

Full Transcript of the Interview:

Jon:  My name is Jon Cerio.  I’m here with Curtis Driscoll.  I wanted to talk to you about what you’re doing here, Curtis.   Tell me about your program, where you’re from.  First of all, let’s start off with what you’re doing at SU.

Curtis:  Yeah, my name is Curtis.  I’m a graduate student in the Magazine, Newspaper, and Online Journalism program here.  I signed up for the program originally because I wanted to do online writing about soccer.  One of the reasons I chose SCE also.  And for me, it was sort of the next step in what I wanted to do.  I had been writing online about soccer in various tournaments, and I wanted to take the next step and pursue like a career in soccer journalism, and I felt that Syracuse was the best place for me.

Jon:  Soccer, huh?  What kind of background do you have in soccer?  Did you play, or did you follow a lot of teams out where you’re from?

Curtis:  My high school actually did not have a soccer team.  So I pretty much just played with friends after school, in the parks, wherever I could get a chance to play.  My favorite team is Arsenal, and I also follow some games in the MLS.  But for the most part, most of my soccer viewing has been just through like television, going to games, and just having a chance to interact with people who play soccer around the area where I’m from.

Jon:  Speaking of where you’re from, where exactly are you from, and is soccer a really popular sport back there?

Curtis:  I am from Daly City, California.  It’s in the bay area.  It’s the city just south of San Francisco.  So I’m right next to the coast, bay area.  It’s a really nice area.  A lot of people are into soccer there, basketball is also really big.  But yeah, you can always go down to like a local park and find people playing, so it’s really easy to play whenever you’re in Daly City, around the bay area.

Jon:  I’ve been through Daly City when I went up to San Fran to visit Alcatraz and the like.  I know it’s a big contingent of sports fans for baseball.  You’ve got the Giants, World Series champs.  Plenty of sports, you’ve got the 49ers.  What makes soccer such a popular sport there?  They don’t have a pro team, do they?

Curtis:  Yeah, the closest team is in San Jose, so it’s about an hour away from San Francisco.  But, most people I know are really big fans of like European soccer, like Barcelona, Real Madrid, the EPL.  And a lot of the times they’ve been influenced by television.   It’s, like a lot of it’s now on major programs like NBC Sports, and ESPN and stuff like that.  And so, especially in the last, probably like five years or so, you’ve definitely seen like a big increase in people who like are following soccer, like wearing jerseys around and definitely like become more of a mainstream sport. 

Jon:  Now you’re a west coast guy.  We’re all the way on the east coast.  Little chillier here.  Although I’ve heard the tale you’ll never find a winter colder than a San Francisco summer.  I have heard that.  What brought you to Syracuse?  Why not a school in San Fran or LA even?

Curtis:  I originally applied to a bunch of different schools.  And I felt that Syracuse offered the best program, overall.  They had the Sports Communication Emphasis, which is what I wanted also.  A lot of the programs in my area don’t offer that.  And also locally, there just weren’t a lot of graduate journalism programs.  So for me, Syracuse was the best journalism program, combined with the sports emphasis, in a relatively urban area, which is something I was looking for.  So for me it just ticked all of the boxes of what I wanted in a graduate program.

Jon:  Understandable.  I’m in the journalism program, so I’m not very familiar with MNO.  How has that come across to you?  Has it been worth your while so far in the first few weeks of the program?  And I’m curious how the sports’ side of things is kind of standing out to you as well.

Curtis:  For MNO it’s been really interesting, but also really tough.  Our professor, I have Professor Gallagher, and she’s definitely tough on you.  She definitely goes over every little thing that you might need to improve on.   And so from that sense it’s really good because I feel like I’m improving a lot, in my writing, in my interviewing, and just all the skills it takes to be a journalist.  And I also really like SCE.  I feel like it’s one of the best programs you can sign up for.  You have a chance to cover sports.  You get a chance to interact with people who are going to be in the sports media business.  You get to hear from great guest lecturers.  You get a chance to cover games.  Whatever it is that you want to do you can find in SCE.  So I really enjoy that part so far too.

Jon:  Alright Curtis, let’s flash forward a little bit.  You are in the summer of 2017, you are finishing up MNO.  You’re going to get your masters degree.   What’s the next step?

Curtis:  The next step is hopefully to find a job as, in some sort of journalism field for soccer.  I don’t know exactly how big or small I can go right out of college.  I think it probably would depend on like what I can do here, and the amount of contacts I can get, and build up.  But hopefully, I think it would be cool to be a soccer beat reporter.  Also to hopefully maybe one day write nationally about soccer is something that I’m really interested in.  The main goal, maybe like years down the line, would be to write for like Sports Illustrated, or like a New York Times for soccer.  National stories about it.  But for right now I’m, I will probably, I think realistically have to start out smaller level.  Probably something along the lines of like a contributor, or like a staff editor or something where I can get my feet into the soccer field, start to build up, start to build contacts and experience, and then move on from there.  Hopefully I can find it somewhere in a major city, maybe, I don’t know, like back home in San Francisco or New York City, something like that.  That would be pretty cool.

Jon:  Well, it sounds like you’ve got your priorities straight, you’re willing to put in the work, go wherever you need to go.  And you have your soccer goals in sight.  Very good to talk to you, Curtis.  Pleasure to get to know a little bit about you, and thank you for your time.

Curtis:  Thank you for having me.