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Corona grad fired over 'State Press' incident

By Mike Price

Corona del Sol High School graduate Brian Gomez has been fired from his job as sports editor of the Arizona State University daily newspaper, The State Press.

Gomez’ termination comes at the end of a controversy involving an Oct. 18 editorial written by State Press editor-in-chief Jessica Wanke, in which she criticized the ASU coaching staff for using a corps of attractive females, nicknamed Sun Devil Recruiters, to attract high school athletes to the ASU football program.

Gomez, who has worked at State Press for the past five semesters, objected to Wanke’s suggestion that the program has sexual overtones and is simply “cute sorority girls in tight jeans.”

When he tried to write an opposing editorial, Gomez says, he was turned down.

And while he objected to the fundamental premise of Wanke’s editorial, he said, what particularly troubled him was the sentence, “Maybe rather than volunteers, we should just be honest and call them ‘hos to attract the bros,’” a statement he considered misrepresentative of the program, racist and even potentially libelous.

When his request for an op-ed column was rejected by Wanke, he says, he wrote a letter to head football coach Dirk Koetter reiterating his position and apologizing for Wanke’s editorial.

It was when Wanke learned of the apology that Gomez was fired, he said.

Koetter, in the meantime, has made it clear the Sun Devil Recruiters aren’t as Wanke portrays them.

According to a statement he released in response to the accusation, Koetter said the young women help with campus tours, pre-game functions, recruiting weekends and with paperwork, correspondence and document filing.

Koetter says the women act professionally in all capacities and do nothing more than represent ASU to potential athletes.

It was Wanke’s suggestion otherwise, Gomez said, that he feared would damage relations between State Press and the ASU Athletic Department, not to mention potential harm to the reputation of ASU.

Asked by Wrangler News to comment on the Gomez matter, Wanke declined.

“In a business, if a problem occurs in-house, it is better if it stays in-house,” Wanke said. “So my comment is ‘no comment.’”

As of mid-week, Gomez was scheduled to meet with ASU Senior Vice President Christine Wilkinson in hopes the dispute might be resolved. The outcome of that meeting was not known when Wrangler News went to press Wednesday night.

As to Gomez, who also covers high school sports for Wrangler News, there appeared to be little hope of regaining his position at State Press, even though a number of university athletics and media-relations officials reportedly support his actions.

“Right now,” said Gomez, “my biggest concern is getting my job back.”

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