PennLive tabs new sports editor, beat reporters to help bolster expanding coverage

PennLive has named a new sports editor who will oversee PennLive’s expanding NFL coverage, maintain and improve Penn State football content, and blanket the high school sports scene across Pennsylvania.

Austin Hertzog, who has spent almost two decades covering Pennsylvania sports, started work at Pennlive last week.

“I’m thrilled by the opportunity to join PennLive,” Hertzog said. “It’s an exciting time for PennLive as we grow and cast a wider net by adding Steelers coverage to our industry-leading work on Penn State football and high school sports — all as we look to fortify our place as the state’s leading news source. It’s an honor to lead this well-run, forward-thinking team into the future.”

Joining the PennLive team to assist with this is Nick Farabaugh, who was named the Steelers beat reporter for PennLive in early July.

The Penn State coverage team is also getting reinforcements. Max Ralph, who started work in May, is joining veterans Bob Flounders and Johnny McGonigal in covering Penn State football. Ralph, a Penn State alum, will be stationed in State College.

The new sports lineup will allow PennLive to raise its game for readers craving NFL and Steelers content and coming back for another exciting season of Nittany Lions football, Hertzog said.

“Our sports team’s goal at PennLive will be to elevate our coverage across the board — from the ins and outs of Penn State football and the Steelers to the high school sports that are the connective tissue of so many communities,” the new sports editor said. “I’m excited to work with a talented team dedicated to bringing fresh perspectives and in-depth analysis to all our sports coverage while diversifying our content through use of multimedia, video and podcasts.”

Hertzog hails from Lancaster County and is a University of Pittsburgh alumnus. For the past decade, he’s served as regional sports editor for MediaNews Group’s Philadelphia region, which includes seven daily newspapers. Among them: the Mercury, Allentown Morning Call, Reading Eagle, and Delaware County Daily Times. In that role, he also founded and ran PA Prep Live, a high school sports website.

His other stops include the Pottstown Mercury, where he started working in 2006 and was named sports editor in 2013, and Lancaster Newspapers, where he broke in as an agate clerk in 2004.

He will replace former sports editor, Chris Hopkins, who moves to a new role as Director of Innovation at PennLive.

“Austin has deep knowledge of all levels of sports in Pennsylvania, and is himself a gifted coach who can help our reporters further hone and improve what is already award-winning sports coverage,” said Teresa Bonner, PennLive senior director of content

Farabaugh is a Pittsburgh native and University of Pittsburgh grad. For the previous three seasons, he covered the Steelers for the website Pittsburgh Sports Now. As PennLive’s Steelers beat reporter, he’ll be based in Pittsburgh reporting directly from the locker room, the practice field and all home and away games this season. All this, as the Steelers trot out not one, but two, new and intriguing quarterbacks in Pittsburgh – Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.

Farabaugh promises a jam-packed season of Steelers coverage utilizing all his digital reporting skills honed over the past three seasons.

“I look forward to bringing interactive and informative stories and analysis across multiple platforms. That includes your daily news, features, film analysis, columns, etc.,” Farabaugh said.

“A widespread amount of video and digital content will be on the way to help bring more information to you in multiple ways,” he added, noting: “It all ramps up in Latrobe for training camp in just two weeks.

On the Penn State front, Ralph will step in to ramp up not only the coverage of the current Nittany Lions, but also what — and who — is to come in the future through recruiting.

“I’ll be bringing a lot of recruiting content in the offseason and aiming to dive deeper into human-interest stories with the team,” Ralph said. “During the season, aside from our regular game coverage of the team, I hope to review a lot of film and talk about the X’s and O’s of the game.”

While relatively fresh from college, Ralph covered Penn State football for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Sports Illustrated as a student working as a freelancer. He also previously served as the football editor for The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper.

At the same time, PennLive’s team of high school sports reporters and photographers will continue to shine a spotlight on all the high school players who are getting ready to play under Friday night lights, and provide blanket coverage of other high school sports, from wrestling to lacrosse, softball to soccer.