Is High School sports coverage in the Toronto Star better without Grossman?

Dave Grossman left the Toronto Star almost a year ago after 30+ years at the Toronto Star. To call him a controversial figure wouldn't do justice to the battles that erupted on many a message board or on his own blog. To his supporters he was the only person who truly valued high school sports and the reason many high school athletes received any attention beyond their own school (and sometimes even beyond their own team). To his detractors he was the classic big fish in a small pond who was very difficult to satisfy and even more difficult when challenged.

One thing he implied in some of his blog posts at the Fan590 was that the Star didn't truly value high school athletics and, being caught flat-footed (depending on whose story one chooses to accept - some claim it was not his decision though he is adamant that he retired at a time of his choosing), coverage would suffer. The implication was that he was the heart and soul of the coverage and the Star didn't really care without him. Based on the almost complete disappearance of coverage for a brief time, that certainly seemed to be the case.

Fast forward a few months and things have recovered nicely at the Star.

There are scores almost every day in the paper and, when there is no space, the scores are printed at a later date. Dave Grossman frequently told coaches that scores would not be accepted after the deadline and that the Star had a strict policy of only printing scores from the previous day. Apparently that was either incorrect or the policy has ben changed to a far more reasonable one.

There is a full page of high school articles every week, usually on Tuesdays. Previously, there was usually one article but now it's four or five articles each week.

Coverage is truly from across the GTA; often thanks to the Star's many community papers in the suburbs. Grossman was sometimes criticized on message boards for being too Toronto-centric in a market where over half of the population and the high schools are located outside the 416.

The articles are focused on the athletes, the teams, and their recent accomplishments. All too often, coverage was based around controversy and regular attacks on OFSAA, administrators, and some coaches.

(One could still get their regular dose of outrage from Grossman's early Fan590 blog posts but, after an especially heated series of posts attacking one of the regions and some administrators, the blog disappeared for a while. When it was returned, it was a much milder Dave Grossman posting. Now, with the move away from high school only, there is even less vitriol.)

While the top ten rankings are missed by some readers, most followers of high school sports had turned to various sports-specific massage boards and twitter for those debates. The top ten lists in the Star were all too often based on only a portion of a team's schedule and many questioned whether these coaches voting on the coaches poll actually existed. Regardless, I'm sure some would appreciate the return of a ranking in the major sports but based on a more comprehensive set of records. Perhaps the Star should consider partnering with sites like All Canadian Gridiron and Hooptown GTA for this.

So, is the coverage better? While some miss Grossman's style I think the majority of readers like the improved high school coverage.