Kyle Wood, Journalism Sports and Media — 2021
A Florida native, Kyle Wood, who became editor-in-chief for one of Gainesville’s most recognized news outlets shared his experience on how he became editor-in-chief at The Alligator.
Wood 22, an alumnus of The University of Florida, tells his story about his college experience and where he plans on working soon.
Editor-in-chief
Wood recently graduated from UF in the Spring of 2021 with a degree in Journalism. Although he graduated from The University of Florida, Wood didn’t start his college career at UF. He transferred from Florida State University in 2019. He worked with The Alligator for three years as a writer covering tennis, baseball and football before becoming editor-in-chief.
In Spring 2020, he was working as a sports editor when the pandemic began.
He started at the bottom and worked his way up to the top of the paper. Wood’s time at The Alligator defined his experience becoming editor-in-chief in two years.
“I really got to know Gainesville working for The Alligator especially, more as a news role,” said Wood.
One of his most memorable experiences working at The Alligator was covering football in the Fall of 2019. He covered 12 out of 13 games for the football team traveling all around the country. Wood was even allowed to cover the Orange Bowl which the Gators played in and won beating Virginia 36–28.
After Wood’s first year working at The Alligator, he worked with The Gainesville Sun. It was his first time working in a newsroom.
“I got to know UF a little better as a reporter and have a better understanding of the Gainesville community,” said Wood.
Experience is the Key
In the Summer of 2020, Wood worked at The Tampa Bay Times and covered the Tampa Bay Rowdies’ first game back with fans in attendance during June 2020. Amid the pandemic Wood also covered Rays and Bucs games.
“My most memorable experience working for the Times was when I talked to fans outside of the Rays stadium even though fans weren’t allowed at games,” said Wood.
Wood attended Coral Glades High School where he had his own independent sports blog writing about the MLB. He started to love journalism and began to write at the end of his sophomore year. He eventually joined the school’s newspaper and started writing for floridahsfootball.com. For two years in high school, Wood covered sports and focused on sports journalism to prepare for college.
“I knew I wanted to be a journalist and cover sports in college,” said Wood.
When he was asked about his most memorable experience at UF he said,
“It was when I was editor-in-chief and one of my reporters, Payton Titus, found out there were more positive COVID tests from the football team than originally reported.”
While Wood was attending UF, he did freelance work, working with The Orlando Sentinel. He got the chance to interview former Gator’s football player Jonathan Greenard’s high school football coach on how Greenard became a Gator.
Greenard’s coach showed Wood a picture of when he was younger in Gator’s gear. His coach told Wood that Greenard used to get made fun of and was told he would never play for the Gators.
When Wood was allowed to talk with Greenard he showed him the picture of him in Gator’s gear.
“To get to see his face and show him that picture of him growing up and telling him I talked to his coach was one of my favorite stories to write,” said Wood.
Wood is currently interning with Sports Illustrated covering sports in Ft. Lauderdale. The biggest difference Wood has noticed in working at SI from The Alligator and The Gainesville Sun is being able to work behind the scenes and see how Sports Illustrated creates its content.
“In some ways, it brings me back to The Alligator being behind the scenes and see how the magazine is completed,” said Wood.
Most people see the finished product of the magazine, but Wood gets to see from the beginning to the end.
What is Next?
Wood’s dream job is to be hired at Sports Illustrated and work as a feature writer. He values the daily grind with beat writing and is looking forward to having the opportunity to write about smaller schools, such as The University of Ft. Lauderdale and put them on the map.
Kyle Wood working at The Orange Bowl
If you would like to follow and connect with Wood on his journey his social media accounts are listed below.
