Bo Knows Because the News Knew

We were surprised to see Bo Mattingly of KHBS/KHOG, Channels 40/29, interrupt the 10 p.m. newscast March 27 to tell viewers that Stan Heath was coming to coach the Razorbacks.

Mattingly’s source? Another reporter told him so, and that reporter got it from a basketball player at Kent State.

It was a little vague, but Mattingly must have felt pretty sure of the third-hand information. He got Robbie Neiswanger on the phone right then and there to confirm it.

Neiswanger, a sports writer for The Morning News of Springdale, gave the information to Mattingly then as if he was calling it in from Heath’s kitchen table.

The next day, Neiswanger’s story appeared in the Morning News, and the UA had a press conference to make the official announcement.

“What it told that TV audience is we had the story before everybody else,” said Rusty Turner, managing editor of the Morning News.