Journalism at UMD

It was when Hollingsworth arrived at UMD that she heard much more about the junior standout than his accomplishments on the gridiron.

As she strolled around campus, Hollingsworth was overhearing that Odim - one of the top Division II running backs in the country - was a level three sex offender, for some actions he was involved with a few years back.

After hearing about these comments and receiving the criminal report on Odim, Hollingsworth quickly returned downtown to the Duluth News Tribune office and told executive editor Rob Karwath about the breaking news.

A major ethical decision was then on the table for Karwath, in deciding whether or not the Duluth News Tribune should run an article about Odim's past history or just save the story for the end of the season.

Karwath ran the article the next day, causing a stir in the Duluth community.

"It was definitely one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make, because I knew it was going to look like we were hammering UMD," said Karwath, who has been the executive editor at the Duluth News Tribune for roughly four-and-a-half years. "But with a set of crummy circumstances, I think we made the decision that needed to be made."

The article was headlined "UMD star convicted of sex crime in 2007," as it explained how Odim was charged in Olmsted County - in southeast Minnesota - with two counts of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct and one gross misdemeanor count of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct for an incident involving two intoxicated women that he knew.

Hollingsworth wrote the article and knew exactly what she had to do.

"I was surprised that we hadn't heard anything about it before, but I do what I got to do," said Hollingsworth, who has been a staff writer for the Duluth News Tribune for almost three years now. "We knew people were going to think that we were jerks, but we just couldn't sit on it."

And when the story hit the newsstands, it didn't settle well at all.

"I remember the day of practice when everyone was talking about it and everyone was saying 'what the heck,'" said UMD junior nose guard Tim Rahkola about the article on his teammate. "Not many people work harder than Isaac, whether it's on the field or in the classroom. It was like a hit below the belt and like the Duluth News Tribune came up here and slapped him."

Fellow Duluth News Tribune Staff Writer Jon Nowacki - who was the beat reporter for the Bulldogs during the season - didn't write a word in the article; however, helped out with a few football facts and remembers the community's reaction clearly.

"I received a ton of angry emails just like Jana," said Nowacki, who has been covering sports at the Duluth News Tribune for over 10 years now. "Isaac is one of the nicest and most well spoken players I've ever talked to. But you can definitely burn some bridges when you write a story like that."

Duluth News Tribune Sports Editor Rick Lubbers agrees.

"These stories aren't fun and all of sudden the world halts," said Lubbers, who has been working at the Duluth News Tribune for nearly three years. "People thought we were going out to get UMD, but that's not the case at all. We believed the story was newsworthy and needed to be out there."

Bulldog freshman defensive back Ryan Lindstrom has other thoughts.

"It was just stupid. It seemed like the Duluth News Tribune was trying to cause a distraction," said Lindstrom about the article on his teammate. "What already happened already happened. Isaac has paid his dues and works hard, just look at his numbers. I just didn't understand why they ran it when they did."

But the UMD Statesman - a university ran newspaper publication that goes out once a week - took a little bit of a different path on Odim's situation and decided to hold off on running the article during the team's best season in the more than 75-year history of the program.

It was Statesman Editor in Chief Ted Norgaard that heard about the situation first, as one morning he found a hand written letter underneath the door of the Statesman office. The letter briefly explained the problem on hand and after getting a hold of the criminal report, Norgaard was forced into the same situation as Karwath - to either run it or hold off on it.

Norgaard distinctly remembers making the decision to hold off on the article.

"I wanted to make it news, but it was just a really bad situation," said Norgaard, who immediately talked to UMD Athletic Director and head football coach Bob Nielson about the issue. "It was just interesting stuff, but at the time, we didn't want to run it and look like we were taking UMD down."

Much like the Duluth News Tribune after making tons of calls and talking with handfuls of people, it was Norgaard that realized in the end, that the news value of the story just wasn't there at the time.

"If we would have found out about it earlier, we would have ran it for sure," said Norgaard who has been working at the Statesman for three years now. "But we got this information at playoff time. The news value just wasn't there and it didn't way against the consequences of publishing the story."

But Norgaard, who ultimately made the final decision in the end for the Statesman, thinks back to his decision making from time to time.

"It was a really tough decision, definitely one of the tougher ones," he said. "But if I could do it all over again, I would have ran it."

Just like the Duluth News Tribune did.

And though the Duluth News Tribune's article caused a ruckus in the local community, as well as with many players and fans, there is one Bulldog lover that thought the journalist's downtown did the right thing in running the article on UMD's all-star tailback.

"I thought the article was very informational and I didn't have a problem with it at all," said UMD senior football guru Lance Allison, who has tried to make every Bulldog home game since starting college. "I think they handled it to their readers' best interests and they reported the facts. I didn't see it as a problem at all."

Karwath feels the same.

"I still think to this day that setting the record straight was the right decision," he said. "We quickly knew what it was and what it wasn't and when you wait on reporting, things just don't get any better."

But when it comes down to it, it was the timing that cost the Duluth News Tribune most.

"I wish the timing on this was different, but once we heard it, we knew we had to check it out as soon as possible," Karwath said. "It was tough for us, and the debate goes on."

With the help of Odim in the backfield, the Bulldogs ended up cruising to the national championship title with a victory over Northwest Missouri State the following weekend, but Karwath was right when talking about the controversial article on Odim - the debate goes on.