LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Las Cruces Sun-News sports writer Nick Coppola has covered Las Cruces sports since August 2024. Covering New Mexico State University and high school sports comes with challenges, but Coppola has proven to be the right man for the job.
Coppola is a young 22-year-old native of Lubbock, Texas and he interned at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in 2022. He attended the University of Oklahoma, where he wrote for the OU Daily Sports from 2020-23. He was also published in the Amarillo Globe-News and the Dallas Morning News.
Recently, Coppola received a top 10 honor in the 2024 Associated Press Sports Editors for breaking news in Division D. This is his third APSE honor of his career. Coppola won two separate APSE awards in 2024. One award was for his beat writing story on NMSU running back Seth McGowan. He also received one for his breaking news story on the racial comments made by former NMSU offensive coordinator Tyler Wright.
This recognition stood out to Coppola and he was appreciative of it.
“It’s not only cool that someone else recognizes your work, but other people, other judges, from across the country,” Coppola said. “It feels good to have my name next to national awards.”
Other than being a young journalist, Coppola is also autistic, but he has not let that stop him from accomplishing his goals. Eventually, he wants to cover the Super Bowl or World Cup.
“I’m very ambitious,” Coppola said. “I just want to try to stack as many accolades as I can, wherever I’m at.”
Although being young, Coppola has experience under his belt and challenges student journalists to believe in themselves.
“Always find a way to improve, look for opportunities to grow,” Coppola said. “You have to have wholesome toxicity, you got to have it in your mind, ‘you’re the best and no one can beat you.’ You are in a never-ending competition with people in your field.”
Another word of advice Coppola would give a student journalist is to build a platform through social media.
“Name value is going to carry yourself in this world,” Coppola said. “[Social media] is a big way to connect with your audience, it’s a huge part of what journalism is now.”
Coppola played sports, specifically football, as a young child. His love for sports continued, which led to his desire to make a career out of it through sports journalism.
“I just always liked sports,” Coppola said. “I knew I always wanted to make a career in that.”
Even though he has been in Las Cruces for less than a year, Coppola wrote about eventful matchups like the NMSU basketball road wins against the New Mexico Lobos and UTEP Miners. One of the most memorable games he wrote about was the football team’s 33-30 overtime victory over Louisiana Tech.
Coppola plans to make a long and everlasting career in sports, but Las Cruces will always be where he started.
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