Chris Solari named Michigan State beat writer

Chris Solari has joined the Detroit Free Press as its Michigan State beat writer. His work will continue to appear in Lansing State Journal.

For the last 10 years, Solari has helped provide award-winning coverage for the LSJ, most recently as the sports storyteller with an emphasis on long-form reporting and multimedia projects. His work includes in-depth pieces onBobby Williams, Mark Dantonio, John Smoltz, the1974 MSU-Ohio State football game and even a competitive eater who downed 26 hot dogs in 10 minutes (check out his video).

Solari, an MSU alumnus, replaces Joe Rexrode, who left in April to be a sports columnist for the Tennessean in Nashville. After Rexrode’s departure, Solari handled the duties of an MSU beat writer for the Free Press and State Journal for a few months, taking a lead role on coverage of spring football, recruiting and the NFL and NBA drafts. His name should be quite familiar to many of you. (The Free Press and Lansing State Journal are owned by Gannett and often share content.)

Solari has Motor City roots. He was born in Dearborn and lived on Whittaker Street in Detroit. His aunt lived on Navy Street. He moved to Butler, Pa., north of Pittsburgh, when he was 2 and lived there until he returned to Michigan for college.

Like many Free Press staffers, Solari got his start at the State News, MSU’s student newspaper, where he was a reporter, editor and the editor-in-chief in (1994-97).

He moved on to be a sports correspondent at the Lansing State Journal, part-time online news editor at MLive, sports reporter/interim sports editor at the Northern Virginia Daily, sports reporter at the Potomac News and sports reporter at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was the primary South Dakota State beat writer at the Argus Leader, covering football, men's and women's basketball, non-revenue sports and administrative issues. He has won numerous awards for his work in South Dakota and later in Michigan.

His official start date is being worked out, but he’ll be on staff in time to set up the Spartans’ Sept. 2 football season opener.

You can reach Solari via email at csolari@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter at@chrissolari.