Thursday, October 13, 2022
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | [email protected]
Opportunities. Guidance. Connectivity. Experience.
Four phrases used to explain OSU’s School of Media and Strategic Communications (SMSC) sports media program by 4 of its members: a professor who helped begin
the program, a sports announcer nicknamed “The Voice of the Cowboys” and two award-winning
college students.
The program is the primary stand-alone sports media diploma amongst NCAA-FBS member establishments,
and its success is obvious within the 364 graduates it has produced since starting in
2010. Recently, the program has been seen by nationwide organizations such because the
Sportscasters Talent Agency of America (STAA), a pacesetter in sports broadcasting expertise
recruitment and job placement. STAA ranked OSU’s sports media degree program ninth greatest within the nation this 12 months, putting the program greater than many different bigger
universities.
The thought to begin the sports media program started in earnest in 2007 when SMSC professor
Dr. John McGuire helped kind the annual Sports Media Camp. The demand from camp attendees and SMSC college students for a sports media diploma was overwhelming,
McGuire recalled. Along with former SMSC director Dr. Tom Weir and former assistant
professor Marc Krein, McGuire initiated the program in 2010. It has since grown to
embrace numerous sources for college students, together with two specializations — sports journalism
and sports digital manufacturing — and a graduate diploma in mass communication with a
specialization in sports communication.
“It’s the chance to do absolutely anything — whether or not practising play-by-play
expertise, reporting for the O’Colly or working for the Poke Report, O’Colly Media and
OState TV,” McGuire mentioned. “A whole lot of this recognition comes all the way down to the truth that we’ve
had profitable graduates. We have folks in among the prime tv markets in
the nation and content material creators in among the main universities within the nation.”
In addition to alumni, McGuire highlighted present OSU pupil Grayson Singleton.
The junior works for Triple Play Sports doing play-by-play of Perry High School soccer
and is a sports anchor for O’Colly TV.
“Opportunity, there’s a lot of it if you really want to do stuff,” mentioned Singleton,
who has received two Oklahoma Broadcast Educators Association (OBEA) awards in sportscasting.
“Faculty, advisors and mentors will be like, ‘OK, you’ll be able to go do that or go speak to
this particular person,’ It’s actually cool. And should you do a very good job, they’re like, ‘OK, right here,
we’ll give your contact to this particular person,’ after which issues occur.”
McGuire mentioned they have fun when their college students are employed professionally and use them
as sources to assist different college students. He mentioned they need to construct a community of assist
from which future graduating courses will profit. That assist contains professors.
Dave Hunziker, SMSC professor and play-by-play announcer for OSU soccer and males’s
basketball, has a unique title at OSU: The Voice of the Cowboys. Hunziker’s play-by-play
presence permits college students to see their professor name main video games in particular person.
“Working within the enterprise, as quickly as I stroll out of the classroom, I’m again in my different
world, which I believe helps college students have an actual grasp as to what’s going on and what
to anticipate as soon as they graduate,” Hunziker mentioned.
Hunziker at an OSU Basketball recreation. RIGHT: Students Ryan Breedan and Grayson Singleton
at a Blackwell High vs. Perry High soccer recreation.
He added that SMSC college students get job opportunities from a number of departments at OSU.
“I think our success is because of connectivity with our athletic department,” Hunziker
mentioned. “I believe there’s plenty of real-life expertise general with sports, media relations
and numerous social media endeavors the place plenty of college students are concerned. There are
plenty of children going out doing highschool play-by-play and simply grabbing opportunities.
Also, all of the professors have considerably latest, if not ongoing, real-world expertise
within the enterprise. So what we inform them is relevant proper now.”
A pupil who has taken benefit of opportunities is OSU junior Ryan Breeden, who
Hunziker praised for being a go-getter from day one. Breeden has received three OBEA awards
for sports reporting with the O’Colly and Pokes Report and presently works for Triple
Play Sports doing play-by-play of Blackwell High School soccer.
“Oklahoma State may be very a lot on board with getting their college students the internships
they should assist them get that have,” Breeden mentioned. “You have the educational
facet the place something within the classroom is essential. But then, on this main, it’s
necessary to get that have.”
This summer time, Breeden was the play-by-play announcer for a collegiate baseball Summer
League Team — the Pierre Trappers — in Pierre, South Dakota, the place he received the Expedition
League Broadcaster of the Year award.
“I learned a ton this summer,” Breeden mentioned. “It was two months of chaos and every part
in between, and I got here out on the opposite facet feeling like I realized lots.”
Summing up the program, sports media pupil Singleton mentioned it’s about recognizing
the nice sources the program provides.
“They promote us very, very well,” Singleton mentioned. “If you do your job in school, if
you do good work exterior, if they will see you’re actually anyone that works they’re going to
promote you and inform a bunch of individuals about you. They do an exquisite job of getting
us out of right here on a very good foot. That’s in all probability the most effective factor about this program.”
To be taught extra in regards to the SMSC sports media program at OSU, go to media.okstate.edu.
Story By:
Kelli Leech, CAS graduate pupil | [email protected]
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