Know your broadcaster: Barry McKnight
October 23, 2008
You guys know Barry. Now, you get to know a little bit more.
1. How long have you been calling games (or sideline reporting) for Troy?
This is my seventh year. I always wanted to be a Division 1A radio broadcaster by the time I was 40, I began with a football game at Nebraska on August 31, 2002, the day before my 40th birthday!
2. How did you get the job with Troy?
I had actually been the TV play-by-play broadcaster for Troy football from 1999 on, while I was doing lots of TV work in the A-Sun, Sun Belt, and SEC. In late August, 2002, Roger Shultz, whom I’d worked with before and is a good friend, asked me if I was interested in the full-time radio job. I certainly was, so I met with the AD, Johnny Williams, got the job, and did my first Trojan Talk three days later.
3. What is your normal preparation for a game? How early in the week does it start?
I do take Sunday off, but it starts again on Monday. Troy holds their weekly press conference on Monday. I tape our pregame player feature then, edit it, send it off, get the game notes and start working on my spotting charts. Tuesday is Trojan Talk day and I assemble all my stats on the spotting charts (everything I do revolves around my gameday spotting charts). Wednesday I assemble all of Troy’s opposition information on their charts, Thursday I assemble my Troy charts, and Friday is either a travel day or a day for polishing everything up, and Saturday is game day. All in all, I imagine I spend about 12-14 hours a week on game prep. That’s for football, basketball, and baseball! I’m big on routine!
4. What made you get into this business?
I’ve always wanted to do this, as long as I can remember, and I’ve never done anything else for a living. Three things about play-by-play broadcasting still appeal to me: I love competitive sports (I’ve been accused of being very competitive myself), I love the language (my degree’s in English Lit), and I am challenged every broadcast to be as creative as I can be on the air. I think very few people have the opportunity to be as creative as they can be at their job, and I’m fortunate I’m able to be creative in mine.
5. Best thing about calling Troy games.
The people, without a doubt. I’ve had the chance to work from a lot of places with a lot of people, and no place are there finer people with whom to work than at Troy University. I hope the fans realize just how good the people at Troy are, from the administrators, to the coaches, to the kids, to my fellow broadcasters. I hope the people at Troy realize how good they are.
6. Most memorable on-air moment
The Troy-Missouri football game in 2004 in Troy. My favorite moment wasn’t necessarily Junior Louissaint’s mid-air fumble recovery and TD, because I didn’t expect it and was totally surprised when it happened. It was Aaron Leak’s 33-yard TD pass to Jason Samples late that iced it. I liked that one better because I could see it developing and could tell that, if Aaron could square up and get rid of it, it’d be a score, so I was right on point with the play-by-play description. Except I got a little nuts when he did catch!
7. Most embarrassing on-air moment
I’ve never done anything overtly bad on the air, like cuss or berate a player, but I do think, quite frankly, that I went overboard my first couple of years criticizing officials during basketball broadcasts. I’d never done that before, and never had a problem with self-control. Troy was playing basketball at Stetson one year, and a call went against the Trojans and I theatrically threw my hands up in the air in disbelief. An elderly gentlemen in a wheelchair who was a Stetson fan rolled up beside me during a break and, in a very nice nonthreatening way, told me that I was distracting him and could I please concentrate on just broadcasting the game. I never knew what that man’s name was, or the outcome of the game, but I was so embarrassed, and have tried manfully never to do that again. It was a good lesson.
8. Best place you’ve called a game
Nebraska, with Ohio State a close second. Nebraska’s setup made us feel like we were broadcasting from a five-star hotel, and the people were fantastic. I half-expected to see a mint on my chair when we got there.
9. Worst place you’ve called a game
Troy-Utah State late in 2003, I believe, when old Memorial Stadium was being prepared for the renovation. That was the game when it had been raining hard and Heyward Skipper dove for a pass in the corner of the end zone, where there was nothing but a hill of red clay. He slid in to the hill face first and came out literally covered head-to-toe in clay. Roger Shultz was working with me out of a tent on the concourse, and it was raining and windy, and the tent flaps kept whipping open and we were worried that our equipment would fritz out and electrocute us. Wet, cold, dirty, and Troy lost in overtime, too.
10. How does Troy’s setup compare with the rest of the conference?
The best, and it’s not close. Middle Tennessee was very good until they swapped out radio booths so they could squeeze in another skybox. Then the comparisons drop off significantly. Troy’s is the best and, if you polled the other broadcasters in the league, every one of them would say the same thing, trust me.
