EIUPanthers Podcast

Episode 67 of EIUPanthers Podcast visits with former EIU cross country and track runner Caitlin Napoleoni who since her days at EIU has gone on to have a successful career working in the TV industry as a weather person.  We talk to her about how she became interested in that field, her memories of running cross country and track at Eastern Illinois and some news from her personal life which includ...

The early national signing day for football around the country took place recently and one of the newest Panthers is an Eastern Illinois football legacy as Carson Fichtel signed to play at EIU next fall.  On episode 66 of EIUPanthers Podcast our guest is Carson’s dad, Brad Fichtel a former EIU All-American lineman that played for a short while in the National Football League.  We talk to Brad abou...

Welcome to episode 65 of EIUPanthers Podcast as we visit with current EIU women’s basketball player Abby Wahl.  Wahl recently joined the 1,000 point club at Eastern Illinois and was named one of 30 candidates for the NCAA’s Senior Class Award.  We talk to Wahl about those two honors and what its like to be from the home town of Santa Claus, Indiana on this week’s episode.  

Last week Eastern Illinois cross country runner Dustin Hatfield became just the third runner to qualify for the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships during the Panthers division I era.  Hatfield will compete this Saturday at the NCAA meet in Tallahassee, Florida.  On episode 64 of EIUPanthers Podcast we talk to him about the upcoming experience, his cross country journey and his lo...

Basketball season is here as we continue our season preview on EIUPanthers Podcast as this week we bring you the Eastern Illinois men’s basketball press conference from this year’s Ohio Valley Conference Media Day.   Head coach Marty Simmons enters his first season with the Panthers returning just a handful of players including post player Sammy Friday IV, who also participated in this year’s even...

Basketball Season is just around the corner and the next two weeks of EIUPanthers Podcast will be dedicated to Panthers round ball as we bring you the recent Ohio Valley Conference Media Day sessions for both teams. With an exhibition game on Nov. 3, we will start with the EIU women’s team this week.  Participating in OVC Media Day for EIU women’s basketball this year was head coach Matt Bollant a...

Episode 61 of EIUPanthers Podcast  wraps up our EIU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2021 series with former Panthers soccer player Devon Bissell.  Bissell was a three-year member of the Panthers team who helped EIU advance to back-to-back NCAA College Cup appearances during her final two seasons in Charleston.  She was a multiple time All-OVC selection and the OVC Player of the Year during one sea...

Episode 60 of EIUPanthers Podcast continues our Class of 2021 Hall of Fame series with Todd Moroney.  Moroney was a multiple-time All-Conference selection in both track and cross country running for the Panthers during the mid-1990’s.  Moroney talks about winning conference titles as a member of both the Mid-Continent Conference and Ohio Valley Conference in the steeplechase in addition to being j...

Episode 59 of EIUPanthers Podcast continues our EIU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2021 series with the third of our five inductees, former EIU volleyball head coach Betty Ralston.   Ralston coached the Panthers for 16 seasons posting seven 20+ win campaigns and coaching numerous All-Conference players including two players of the year.  We talk with Ralston about her start in the coaching busine...

Episode 58 of EIUPanthers Podcast continues our series with members of Eastern Illinois Class of 2021 Athletic Hall of Fame.   Our guest today is former Ohio Valley Conference pitcher of the year Amber May.  During three seasons in the circle for EIU, May became one of the most dominant pitchers in school history ranking in the single season and career top five for several pitching categories.  We...

Episode 57 of EIUPanthers Podcast as this week we begin our series with the Eastern Illinois Hall of Fame Class for 2021.  Reynae Hutchinson was a standout performer in two sports during her time at Eastern Illinois.  She was a multiple time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection as a member of both the Panthers volleyball and softball teams.   She would finish her career in both sports ranked in th...

Episode 56 of EIUPanthers Podcast,as we continue our series with new Eastern Illinois head coaches and visit with Tyler Donges who was recently hired as the head coach for the Panthers men’s and women’s swim program.   Donges was a diver at the club level and brings with him some extensive experience coaching at the club and high school level.  Most recently he served as the head coach at Anderson...

This week on episode 55 of EIUPanthers Podcast we visit with former Eastern Illinois men’s soccer player Neil Swindells.  Swindells played soccer for the Panthers in the early 1980’s alongside some of the great goal scorers in program history.  Swindells helped set up many of those goals as he ranks second on the EIU career assists list.  Since his playing days on the pitch, Swindells has gone on...

Episode 54 of EIUPanthers Podcast as this week we introduce fans to one of the Panthers newest head coaches, Keith Roberts, the new EIU Director of Track and Field.  Roberts comes to Eastern Illinois following a successful stint as an assistant coach at ACC member Pittsburgh.  Roberts talks about his experiences at Pitt and his other coaching stops on today’s episode in addition to talking about h...

Welcome to episode 53 of EIUPanthers Podcast.  With the ever changing landscape in college athletics, our guest this week is well versed on the topic as we visit with Angie Jabir.   Jabir, then Angie Russell, played basketball at Eastern Illinois before a career as a college basketball coach and now as the senior associate athletic director & senior woman administrator at Siena College.  During ou...

Episode 52 of EIUPanthers Podcast visits with one of the newest members of the Eastern Illinois staff as our guest is women’s tennis coach Ross Sons.   Ross comes to EIU following a recent stop as the head coach at NCAA Division II member Mars Hill in North Carolina.  A former collegiate tennis player, Sons talks about his playing experiences and what he hopes to bring to the EIU program as a head...

Welcome to episode 51 of EIUPanthers Podcast.  On this week’s episode we talk with former Eastern Illinois women’s swimmer NelliRose Farella.   NelliRose talks about her time as a swimmer at EIU and how that helped set a foundation for many things she has since done in her professional life including writing a recently published children’s book called Nella’s Kindness Kicks.    

EIUPanthers Podcast returns this week for our second season as we debut with episode 50 in our series.   We kickoff year two with a conversation with Eastern Illinois Athletic Director Tom Michael.  Michael is entering his 8th year at the helm in Charleston having recently guided the Panthers athletic department through a year impacted by COVID-19.  On today’s episode we talk about that experience...

Welcome to this week’s edition of EIUPanthers Podcast.  We are rounding out the summer months as this past week the Ohio Valley Conference held its annual football media day with this year’s event once again in a virtual format.  Eastern Illinois head coach Adam Cushing and running back Jaelin Benefield represented Eastern Illinois during the event.   The Panthers had two preseason All-OVC selecti...

The Tokyo Olympic Games are just weeks away and our guest this week will not only representing Team USA at the upcoming event but also her alma mater, Eastern Illinois as our guest for episode 49 of EIUPanthers Podcast is Team USA Women’s Rugby player Lauren Doyle.  This will be Doyle’s second Olympic Games after being a part of the first women’s rugby team to participate in the Olympics during th...

Episode 48 of EIUPanthers Podcast talks with Eastern Illinois women’s soccer head coach Jake Plant.  Plant, originally from England, talks about his experiences as a player on the EIU men’s soccer team, how he first got into the coaching business and what it has been like to coach the women’s program at his alma mater.  

 The month of June has been the EIU Panther Club's annual fund drive with this year's campaign centered around the theme of Loyal and True.   Episode 47 of EIUPanthers Podcast talks to several EIU student-athletes, coaches and administrators as they each quickly tell their EIU True Story and how this university has impacted their lives.  For more information on how you can support the EIU Panther...

Episode 46 of EIUPanthers Podcast talks with Mike Bradd, a voice that will be immediately recognizable to Eastern Illinois Panther fans as he has served as the Voice of the Panthers for basketball since the Kevin Duckworth era and has been calling EU football games since Tony Romo graced the gridiron.  On this week’s episode we talk to him about how he got into broadcasting, some of the memorable...

EIUPanthers Podcast returns this week after taking a week off as Episode 45 talks with former Eastern Illinois tennis player Merritt Whitley.  Whitley talks about her time playing tennis for the Panthers, her love of music and foray into the music business and what she is doing professionally now in Kansas City.  

With the landscape of NCAA College Athletics changing rapidly episode 44 of EIUPanthers Podcast visits with Kiersten Klekner-Alt, Eastern Illinois Associate Athletic Director for Compliance and Senior Woman Administrator.  Klekner-Alt talks about changes in NCAA legislation and the impact it is having on programs and how that makes her job in the compliance world very interesting at this time.  A...