Persons of Interest

Paul Oren, of the Victory Bell , and lecturer at Valparaiso University shares his experiences and insights covering Valpo athletics and his journey in sports journalism. From starting at the Northwest Indiana Times to launching his own platform on Substack, Oren discusses the challenges and joys of covering high school and college sports, the impact of the pandemic on his career decisions, and his...

Mike and Derrick discuss the challenges and rewards of working in college sports, balancing family life with professional commitments, and Mike's love for bobblehead collecting. Mike expresses his dedication to team sports, reflects on his 20-year career, and emphasizes the importance of relationships in shaping his journey in sports communication. Follow Mike on Twitter/X: @ISU_mcwilli Mike’s...

Chris shares his unique journey from hosting a college radio show to starting his own podcast, originally called 'Offstage Radio,' later evolved into 'Mad Props.' He explains his shift from a rigid, question-answer format to a more conversational and organic approach to podcasting. Chris also talks about the importance of engaging social media platforms in promoting podcasts. Chris...

Steve's Bio from wwuowls.com: Steve Wilson joins WWU from Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas, where he has led the athletic department since 2019. Under his leadership, the Coyotes twice won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Commissioner's Cup, in 2020 and 2021, and won seven KCAC championships. Kansas Wesleyan also grew its athletic department under Wilson's directio...

In this podcast, Martin talks about the Morning Grind and his radio experiences, the relationships he's developed with various coaches and athletes his own podcast projects and more. Martin's bio from Fox2Now.com : Martin Kilcoyne is the Sports Director at FOX-2,  a position he’s held since 2002.   He joined the station as a Sports Reporter in July, 1997. He is a 5-time Emmy Award winner,...

I didn't realize it until Shelby said it while we were recording, but I've known her for 10 years now. This episode is a little different because I'm having a conversation with someone that I know but we still discuss some things about each other that we didn't know. Shelby works at Baylor University in the athletic department, serving as director of communications. We spend some t...

In this special episode, Derrick is joined by fellow Missouri State alums Kevin Agee, Kevin Grogan, and former Bears Basketball player Anthony Shavies. Their discussion focuses on the 2005-06 Missouri State Men's Basketball team that was left out of the NCAA tournament with a 21 RPI. This episode was inspired by Wyatt Wheeler's series about the 2005-06 Missouri State Basketball season.

I think of Corey Riggs as a "swiss army knife" of sports broadcasting. He has experience on TV and radio, on and off the screen, in front of and behind the camera. From his own Twitter/X bio, he is a "Sports Announcer/Prod/Dir in SWMO. Proud Webb City native & Missouri State grad (SMSU on my diploma). Find me on ESPN3, MC22, MAVTV, Missouri State radio & more" In this e...

Eric's bio via NABC.com Eric Wieberg joined the NABC staff in May 2016. As Director of Communications and Digital Media and as the primary NABC spokesman, Eric leads all public and media relations efforts for the NABC including strategic messaging, press releases, media appearances, member communication, and event media operations. He also oversees the NABC’s digital, content creation, and bra...

About Jeff Bidwell ( via RacerBasketball.com ) "I started covering the Murray State basketball programs in 2002. After 20 years of following the Racers around, I retired from my television career. Now I’m back and ready to pick right up where I left off — and hopefully be better than ever. My greatest athletic achievement is being accused by a viewer of jumping on the dog pile at the NCAA Tou...

Jim Benson recently wrapped up a 42-year career as a sports writer. He spent all of his years writing for the Bloomington Pantagraph (Bloomington-Normal, Illinois). In this podcast, Jim discusses a few moments and people from his time as a writer, including covering the University of Illinois men's basketball team making two Final Four runs, getting to interview Michael Jordan, covering Illino...

Tariq Ahmad has been on the forefront of all things sports marketing and sports management. He has been hands-on working in social media for several companies in addition to serving as an adjunct instructor in sports management. Recently, Tariq has turned his attention to the world of Name, Image and Likeness and educating others about the topic in addition to student-athlete representation. In th...

Ben Fredrickson is a sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He also contributes on the radio for The Big 550 KTRS. He grew up in Sedalia, Missouri and attended college at the University of Missouri. In this podcast, Ben shares the story of his career path, writing opinion articles, working in the digital media age and more. Read his work at STL Today Follow Ben on Twitter: @Ben_Fred Ben...

Bio courtesy of CampusSonar.com Founder and CEO Liz specializes in creating entrepreneurial social media strategies in higher education and has a passion for empowering others, which she brings to colleges and universities as the founder and CEO of Campus Sonar. Liz is an award-winning speaker, author, and strategist who was named a  2018 Mover and Shaker by Social Shake-Up Show  and a f...

Wyatt Wheeler returns for his fourth appearance on the podcast. In this episode, Derrick and Wyatt discuss the upcoming 2022-2023 Missouri State Men's and Women's Basketball Seasons and also touch on Art Hains, Wyatt's co-host on Sports Talk who is battling West Nile Virus. LINK: Support Art Hains as he battles to recover from West Nile Follow Wyatt on Twitter Read The Springfield News-Leader Spri...

Follow Joe on Twitter: @Joe_Pott Joe Pott's Bio, courtesy, SIUE Athletics: Joe Pott has been the "Voice of the Cougars" since 2008. The native of St. Louis, Missouri, oversees all communications and broadcasting operations for SIUE athletics. He is the radio voice of Cougar men's basketball and baseball on 88.7 the Sound, all home broadcasts on ESPN+ and also has appeared on FOX Sports Midwest as...

Matt Chittim is the host of the Rambling Runner Podcast, which is for amateur runners who are working hard to get better and achieving inspirational results while balancing running with the rest of their lives. In this episode, Matt shares how he got started with podcasting, how running plays a role in his life and he shares some running tips with Derrick. Matt also shares a brand new project he i...

Kevin Agee returns for another episode. This time, we talk about his career change, leaving his content strategist position at Missouri State University to begin a new role at an agency. Kevin discusses his time at Missouri State, what he learned on the job and what he's looking forward to in his new position.

Lyndal Scranton is a Springfield native who has covered sports in the Ozarks for more than 35 years, witnessing nearly every big sports moment in the region during the last 50 years. The Springfield Area Sports Hall of Famer and live-fire cooking enthusiast also serves as PR Director for Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, co-hosts The Sports Reporters on Jock 96.9 FM, 99.9 FM and 1060 AM o...

Anthony Shavies currently serves as a Mortgage Loan Officer at Central Bank of the Ozarks. His professional experience in helping others repair their credit led to a personal goal to help clients reach homeownership. He is a former Missouri State basketball player and earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree from Missouri State University. He returned to Springfield, MO after playing professional bal...

During the college basketball season, Matt Hackman spends time creating spreadsheets of interest to college basketball fans. He generates conference tournament seeding probabilities for several conferences in advance of their conference tournaments. In this podcast, Matt discusses how he started doing the spreadsheets, the process behind the work and more. Follow Matt on Twitter: @mjhackman

Greg Bussmann curates a free marketing email newsletter called "The Growth Mindset." From his website: As a curator, I aim to weed out the signal within the noise. Every Sunday, you get a carefully curated list of the most interesting content I find each week. As a writer, I try to add my current thoughts on various marketing topics to help you direct your attention to the best of the best resourc...

A member of the Missouri State Baseball program from 2012-2015, Hawkins was part of the 2015 club that won the Missouri Valley Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals. He was named the 2015 MVC Defensive Player of the Year and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. After his stint in the minor leagues, his career has now turned to coaching and he was recently named the hi...

Chris' Bio courtesy of the South Bend Cubs Website: Chris Hagstrom-Jones joined the South Bend baseball franchise in January of 2014. As Assistant General Manager for Marketing and Media, Hagstrom-Jones’s primary focus is leading the Marketing, Media Relations & Broadcast, Production, and Community Relations departments. Hagstrom-Jones was instrumental in the organizational rebranding to refle...

Benjamin Hochman is currently a sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He grew up in the St. Louis area, attended college at the University of Missouri, and has previous career stops in New Orleans and Denver. In addition to his sports columns, he has also written several books. In this podcast, Ben shares the story of his career path of journalism and writing, what's he's enjoyed cover...