Radio broadcaster Matt Coatney calls the Nebraska women's basketball game against Wisconsin on Jan. 28 from an offsite announcer center.
KENNETH FERRIERA Journal Star
Nebraska coach Amy Williams (right) sits with women's basketball communications director Jeff Griesch for a remote radio interview with Matt Coatney after the Huskers beat Wisconsin on Jan. 28 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
About three city blocks from where Matt Coatney was sitting one recent evening, the Nebraska women’s basketball team was playing a game against Wisconsin.
If he got up from his seat in a fourth-floor conference room of the Candy Factory building in the Haymarket in downtown Lincoln, Coatney could see Pinnacle Bank Arena, where he usually has one of the best seats in the house for the games in the front row near center court.
But the longtime play-by-play announcer on the radio broadcast for Husker women’s basketball can’t be inside the arena this season, and instead does the broadcasts remotely in an offsite announcer center at the office of the Husker Sports Network. This season Coatney watches the games on a high-definition monitor or a large TV screen.
You can add remote broadcasts, where some of the TV or radio crew isn’t in the arena, as one of the many ways college sports have changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many radio broadcasters across the country are doing their broadcasts remotely this season. It’s a move that helps keep the broadcast crews and the teams they cover safe from COVID-19, and also saves money on expenses.
But with the use of technology, a little luck and a good sense of humor about the situation from Coatney and his broadcaster partner, Jeff Griesch, Husker women’s basketball on the radio keeps going.
Coatney supports the decision to stay outside the arena this season. Coatney isn’t part of the team's small "bubble." Radio is Coatney's part-time job. His full-time job is as a program manager with the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles.
“When the network said we’re going to have you call all of the games from a very sterile environment in the studio I said, 'That’s awesome,'†Coatney said. “Because all I ever worry about is I don’t want to be ever the reason our team gets affected. The radio guy should not have any effect on players. I was 100% behind this, and now I’m 1,000% behind it.â€
The decision to not have the Husker broadcast crew at games was made by management at the Husker Sports Network, and not parent company Learfield IMG. But the Big Ten Conference has a rule that no radio crews for the visiting team would be allowed in basketball arenas, and the Husker Sports Network decided to also do home games offsite.
During the football season, there were some radio broadcasters who tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling with teams.
“At this point and time we don’t really see a downside to it,†said Mike Elliot, the director of broadcast operations for Husker Sports Network. “It’s upside. Our guys aren’t out and among people who are not being regularly tested, and are living their fairly safe and secure lives.â€
While some radio crews watch the TV or online broadcast of the game, Elliott designed a system that the network uses for its broadcasts for football, basketball and volleyball. Kent Pavelka does the broadcast for men’s games from the den of his Omaha home.
Elliott researched video technology used for other live events, such as auctions and horse racing, where a long delay would be bad.
So he built a special ultra-low delay server system using similar software that allows broadcasters in different locations to have the same view of the game almost immediately after it happened. With this system, no matter where the game is being played in the nation, Coatney can see it with less than a 1-second delay.
Watching on TV could be 20 seconds behind live action, which wouldn’t be good for those listeners who like to watch on TV but turn down the sound and listen to Coatney.
The interesting part about the women’s basketball broadcast is that for home games, Griesch is at the arena watching the action live, and Coatney is in a studio. Griesch’s full-time job is the communications director for the women’s basketball program, so he needs to be at the arena.
But with the technology they created, the broadcast can still work well.
"Matt is about a half-second behind Griesch, so you don’t lose the spontaneity of the conversation very often," Elliott said.
The Husker Sports Network has access to video feeds from two sources — the cameras the schools have at the arena and also from the TV broadcast. While Coatney primarily watches one sideline camera view, he usually has access to at least eight camera angles. And there is one camera always focused on the scoreboard.
And Coatney and Griesch each have a video camera so they can see each other, motion to each other and see each other’s reactions. A video conference call is also how Coatney interviews coach Amy Williams after home games.
There haven’t been any major problems during the broadcasts. During Nebraska's game against Michigan State, the video feed froze for a few seconds.
“Ruby Porter had the ball on the left side and it froze up and I said, ‘She’s dribbling, still dribbling, she’s been dribbling for a long time,’†Coatney said.
“I just decided to have fun with it this year. Look, we’re getting to play and I’m getting to call games.â€
Coatney sometimes mentions on air that he’s not at the arena. But he’s heard from fans and broadcasters who say they can’t notice a difference.
“I had somebody say they got in an argument with their daughter because their daughter was absolutely sure we were at Illinois because they could hear the squeaks of the shoes and the basket (microphones),†Coatney said. “She said Matt has told us (they’re in studio). So I had to send them a note saying we were in studio.â€
Coatney still has the regular parts of the broadcast that are unique to him. Just before the tipoff he lists who the game officials are, and notes how many NCAA Final Fours each has worked.
He made the list of every official who has worked a Final Four in the NCAA era (since 1982) by going back and looking at old box scores.
“I think it’s important for our fans to know this is the level of official we’re getting here, because those officials earn those assignments and it’s a big thing to get to call a Final Four or national championship game,†Coatney said.
Coatney knows many of the officials. During one of the first home games this season, official Michael McConnell borrowed Griesch’s headset so he could say hello to Coatney shortly before the game began.
And Coatney brings the same emotion to his signature call — “You betcha†when a Nebraska player drains a three-pointer — even though he’s not in the arena. And sometimes he gets so excited when a shot from beyond-the-arc is sailing through the air that he slides his office chair back in anticipation.
Coatney has been calling three-pointers that way during Husker games for about 15 years. It had started as a one-time call his friend, Don West, used during a game for Missouri State years ago.
Then during a Nebraska game, Coatney knew West was listening and called a three-pointer that way to let West know he was thinking of him.
After the game, Coatney’s son told him he needed to keep using that three-point call. Then a fan made a sign with it.
“It took off fast,†Coatney said.
Asked to confirm that “You betcha†has been printed on T-shirts, Coatney laughed.
“It’s been at least 18 different styles of T-shirts. It’s been a street sign, it’s been a Valentine’s Day card. It has been a lanyard. It has been a bumper sticker. It’s been a window decal,†he said.
Now Coatney, and his signature call, is connected to Husker women’s basketball.
“The fact that the fans know it and expect it, it’s a pretty cool thing,†he said.
Photos: Our favorite staff images from the Huskers' winter sports season
Radio broadcaster Matt Coatney calls a game during his broadcast of the Nebraska women's basketball game against Wisconsin on Jan. 28. Coatney called the game from an offsite announcer center in downtown Lincoln. From the window Coatney has a view of Pinnacle Bank Arena, where the game was played.
Nebraska coach Amy Williams (right) sits with women's basketball communications director Jeff Griesch for a remote radio interview with Matt Coatney after the Huskers beat Wisconsin on Jan. 28 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.