Syracuse Alum Dan Wolfgang Covers Collegiate Sports From a Big Ten Perspective

Dan Wolfgang

By Geoffrey Chiles

Most people who go into sports broadcasting don’t wind up working for their favorite team’s most hated rival. But Dan Wolfgang did.

Wolfgang grew up a proud son of the Buckeye State, spending his Saturdays in Coshocton, Ohio cheering on Ohio State University. Wolfgang’s 6’8” frame lent itself well to a natural athleticism on the football field and basketball court. When he wasn’t catching passes or shooting jump shots, he was plugged into a video game console, learning about the game from a different perspective.

“My Dad got me a Sega Genesis which included an NFL game,” Wolfgang said. “In my boredom after playing the game for many hours, I started falling into a mode of doing my own play-by-play and the rest, as they say, is history.”

His focus on sports and broadcasting continued up through high school. He met Howard Chen, a Syracuse University Alumnus who happened to be working near Wolfgang’s hometown. The two struck up a friendship which continues to this day. In fact, it was Chen who steered Wolfgang out of the Midwest and towards the East Coast and S.U.

Chen now works for CSN in Houston. If it wasn’t for his mentorship, Wolfgang said, he may never have enrolled at the Newhouse School or pursued a career in radio.

“(Chen) turned me on to the student station on campus, WAER,” he said. “It became my main focus outside of homework and the occasional social life. I became the sports director my senior year.”

Wolfgang’s career took another turn after graduation. Though he didn’t see the bigger picture at first, he’s happy where he is. He currently works for IMG College, a collegiate marketing company in Winston-Salem, N.C. which organizes on-air talent and a production crew for broadcasts.

Wolfgang worked his way up to his current position as a seasonal producer and studio host of football and basketball broadcasts for The University of Michigan. He produces weekly material for air, which requires the university’s approval.

His passion for what he does transcends the rivalry, one of college football’s oldest and fiercest.

“I am charged with weekly scene-setters which include the Michigan-Ohio State game,” he said. “I grew up a Buckeye fan, and take a tremendous amount of pride in being able to put together a scene-setter that would make even Michigan fans proud even though they might not root for the same side on that particular Saturday. I love it. It’s a constant challenge.”

Wolfgang now has dreams of returning to the broadcasting side of things by doing radio play-by-play. To get to where he is, he stresses preparedness above all else.

“The most important piece of advice is preparation,” he said. “You know this, Geoff, but there might be some folks out there who don’t. You can never do too little research on a given topic or a given job or story, whatever the case may be. You can always learn more about that subject. Just having that knowledge readily accessible can be such a huge tool.”

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Dan Wolfgang Interview Questions

Q: You great up in Coshocton, Ohio. What happened in your youth which led you to a love of sports? Did you play any sports?

A: I played youth league baseball, basketball, and a lot of soccer growing up actually. What really turned me onto broadcasting as a whole was watching a lot of television. That was in the burgeoning years of massive college football exposure on TV. So, I had the opportunity to watch a lot of games. One year, at Christmas—this story might sound a little cliché—but my Dad got me a Sega Genesis which included an NFL game. In my boredom after playing the game for many hours, I started falling into a mode of doing my own play-by-play and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q: You earned your bachelor’s degree here at Syracuse University. What were your options for getting involved in student media and covering sports? How did you arrive at wanting to be on the radio?

A: I settled on radio working in high school. I actually had a job with a radio station in 8^th grade with Coshocton. I was lucky enough while growing up in that small area of Ohio to meet a Syracuse Alum (Howard Chen). He currently works with CSN in Houston. He turned me on to the student station on campus, WAER. I knew when I got on campus that that was all I essentially wanted to do. It became my main focus outside of homework and the occasional social life. I became Sports Director my senior year. It was exciting: four years of hard work at that place.

Q: We all have struggled on our way to success in the field. What were some of your struggles? What went through your mind when you struggled to get to where you wanted to be?

A: I did end up going back to my hometown and working for a website that was definitely a burgeoning idea. I had an idea that I was very much in love with, but the execution wasn’t quite to the standard that I had set for myself personally. That was the struggle graduating and going out into the real world. You are kind of taught this theory at Newhouse where superior content will always sell and be an enjoyable thing. Not only for your audience, but also for your co-workers. I think there were some cases of my being an overachiever might not have fit in with the mold of a couple of places. It was a struggle, but I was lucky enough to find a position with IMG down in North Carolina and it’s been a blast. I’m working on year three down there and I’m enjoying every day.

Q: You work as a seasonal producer and studio host at IMG College in Winston, N.C. What are some examples for you of earning satisfaction from your job? How did you feel?

A: I think that’s one of the big keys. You’re constantly being challenged to express your creativity and move into a couple different areas that you might not have had a lot of experience in previously. A lot of what I did in my early years with the company involved Midwest schools and were essentially production elements for a lot of broadcasts in the Midwest. The biggest one I had my name attached to was the Michigan football and basketball broadcasts. I was charged with weekly scene-setters which included the Michigan-Ohio State game. I grew up a Buckeye fan, and took a tremendous amount of pride in being able to put together a scene-setter that would make even Michigan fans proud even though they might not root for the same side on that particular Saturday. I love it. It’s a constant challenge. I’m learning more and more about the business side of it as well. This job is a bit more marketing than broadcasting. We are essentially approached by the schools, and with the schools, try to work out a broadcast that fits everyone’s dreams, goals, and desires. It’s a ton of fun to be able to do. Not only the marketing side of it, but once you get to the on-air, there are a tremendous amount of opportunities from doing Michigan hockey and UCLA basketball this past season, to now get a chance to cover West Virginia football this year.

Q: You mainly work on University of Michigan hockey broadcasts. How do you sustain momentum and stay alert and charged for every single game?

A: A big part of it is the people you work with. Michigan hockey is a great example. Al Randall and Billy Trainor, our radio crew, are two characters. It’s always a blast to be able to work with those guys and to listen to Al’s radio call, especially. That kind of pulls to the broadcasting side of my goals and dreams to sit there and listen to two of the better guys we have in the building doing a game of play-by-play. It is a challenge when you first get involved with teams like that. I hadn’t really followed much of the college hockey scene before being placed with Michigan, and two years later, by no stretch of the imagination am I an expert on it, but I feel comfortable enough that I could give a little bit of the history of Michigan. It’s obviously, as you know Geoff, a very prestigious history. It comes with a ton of research and being able to work with the crew that I’ve been able to means it’s not hard to get fired up for a broadcast. Like I said, Al Randall with Michigan hockey, Tony Caridi who’s a Syracuse grad with West Virginia football, and even guys like Chris Roberts for UCLA basketball, Matt Shepherd for Michigan basketball. It’s just a tremendous honor to be working with those kinds of guys.

Q: What are you planning on doing in your career in the future? What advice would you have for young broadcasters?

A: The most important piece of advice is preparation. You know this, Geoff, but there might be some folks out there who don’t. You can never do too little research on a given topic or a given job or story, whatever the case may be. You can always learn more about that subject. Just having that knowledge readily accessible can be such a huge tool. In terms of career aspirations, I’m comfortable with where I am at the moment. I’d like to be a radio play-by-play man down the road at some point. I’ve always kept my options open in terms of what sport I’d like to do. I consider myself to be as good, if not better, at sports like soccer than basketball. It definitely leaves my options open. I think that’s another piece of advice for anyone aspiring to be a sports broadcaster: it can be very easy to fall into that mold of the “big four,” but those are also sports where getting jobs reporting on those sports—even play-by-play gigs, especially—can be uber-competitive. So, you have the opportunity if you are a soccer fan, for instance, or even a lacrosse fan, you can get jobs doing major league lacrosse, even college games. You can get a job doing Major League Soccer and find a niche in there that maybe a lot of people hadn’t thought about.