Michael D. Drew: Always Had the Same Goal

Story and photo by Nicki Jones

SYRACUSE, NY--It’s very rare that you find someone who knows exactly what he wants to do going into college. Michael Drew says he set his foundation down as soon as he set foot on  a college campus. 

His confident demeanor during an interview on the Syracuse University campus. where he is now a graduate student, spoke volumes about the tunnel vision he has created for himself. 

“I pretty much knew what I wanted to do,”  Drew said. “Walked into the athletic department and said hey give me a job.” 

By the end of his undergraduate career Drew had broadcast over 200 games. 

Drew’s ambitious attitude towards getting ahead and starting early is definitely beneficial for his energy towards his end result after school.

 “I’m somebody who has never had the energy to do anything other than pursue this,” he said.

Interview Audio

   

What’s your thought process behind majoring in communication?

I’ve always had the same goal ever since I was seven or eight. I have wanted to do play-by-play ideally on a national level on television. That’s something that is not really a new idea, right? Tons of people had it before me, tons do now and tons will after me. I know it’s a very competitive field; you have to hit your one opportunity when you get it. It can be though but I’ve always had the same idea from day one.

Coming here now to Syracuse with this Television, Radio and Film masters program, how close do you think you’ll be able to reach your goal?

Hard to say. I think after going through the next year it certainly is, I hope, going to provide me with a lot more knowledge that I can use right away in terms of getting into the field and getting a foot though the door. History says it takes a while so I’m not expecting to graduate here and walk out the door and go into a great job. That’s not how it works. Patience is a real key for this and I’d like to think I have enough of that. We’ll see what my bank account says two years after I’m out of here.

Do you think Syracuse has the right connections for you to get to where you want to be faster?

Oh for sure. Yeah, I’m somebody who has never had the energy to do anything other than pursue this. People talk about if I couldn’t be this then I would be this. Sorry, I don’t have the energy to do anything other than what I’m doing which is pursuing that goal. I knew that if I was going to do this, if I wanted to look myself in the mirror at the end of the day and be happy with what I was seeing, I needed to do it right. That meant coming here (to Syracuse) in some way shape or form.

How do you think that sets you apart from other people who are also in your position here at Newhouse? How do you think that sets you apart from them in finding a job after graduation?

I don’t know if that in particular sets me apart, as I said earlier there are a lot of people who I think are in my shoes right now and have been in my shoes in recent years. One thing that I think does help me out a lot is at Westfield during undergrad I had the opportunity to broadcast over 200 games. I pretty much on day one knowing what I want to do, walked into the athletic department as a freshman and said “hey give me a job” and they said okay not knowing any better. After I woke them up from their afternoon nap, I ended up doing over 200 games, I did every sport there and that gave me an incredible foundation on which I can build on and I’m still building on constantly growing, constantly trying to get better. I think having those four years already in tow down the line may help set me apart.

Here at Syracuse, is there anything that you want to do related to the football team, basketball team or anything around Newhouse? Is there anything you have your mind set on?

I’m really going to just evaluate opportunities as they come up. As professor Nicholson* has said, he’s probably going to like that I mentioned him or at least he should.  We’re not going to walk into the undergrad kids on AER doing the football games and take the headset off; they’re going to kick us out. As they should, they’ve worked for that position. We can’t do things like that but it's just a case by case based evaluating opportunities whether it’s in writing or reporting or doing a package, getting media coverage or anything that I can say that I did here is going to be invaluable for me down the line.

*Professor Nicholson is Drew's professor at Syracuse University