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Calling the Game - A Conversation with Mike Trude · Coaches At Crown Brew Getting Coffee

• 0:13
  Welcome to Coaches at Crown Brew getting coffee. Welcome back today. We're glad you're with us. I want to thank Ross and Abby for being here today. I want to thank Crown Brew for keeping the doors open for us. Swinford Media and Swinford Video and Photography for Weddings. Ross and Abby will take care of you.
• 0:31
  Their information will be on the screen. If you have a wedding need coming up this summer or in the fall, they can take care of you. I want to thank my buddies at Adrenaline Fundraising, Matt and Jeff, for all they do to help schools, organizations, and clubs raise money. So if you have a fundraising need, they'll take care of you. I want to thank my buddy, Tony Gooch, at Marion Plumbing, for all your commercial and residential plumbing needs. Tony Gooch, Marion Plumbing, great guy.
• 0:56
  trustworthy, do the job right, do it well the first time. And if you have those kind of needs, see Tony Gooch. My guest today is longtime radio and TV personality, announcer, play-by-play guy, Mr. Mike Trude. Mike, welcome. I'm so happy to be here. I've watched them all, loved them, and honored that.
• 1:17
  Oh, for sure, man. You had to be. You know, you've been at the center and forefront of some of the biggest moments in Southern Illinois sports history and brought some of those stories.
• 1:27
  to a viewing or listening audience and what an exciting thing for your career you've been at some cool moments we'll get into some of those and uh almost has it been four decades of broadcasting yeah did you have to go that far yes it definitely been yeah four decades yeah that's really cool though longevity is part of the i think what a part of greatness is that longevity the ability to do it for a long period of time and do it at a high level and you do it and you're such a great guy to listen to and be able to paint that picture uh
• 1:56
  for the audience. So let's run through some things first of all. Let's talk about your background, a little bit where you grew up. We'll jump in there first. Okay. From northwest Illinois. Grew up in Barrington, which is about 45 minutes from the Wisconsin border. So I've lived 45 minutes from Wisconsin and now live, what, about 45 minutes from Kentucky, all in the state of Illinois. But grew up there and all the way through high school.
• 2:24
  loved sports, played sports, umpired, did everything I could, hockey, baseball, football, all the sports you can think of. I played at one time or another. And the first thing I did every afternoon when my dad got home, back then the Chicago Daily News, the newspaper, ran two editions, a morning edition and an afternoon edition. He would take the afternoon train coming home. He'd have the paper in his briefcase. As soon as he got home, out came the paper right to the sports page.
• 2:54
  and just went through the sports page every statistic everything i could usurp from the paper i did that was that was me i was a sports junkie did you have a particular sport that was your favorite sport baseball has always been my favorite sport i was the first thing i ever watched on television i remember as a sport was a cup game and
• 3:18
  I'm sorry, Southern Illinois, but I am a diehard Cubs fan. You're from Chicago. I get it, right? But the Cubs and the Blackhawks were my first two loves. And then, interestingly, Purdue basketball was on in Northern Illinois at the time. Rick Mount, I don't know if you remember Rick Mount. I don't. He was an All-American at Purdue. My sister went to Purdue. And their games were televised live on a UHF channel.
• 3:54
  And that's how I started with college basketball was watching Purdue and learning about college basketball. Isn't that interesting that they have Purdue games on right now? Yeah. I don't know why they did. It was on WFLD channel 32 in Chicago. Were they good back then? Yes, they were very good. They were probably top 20 in the country.
• 4:16
  an all-American leading scorer in the Big Ten, like the all-American boy. Before Steve Alford, Rick Mount was that guy from Indiana. So you said you played about everything, but maybe baseball stood out for you. Did you go into high school? Were you thinking, this is going to be my path? You wanted to play sports? Oh, I wanted to play sports. But you knew? I was 4'11", 89 pounds my freshman year in high school. I did play.
• 4:43
  football and baseball and gymnastics my freshman year. Because of my size, basketball just, I think I was athletic enough, but Barrington had such a huge amount of kids. What would the enrollment be there? Like 3,200 my freshman year. So, you know, back then. And I wouldn't have played.
• 5:09
  I know I wouldn't have played. So I did gymnastics my freshman year, enjoyed that. And then sophomore year, grew a little bit. My dad's 6'4". My dad was 6'4". So all the coaches were saying, Trude, you're going to grow. You're going to grow. And I did not grow until between my junior and senior year. I went from like, I shot all the way from 5'3 to 5'8". I mean, Kerry, I was sprouting.
• 5:35
  So I still loved athletics and still played intramurals, did everything, but wasn't good enough for varsity. I knew that. But our high school football team was second in the state that year and might have been 4A back then. There weren't six classes back then. And basketball was good enough to get to the regional final and those things. So I was still heavily involved with the teams, with doing things, just wasn't on the team.
• 6:01
  Have any idea that your life would be sports? It's related in some way since, you know, you kind of the realization that probably not going to be a player. Did part of what you went into kind of fill the voids that you couldn't play? Interesting. At that time in the Chicago area, all of the sportscasters were ex-jocks. Okay. Or current players. Like Ernie Banks was still playing for the Cubs when I was a teenager. Yeah.
• 6:31
  And he was on Sunday nights when the Cubs were home. They played all day games. He would do the sports at 10 o'clock. You're kidding. No, I didn't know. Yes. And there were other pro athletes who were doing the sports anchors at that time. ESPN was not here yet. Yeah. And so my thought process at that time was I love sports, but I'm never going to be a pro. They're never going to want me. So I went in another direction. I didn't even know it was possible.
• 7:00
  at the time to get involved with it. So I went off and did accounting for a year, year and a half. My dad owned an advertising agency. I was going to go to work for him when I was done and maybe climb up and take over the business, the whole, you know, follow your dad's footsteps. And about a year and a half in, I just got, I enjoyed the numbers. I love numbers, math, everything. I love it. But I couldn't envision myself being in accounting and doing that.
• 7:29
  for the rest of my life and and so i i called my mom she was a high school guidance counselor and wasn't my counselor but was a counselor at the high school but that time i was done i said i said mom i don't i know i don't want to do this but i don't want to disappoint dad because the plan was he goes she goes you're not going to disappoint him um what do you want to do i go million dollar question i don't know right now and that's why i told you and she's the one
• 7:58
  who said, well, you know, as much as you love sports, you've got a good speaking voice, you know everything, at least you think you know everything, why don't you go into sports broadcasting? I go, I can do that? Because I had no idea. And she said, yeah, absolutely. I said, okay. Because I was at Southern Methodist University in Dallas with accounting. And she goes...
• 8:23
  She goes, let me get on my computer and we'll look things up. So back in the day, the computers were from here to, you know, Johnston City. So she got on the computer and came back and she said, believe it or not, Southern Illinois University is in the top five in the country for its radio television department. And I go, can I get in there? She said, yeah, you can get in. That won't be an issue. Transferred mid-semester and away I went.
• 8:51
  And by the time I did that first semester and did, I lost a lot of credits transferring from private to the public school. I had to do a lot of things over. But couldn't do any radio TV stuff that spring year because I was too busy trying to get acclimated. The next fall, I got an anchor spot on TV on WSIU. And they did three half-hour newscasts a day.
• 9:20
  And those positions were unbelievably competitive. Sure. I mean, ridiculously competitive. Did they rotate different groups for each of the broadcasts? I got one sports cast a week. Okay. Oh, a week? A week. Oh, okay. So there were 15 slots of sports casts for morning, noon, and night. And I got one of the 15, but there were probably 60 to 70 kids.
• 9:47
  vying for those spots. And who made that decision, the professors? There was a board and a couple of professors in the RT department back then who had been in the business, you know, kind of made those decisions. There was a sports director at the time who was a student sports director who was also in on that. And I got in and then stayed around the next. I was there, obviously, fall and spring. And that spring is when there
• 10:17
  there was an ad for an opening at CIL in the sports department. So I meander over to CIL and did not, I knew of Mike Reese had not met him because he'd already graduated. And lo and behold, he's the sports director. And I sit down for an interview and he sees I'm from Barrington. He's from like Mount Prospect. So the area he used to work in Barrington in the summers for, you know,
• 10:47
  one of his summer jobs and uh turns out our birthday march 24th is the exact same day we're just a year apart and i mean it was just stars are aligning everything was aligning and he offered me the job and that's what did i never went back home again did you have to audition like how did they pick the people that got to so they all just write their own script and face a camera
• 11:18
  and I don't remember if we had a teleprompter back then at the time, but it had to do with a three- to five-minute script based off Saluki Athletics, so you had to have a little knowledge. I don't think there was any video involved, but it was just how do you interact with a camera, that kind of thing, and yeah, and that started it. So WSL, what would be your job when you got hired there? What did Mike, okay, he's the guy, and you're going to work for him. What did he have to do?
• 11:47
  a full-time assistant sports director one of only three in the state of illinois at the time and the other two were in chicago you're kidding no i was full-time so i did oh wow full-time sports yeah while going to school yeah and so i did uh high school uh we had three or four or five news casts a day sportscast a 15-minute one at the noon hour on the am station um so wrote copy did interviews
• 12:17
  had you been in southern illinois at that time you would have gotten a weekly or bi-weekly call from me and an update on how things were going with marion i got to know all the coaches in three or four different sports and and college coaches and i hosted pre-game and halftime shows for siu that mike did on the radio i was not on color at that time i was
• 12:41
  Jack of all trades, master of none. And that's how I still see myself today as a jack of all trades and a master of none. But you got thrown into the fire. And I knew nothing. I didn't know how to write. You're going to do the following 25 things. If it was not for Mike Reese, none of my career ever would have happened. I would have probably gone through the radio TV program and hoped to get a job in television.
• 13:10
  What Mike taught me about writing and play-by-play and color commentary and all the things that go with things, he was my professor. I asked you on the talking points, would you call this the big break? Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is the big one. Absolutely. Because this is not only the foot in the door, but you've got to go in the door and start.
• 13:34
  doing the job. Before I ever thought I would get to do it. I mean, the stars aligned that day in his office. And it was phenomenal. I'll ask a strange question. Maybe it's not, but did the degree matter now? Did the degree still matter? Or were you in the door enough that you didn't need... Did you finish school? I did. But did that... At the time, it didn't. Nowadays, it does. Okay. Back then, the networks...
• 14:05
  And other, CNN was coming along at that time, and ESPN was coming along at that time. They were taking people after their sophomore and junior year, if they had talent, just say, you've got the talent. Just to fill the void. They need you. And they probably felt like, we can train you. Oh, yes. We'll take care of you. We'll teach you the way we want you to know. And also back then, Southern Illinois' program was performance-based. Yes, you got your degree.
• 14:34
  in radio and television it was a bachelor of science degree right but the learning curve was out in the field either in sales or in or on camera or behind the camera production you were able to do so much more back then than you could today because of the access back then that just isn't there today for kids did you you immediately got into both high school and college sports
• 15:02
  Did you have a preference? Was there anything different about the two that struck you? How did you feel about covering both? And did you, like, start to say, I want to do this one or that one full time? I didn't care, to be honest with you. No, that's great. I mean, Mike was the voice of the Salukis. I knew that I was never going to do play-by-play for SOU basketball, football.
• 15:25
  you know baseball any of the major sports and back then none of the women's sports were being were being done at all right none of them so high school i started doing carbondale high school football okay and basketball and that was my gig when doug willard was there and uh jim lovin was yeah lovey bear was was the head coach that that's how i got my start in high school play-by-play and then did all the half time and pre-game stuff for mike
• 15:51
  And then he allowed me to do baseball with him. And I traveled in the spring with Saluki Baseball, which meant going to Miami in the spring and playing at that time. Miami was like top five in the country every year and playing them in a three-game series. And then they'd go to the regional. I'd get to go to the regional. And Mike would give me three innings. He'd do the one through three and seven through nine. And I'd get the middle three. And I thought.
• 16:16
  i'm in heaven that's awesome this is yeah this is what i want to do the rest of my life i i didn't have an ego back then of i have to i have to be the guy i was just glad to be in the party you weren't looking down the road at your your opening you were right you were content at least in that moment in that moment yes yes because again espn was just starting and i had no idea what it was going to be but when i got a taste of the baseball
• 16:43
  play-by-play and how good Southern was. And I thought, I want to be the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Cubs. That was it. I want to be the play-by-play voice of the Cubs. Did you have any idea that the sports broadcasting world was going to explode like it did? I mean, I remember when ESPN first came on, they were covering some weird sports. Tiddlywinks.
• 17:08
  There's that Australian rules football. They had no contracts to cover anything. Right. But they had contact. They had to get the contact. That's right. And they had sports center, which they would run over and over and over again. Yes. But that was their way of broadcasting without broadcasting. Correct. They just showed the highlights. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. So this is kind of off that beaten path a little bit, but your schedule, were you working seven days a week?
• 17:39
  I mean, if you're doing... Had Sundays off. Six days a week. And every once in a while, I did do the American Top 40 on CILFM, where you just watch the record spin, play the spots. Good evening, everyone. Casey Kasem. Yeah, that's great. Occasionally, I would fill in for that. Didn't that come in like a four-record set or something? It did, yes. But that was... Sunday was the day off. But...
• 18:04
  Yeah, it was full time. Isn't it interesting when you're young, you don't think about that so much. When I started teaching and coaching, I was coaching three sports. It just rolled over one after the other. I was young and married and I was gone a lot on a bus, you know, in wrestling or a bus in baseball, football. Summertime was trying to shuffle all that. I didn't know any different. How would I do that today? I didn't know any different. And that became kind of my mantra.
• 18:35
  I didn't know any different but to work 60 hours a week. Yeah. To get things done. It was in my DNA. And I got that from my mom and dad, too. Always had a job when I was from 16 on. That work ethic, man. It'll take you places, I'm telling you. This is more of a question about the profession. I've always wondered this because radio and television are very different. Yes. So how do you approach television?
• 19:02
  Knowing, is it subconscious, is it conscious that this is a visual broadcast versus a non-visual audio-only broadcast? How do you balance that? What do you do to make sure you're telling the story either visually or in an audio fashion? Well, starting out in radio, which I did for the most part, that is all about description. Because, like I think Mike mentioned it to you, he does a game.
• 19:32
  trying to visualize that the person at home is blind and can't see anything. So it wouldn't matter if he was watching the game on television. He can't see, but he wants to know everything that's going on. So that's how I always envisioned the radio play-by-play, trying to be as descriptive as possible with everything that's going on. And my son Alex is hearing impaired, so he went through...
• 20:01
  still goes through life not picking up everything that's going on around him even though with all the advantages now with cochlear implants and all that kind of stuff which he has it's a billion times better but when he was going through school he had a what was called a transliterator at the time and her job from kindergarten all the way through his senior year she had the same person which was phenomenal but if a student dropped a pencil behind him she would
• 20:31
  use her cued speech, because that's what he did. He didn't know ASL. She would say, Joey dropped his pencil behind you so that Alex could pick up the entire classroom. So if I was doing play by play, I would want to describe, even if the ball boy retrieving the ball tripped on the way back to the dugout, that's something that everybody else can see. But on the radio, you don't see that. So you want to be able to bring that to them.
• 20:58
  still in the flow of what you're trying to do i got you so it's trying to get again painting the full picture and then tv they're seeing everything so you don't want to over sell what they're already seeing because i don't know how many times and you probably too you're sitting there watching the game and we're knowledgeable enough to know exactly what the guy is going to say before he says it and then and then you say it and then he says it and your family goes how did you know
• 21:27
  You just know. I get it all the time. All the time. I do. And I do as well. Yeah. So in television, you know when to talk and when to shut up. In radio, there are times when you let the crowd noise take over. I got you. But you still want people to realize what's going on. Yeah, it's really cool because I noticed when you guys do the radio broadcast, you'll describe.
• 21:50
  the uniforms each team is wearing. The Salukis are in white and the Illinois States and, you know what I mean? And you'll talk about they're going right, are right to left. You know what I'm saying? You'll describe the direction they're going. You're painting that picture. And I always think that's fascinating that radio is a different monster because you have to paint that picture. Yeah. Completely different monster. Yeah. Yeah. But more, it's more fun. I don't want to say more fun. It is just different than television. But you like it though. Oh, I love both.
• 22:21
  You love both? I love both. I really do. No preference, though, really? I really don't have a preference. That's interesting. If there's a game across the street tonight, I'll do it. I think I asked this later on, but are there people today that you particularly like to listen to? Are there radio people, TV people you say, that guy's real, or she's really good, or is there someone you really like? I still love Len Casper, who went from the Cubs to the White Sox.
• 22:50
  I loved Buck. I love Scully. I'm an OG kind of guy. He was amazing. And did it alone. And talk about painting a picture. Yeah. I mean, just phenomenal. And I love Joe Buck. Yeah, I do too. I really love Joe Buck. He takes a beating. I'm not really sure why that is, but it's just the nature of our business.
• 23:18
  I remember being a kid. Baseball was, you had a few local games. Cardinals would have, you know, 30 or 40 games broadcast total a year. Right. But I remember NBC had the game of the week. And we would sit down, and you had to watch it because it's the only one you're going to get unless your local team's playing on a regular station.
• 23:38
  And I can just remember his voice saying, pull up a chair and join us today. And you just wanted to. It's like your grandfather was talking to you. I was sitting on his lap. Yes. No, that's exactly. Yeah. And I think to think he did that by alone for all of his career, most of it. I think most of it. That is unbelievable. He can sit there and just paint that picture inning after inning. And I always wondered. That's why I asked if I wondered about your ability to.
• 24:06
  to move between the two, radio and television. And you guys make it look flawless. And I don't think people understand, you're changing your style because of what you're doing. And I don't think it's, you know, because Buck would do three innings on TV sometimes and then go right back to radio. And I'm thinking, he had to change the way he was announcing. Yeah, no, exactly. And in the early stages of the ESPN Plus with SIU, during baseball, Mike would do...
• 24:36
  three innings of radio and then come over and do three innings of TV with us for a while and then go back. So that's even harder. Yeah, I can imagine. That's why I always think about your ability. You guys do that so well. But what's been the biggest change for you as you broadcasted sports from early 80s, am I correct? Yes. 1980, I think you said, right? Something like that to 2026.
• 25:03
  What's been the big change for you in the way the game is played visually? And I don't know, you can pick a particular sport if you want to, but what's the big change you notice? In college basketball, it was the length of the games and the athleticism. I mean, the athleticism, even in the high school football.
• 25:26
  From the 80s to now, the athleticism and the training and everything is so, the speed of the game is just incredible. Back then, calling a high school football game was pretty easy. Nobody threw the ball back then unless it was third and 40, and they were hanging it off. So the games were like this. Hour and a half? Hour and a half. And then the passing game came in, and the passing game was the biggest difference. And then calling the Marion games, as I did with you as the head coach.
• 25:55
  an hour and a half would go by and we'd be almost to halftime. And the length of the games because of the passing game was different. But the athleticism, so much better. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense to me. I mean, and you can see it, I'm sure, because you maybe went from one field tilter in the 80s or whatever to...
• 26:18
  a field full of them and you're right the high school athleticism is shocking to me yes um we've seen it trickle down from the pros of the college but even at the high school level it's pretty pretty phenomenal yeah um so what things are better today in the broadcasting world is it just the technology i assume technology access i mean every game is basically televised these days at the division one level i mean even
• 26:47
  i shouldn't say even siu soccer was televised this last fall yeah and though it was done remotely they had the cameras here and broadcasters were somewhere else everything is is on espn plus or the espn family of networks these days and back in the 80s 90s if you got on espn of any kind you were you were in heaven yeah now it's an everyday thing and while i love it
• 27:16
  I think it's taken away from people going to the games. And that frustrates me because now if you are a mediocre, okay team, and the weather's not great, and you're not playing a big rival that night, if you're sitting at home on your couch and you know that game's going to be on TV, your thought process is, eh, it's pretty easy just to watch it. I heard that a lot. I don't need to. I don't necessarily have to go.
• 27:45
  And I don't know if it's trickling down to the high school. I know all the games are pretty much televised now. And I have noticed that crowds at high school games is now diminishing because of the access of the games on TV. And a lot of people would say to me, great game last week, coach. Sorry I wasn't there. But, you know, weather forecast. We got comfortable sitting on the couch. And, you know, they watched. They supported. But they weren't there. And you could tell.
• 28:13
  The hope is that it's just the atmosphere and the excitement draws people. But it's always a little bit that inclement weather, cold or rain. Yes. You see that group. No judgment. I get it. I get it. Because in retirement now, I've turned into that guy, you know, where, oh, you know, we can just watch it because you have that option. Yes. Yeah. And with as many games as I have have done the last several years, when I get a night off and I.
• 28:41
  don't necessarily have to go to the Banterra Center, and they're playing somebody that I'm not really interested in watching them play in person, I'll just stay home. I'll admit it. It's a day off, and it's kind of nice to sit back and watch somebody else and enjoy the game from my TV. What things, is there something that's not as good than when you started? I know the technology's better. We talk about the athletes are better, the access to, is there anything not as good?
• 29:11
  gosh and i'm not trying to pick on on your profession i'm just curious if you uh if you look at it now and say this was better back in the in the days it didn't have to be i think with with the proliferation of all the games being on the broadcasters are not as good because they haven't had the training yeah to to do it and it's a great training ground
• 29:40
  Without question, that's one of the reasons that it's being done is so that schools can incorporate students into the broadcast world. But you can tell when a game is being done by first or second year college students who are maybe doing their second or third game overall to a Mike Reese and Luke Martin and that type of situation. For sure. And, you know, when I did the ESPN plus football games for SIU, the home games,
• 30:10
  I was really impressed at how good some of these young announcers were. Larry's. Larry's. I'll never forget you and Mike told me at Saluki practice, you go, I was kind of nervous about being on TV for the first time and broadcasting, which I had never done. Right. And you said, he'll tee you up. He's going to tee you up well. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant until I sat next to him and he kept teeing me up when it was time to speak and setting me up to succeed. Yeah.
• 30:38
  And I was so impressed how good he was at it and how mediocre I felt in that moment because I didn't have a lot of training, so I had to just fall back.
• 30:49
  on just being the coach. And when I settled into not trying to be a broadcaster, because I wasn't, and just being the coach and giving the coach perspective, Larry took great care of me. And Dominic filled in a couple times, too, and did a great job, too. So I'm really impressed with those guys. I wanted to make sure I gave them a shout out, especially Larry, because he's outstanding. Yeah, no, he's phenomenal and doing a great job this summer, too, with baseball. The importance of a broadcast partner. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's everything. Yeah.
• 31:18
  it's it's chemistry you can tell when the chemistry is not there you can tell when the chemistry is there yeah um again it's about as a as a and i've done color and play by play so i've been on both ends of the spectrum and i know that when i'm the play-by-play person i'm going to tee my partner up as often as i possibly can whether it's radio or tv and when i'm the color commentator
• 31:47
  Because I've done the play-by-play, I understand where my opportunities are going to come from. And hopefully I'll be set up for them. But I'm also bold enough to just jump in when I'm doing color. Because I'm usually working with a play-by-play person that hasn't done a ton of games. Although when Larry was doing it this last year, we had done games before. But sometimes Luke would allow somebody.
• 32:16
  the opportunity to do a game and i would do color he said you'll be good at color because you'll make them better right and so hopefully hopefully that was the case but chemistry is everything and and you know you have chemistry with somebody within the first within the first two three minutes of being on the air yeah it's that simple and from there it's just it's just a piece yeah and i i just tell the guys that i work with and i'm doing the play-by-play i said yes we are doing this
• 32:45
  baseball game or football game or basketball game but we are having a conversation right about what we are seeing yeah we're not here to call every play because they can see it we're here to add things that's right to the broadcast so we are having conversation and if we miss a free throw who cares we're talking about something that we think the audience wants to hear about yeah that's great that's perfect um sports teams you've covered so we're going to run through a list here okay and just talk about
• 33:16
  some different sports you've covered, and you're going to, I guess they would call this like a lightning round. Okay. So we'll just do a short. Remember, I'm old. A short sentence or two or just a comment. When I mention a sport you've covered, you just give me a comment. Okay. Saluki softball. Oh, just phenomenal group to be around. Doesn't matter what year. Amazing academics with that group. Always in the top 10 or 15 of the country.
• 33:46
  Athletically gifted, great softball, and just takes you for a ride every year. And are always in the hunt every year for a trip to the regionals. Just so much fun. Yeah. Saluki men's basketball. I was on staff with the athletic department during that run in the 2000s. Director of marketing. My job was never so easy.
• 34:12
  as it was during 2000-2007 with football and basketball, making their tournament runs. Bruce Weber, Matt Payton, Rodney Watson, Chris Lowry, Jerry Kill, all of those coaches were tremendous people. So much fun to work for and work with, and success beyond belief. Just so much fun to cover. Baseball? Saluki Baseball? Itchy Jones. Yeah.
• 34:42
  Itchy Jones, Dan Callahan, Kenny Henderson, my three main guys. And all I think of is success. And although Danny and Hendu didn't have the amount of success that Itchy did, what they represented for their players was as good as getting to a regional or the World Series every year because those were amazing individuals coming out of those programs and baseball being my favorite sport.
• 35:12
  I could go do a Saluki baseball game right now and have a blast. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Carbondale football. Carbondale football. That's going back. It's going back. Virtually no success. Good success. Yeah. In the years that I did their games. Old Blyer Field. Old Blyer Field. Yeah, yeah. Jim Lovin, who...
• 35:33
  I think had to leave two minutes before halftime just to get to the locker room. It was a long walk. Long walk. I mean, it was up the stairs, and it was, I mean, I never understood that. And Jim was a big man. He was a big man, yeah. And had bad knees. Yeah, yeah. But that was my initiation into play-by-play was Carbondale. That was the first sport I did play-by-play for. So I was a neophyte and got doing football and loved Carbondale football.
• 36:03
  Marion football. Oh, God, so much fun. Thank you. Yeah. So much fun. Coming in, I knew you'd won the state title at Carterville, and bringing all of that and the staff with you, and then seeing some games before they actually decided to do the games, and then when Mike Murphy said, hey, how would you like to do Marion football? Really?
• 36:32
  He goes, yeah, we're going to do it too. And I went, two? He goes, yeah, and it's too long of a story to go into, but we're going to do it too. And I said, am I going to be broadcasting on the roof? Where do I get the broadcast from? He goes, no, you'll have a space. And just so much fun. Just the difference between football in the 80s to football when I started doing your games was just monumental. I had not been to many high school games.
• 37:00
  Because I've been working at SIU. And I could go to games but I couldn't work at games because that was a violation working in the athletic department and doing things. So, once I left athletics, that opened the door. But playoffs, winning.. I mean winning is fun. You know that. And just every year I was just..
• 37:23
  Okay, I know I'm going to be going into at least middle of November with football. Can we get to central Illinois and beat somebody to get that next step? But in and of itself, I mean, that was amazing. Yeah, thank you. Marion basketball. A lot of fun. Coach Hawk. I mean, Shane and I went way back with Saluki basketball. Got to the regional that year against Alton. Won that game on the road that nobody expected them to win. And just had a blast doing.
• 37:53
  doing the games, had a great spot up in the perch in the gym, and a great spot to broadcast from. Crowd support, amazing. Had a lot of support from everybody to do the games. I mean, you can't beat high school basketball on Saturday night. You just can't. Saluki football. I know you kind of mentioned Jerry a little earlier. Yep, but 1983. The very first year I did anything with Saluki football.
• 38:19
  I did color for Mike Reese on the National Championship. That's the only year I did it at the time because after that year, I went to Channel 12. I figured this is my time to get into television. I've wanted to do TV, you know, for the longest time. And that was my chance to get into television was because I had a little bit of notoriety with doing the games and then got hired at Channel 12. But that one year.
• 38:47
  was obviously amazing. Thirteen and one and the trips and the playoffs and domination with that team. And then when I came back to the university and got to do games with Mike again, just so much fun. Saturday afternoon, Saturday night football, traveling, all of it. Just so much fun. You guys currently with..
• 39:12
  You and Luke and Pat seem like you have a really good time as well as you do a great job, of course, but you're having fun. And I think there's a lot to say about that because I think that that changes the broadcast when you know there's a chemistry there and you guys like each other and you play off each other. And I remember we were at practice last year and someone, one of you guys brought up that we have not returned a punt. And maybe you mentioned it.
• 39:41
  And you were just waiting on this moment when we finally, and you thought, I may jump out the window. And we did it this year. And you're the first person I thought of. And I looked to see if you did. And Luke is looking at me like, this is your shot. That's a long way down there. It had been a long time since you had returned a punt for a touchdown. And Larry Warner, that wasn't Larry, but it would have been a long time. And I would get on.
• 40:10
  the special teams coaches every year, I said, can we just, I don't care if he goes for a touchdown. Can we get a first down? Can we get 10 yards? Because punting is so good these days. It is. Hard to return. You get any return. Yeah. That's monumental. And Southern just hadn't been as successful in the return game. And then they break one. And I mean, the booth went crazy.
• 40:32
  Whores going nuts down on the sideline. He's looking up going, are you going? Are you going? That's great, though. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, it finally happened. But yeah, it was really cool. What is the toughest thing to cover? In your profession, your time you've spent, is there something that stands out as they're all good, they're all fun, but what is the hardest thing to cover? For me, color commentary on basketball games. Oh.
• 41:03
  I mean, the action is always going on. So finding the right time to sneak in the comment, especially working with Mike Reese, who is the dean, obviously, he and Dave Smell, Dave Smell from Bradley, the two of the longest guys ever doing it.
• 41:22
  But Mike was so good at play-by-play that I always felt like I was interrupting him when I would sneak a comment in. And even Rodney, the first, I think he mentioned it to you, is finding time to say what you have to say in a succinct manner and get in, get out, and then feel like, oh, God, how did I do? Well, didn't you guys tell me that when I was nervous about starting on my broadcasting time at ESPN+, that you guys said, don't.
• 41:52
  Don't worry about how you sound because Rodney still says he had the worst first performance of anyone ever. That's what he claims. That's what he claimed anyway. So I thought about that as I sat there struggling my first game and thinking, I know what Rodney felt like. It's hard. But definitely color for basketball. That makes sense, though. Because the play-by-play guy is...
• 42:11
  obviously dominant. Yes. Because there's always something to talk about. So was it breaks in the action where the color guy comes in more? Breaks in the action or after a basket, sneaking in a quick comment about how that basket came about really quickly. Yeah.
• 42:25
  Whether it was a pick, whether it was a great pass, whatever. And you might be echoing a little bit of what Micah just said, maybe in a little bit different vein to bring a little bit more into it. I got you. Versus just repeating what he said. But it's definitely the fastest game. So the hardest as a color person. That makes sense. To get something in succinctly. Favorite players you've covered. Oh, gosh.
• 42:51
  Saluki football back in the day was Rick Johnson, the quarterback of the 83 team. By the way, I was going to ask you, when that playoff run started, were they expected to be a championship team? When the playoffs began, they were the number one team in the country. Okay, all right. They beat Indiana State, took over. When they beat Indiana State in the regular season, following that game, they were ranked number one. Gotcha.
• 43:21
  They went all the way through the regular season undefeated until going to 1A Wichita. Wichita was out of the conference at the time, and Southern lost to Wichita last regular season game of the year. That's where the one loss came from. So they were 10-1 in the regular season, but did not lose their number one ranking. Oh, interesting. Got a bye in the first round. First two playoff games were at home, and then two.
• 43:50
  Charleston, South Carolina. That set up nicely, didn't it? Oh, it set up really nicely. Yeah. And the scores, 23-7, 23-7, and, I don't know, 43 to something. It just dominated Washington, Carolina. What's the biggest thing people do not fully understand about the job of a sports broadcaster? I think all of the, if you do what you should be doing, is all the work that goes into a game.
• 44:16
  And that is from game notes to your broadcast board, if you have one, to more so play-by-play. And it's different between play-by-play and color. Color, you don't have to know every single person because you're talking after the play-by-play because you've got time to find that guy. And then if you did write something down, find that. It's harder for guys like Luke doing radio play-by-play because they've got to know.
• 44:46
  formations and sets and all that kind of stuff. And as a color commentator, you've got to know a little bit more background information. So homework with stats and which is much more accessible these days as well with podcasts and everything that we do prep wise for a football game. We interview the opposing coach. We do our own little podcast. We do so much stuff in advance that you almost go into the game with so much knowledge that I'm never going to get all this in. And you never do.
• 45:13
  You just don't. You're overprepared, but that's better than being unprepared and coming to that moment and going, I don't know anything or I don't have anything to say. So I think people don't understand the prep. Okay. I ask it because I wanted to give you guys a shout-out for that reason alone because that's what I learned. The amount of preparation it took to get ready to be a color commentary for a Saluki football game.
• 45:41
  i felt like it was game prep for my own team yeah i mean i had to watch saluki film i had to watch the opponent film we did interviews we did we studied statistics we studied i mean we were finding history coaches background i mean mike i i had i literally took for granted after being in this business on the coaching side for so many years i took for granted what it takes to do what you do and i with my two years under my belt i look at it
• 46:09
  totally different now than I ever did with so much respect. Always respected, but never at this level. When I listen on TV now, and I listen to what they're doing and how easy they make it sound, or when you guys on the radio, I'm blown away because it is anything but easy. But when you make it sound easy, you've done your preparation. I prepared for the first broadcast I ever did, and I had so much information in my head. And I'm walking to the stadium, and I mean, it's crammed in there.
• 46:36
  And I got stopped by some people I know at a tent going in. Right. They asked me one question. I think five minutes later, I was still talking. And I said, too much information. Because I just started. They asked me about the game. And I just started. Because I had it in there. Isn't it amazing? Oh. What you still retain. And this woman's looking at me. Because it was a lady that asked me. And she's like, oh. I was like, wow. I said way too much. She said something like, going to be a tough one tonight?
• 47:05
  All she really wanted was, yes. Go get them, coach. And I mean, she looked like she was a deer in headlights. And I realized as I'm talking to her, she didn't need all this information. But I also knew that I was ready. Yes. And I think that's what I love about what you guys do, the level of preparation. I had no idea. I mean, I should have known. I never thought about it. So much more is available now.
• 47:33
  that wasn't available back in the 80s and 90s. There was no, I couldn't go on the internet. I couldn't, I could call a coach. I certainly couldn't do a video conference call with him back then of any substance. God knows you could probably never even get a signal. So all of that and the statistics and I mean, all of the analytical statistics that you can just overwhelm yourself with. When the schools send their info,
• 47:59
  That multi-page thing, that pack? Yes. I looked at my wife and said, I'll talk to you in three or four hours because I've got a lot to do. And I mean, all of it, I need to talk about that. And it's just overwhelming. It is. But as you go, I'm sure, you've done it two years now. Now you can take that 24-page pack and know, I really only need six pages. Yeah, I started figuring it out. But it was not... It's over-comprehensive on purpose. Yes.
• 48:29
  But you get into a flow of, I know that this is what I will probably need. And the prep time might be as long, but now you're prepping on the really important things. That's right.
• 48:45
  overwhelming knowledge and going. Yeah, that first game, I didn't get to say half that stuff. I thought I was going to have to say, thank goodness. I know, because the game dictates a lot of what you're going to be doing anyway. It does. That guy you studied so much, the quarterback, got hurt in the first quarter. Right. But wait, I want to tell you about him. Wait a minute. Look, I studied this guy. I'm going to tell you. That's great. This is a Southern Illinois guy to a Southern Illinois guy question.
• 49:12
  How do we fill Saluki Stadium every week? Because we have these moments where you're at the game or you're in the booth and you look down and it's almost filled. And you're thinking, we're going to start putting people in the seats. And then maybe something happens the next week just isn't the same. And it's the inconsistency. It looks like at times it's there. How do we make that happen?
• 49:36
  million-dollar question. It was that way in the run of the 2000s. Even in the playoff games, we would get maybe 10,000 to a semifinal game. It's just never been... I think you could bring University of Illinois down here. They would never come, but you could bring a Big Ten school down here and you might get 12,000 in the place.
• 50:04
  3,000 of them may be Illinois fans. I just think it's not the conference we play in because it's the best conference in the world of the competition. And it's, unfortunately, it's the beauty of living in Southern Illinois with all of the things that you can do on a Saturday afternoon or evening. And it's priority.
• 50:30
  And it's attention span. And it's all those things that have been an issue for so many years of how do you get anybody to sit still for two hours, let alone three and a half to four hours. On a beautiful fall day. On a beautiful fall day. And maybe Saluki basketball has the advantage of what else are you going to do in January and February. Exactly. You know, I never thought about that. No, you're right. That's a really good answer. And if you go to tailgate beforehand, which many people do, that's another hour and a half to two hours that you're.
• 50:58
  in the venue before you ever get in the game yeah and then college football games are long they are too long yeah and that's that's a whole another podcast that you could talk about but so it's how long people are so time consumed now that's a great point yeah i think that i think you're right bottle that into that time frame yeah and i mean there have been all paul kowalczyk at one time said if you tailgate you have to have a ticket to the game
• 51:27
  You can't tailgate without a ticket to the game. So that increased ticket sales, but they still didn't come in. Oh, really? Yeah, some did because they're valued, but some didn't. And while season ticket sales are the hardest thing to sell for football, your walk-up crowd is largely dependent on weather, on students, and students here are no different than students around any place in the country. They don't go.
• 51:56
  to enough athletic events it's just not part of their dna anymore even at even the big time schools the clemson and those schools yes they get students in their student section but that's only a portion of the students in their university that's true we don't even cap it here because we got a 15 000 seat stadium yeah and they would love 6 000 students to come it's just it's just not yeah
• 52:22
  It's the million-dollar question. I wanted to get your take on it, but you make some really good points, Mike. I appreciate that. And just kind of in closing, what would you like Mike Trude's broadcasting legacy to be? When you're done with this job and you decide to say, I'm going to put the microphone away, what do you want your legacy to be? I want people to know how much fun I have.
• 52:51
  doing the games. And I think that comes across. I do. I hope it does. I was always, with Mike being my mentor, I hope that I was fair to both teams. And while I want Southern to win the games, all of our ESPN Plus broadcasts that we do are supposed to be a little bit partial or a little bit non-partial. I struggled with that.
• 53:18
  So I don't say we anymore. And that's the hardest thing. And I'm sure you did it several times. I did. And Coach Poore will do it until he dies. Of course. But that's just ingrained in what you are. But I hope people think I was fair, yet they could still tell that I wanted Southern to win. And I mentioned to you earlier, jack of all trades and a master of none. If somebody would say, will you go do this pumpkin race?
• 53:46
  that Marsha Sinnott wants to do in Carbondale. Could you do the play-by-play? And I would say, yeah, I probably could. Can you cover the cardboard boat regatta? I think I can do that. I mean, that I was willing to do anything for the university, which I obviously love the university, and just enjoyed the ride along the way. And as long as I enjoy doing it, I hope I continue to do it. You are...
• 54:14
  a part of such a great group of professionals that have covered. We have been so blessed by the broadcasters we have had in Southern Illinois and SIU and even some of the local broadcast teams. I don't know that people know how fortunate we are. And until you travel outside our area and you see what other areas have and you come back and hear our guys, it's pretty special. And you're part of that group.
• 54:41
  people can tell you have fun they can tell you love it they can tell you're prepared you just do an amazing job at everything you're asked to do and man it's been an honor to to be a part you being a part of it as coach to broadcaster but also now broadcasting a little bit at the same time i really have earned a tremendous amount of respect for what you do and how easy you make something that's not easy but you make it look easy well i appreciate that and when your name came up
• 55:10
  Well, Luke had no idea. Luke was new to the area from Indiana State. And he goes, can you think of anybody who you think would be really good on TV? And I go, yeah, Kerry Martin and Marion. He goes, you think he'd be? I said, yes. He knows the game. People respect him. He's very good. He knows how to describe things. I said, you will love him.
• 55:39
  And he goes, okay, I'll give him a call. And he did. And he came back and he goes, yeah, he's going to be great. And he never, hadn't even met you in person yet. He just talked to the phone. And I said, he, I said, he will be somebody you don't have to worry about. Well, I was, I was humbled because I, I realized very early on how really challenging this was and how hard it is to make it look as easy as you guys make it look.
• 56:05
  But I learned a lot. And most of all, I earned a lot of respect for all of you who do this as a career. It's pretty awesome. Well, I go home after the games and I watch the game. And I watch you and Larry or you and Dom or whoever you're doing the game with. And I'm just as entertained as I was listening to Luke do it. So you're doing a phenomenal job. And I hope you continue doing it.
• 56:27
  Because you're really good. I appreciate it, buddy. Thank you for being here, man. My pleasure. I'm honored to have you. I want to thank you again. Thank Ross and Abby. Thank Crown Brew. Don't forget wedding photography and videography with these two. I want to thank my buddies at Adrenaline Fundraising, Jeff and Matt. I want to thank again Tony Gooch at Marion Plumbing. I want to thank you for all the positive.
• 56:49
  feedback we're getting uh and appreciate all the great guests we've had like mike today and and just appreciate you listening being loyal to it being patient with us as we take some time off here and there but staying loyal to what we're doing trying to shed light on the people in the sports profession that are making it special and let you see kind of inside them a little bit their heart their spirit their love of the game and mike truett is the consummate professional
• 57:13
  And a good friend, and I'm glad he came with me today to talk about sports and his past, his history as a broadcaster. And we thank you for tuning in again. We'll see you next time. Thanks.