SVG — College SportsVideo Summit

Randy Ray, Director of Broadcast Engineering at West Texas A&M University, spent more than 15 years in the Nashville, Tenn., broadcasting industry before returning to his alma mater as an instructor. “Students appreciate real-world experience,” said Ray, 47. “When I tell them it takes hard work and dedication, I’m speaking from that experience.”

Ray, a Pampa native, attended WTAMU – then West Texas State University – from 1980 to 1984. He graduated with a degree in radio and TV.

“When I was here as a student, one of the most important things I learned is that you’re only limited by the boundaries you set on yourself,” Ray said. “They encouraged me to dream big, and so I did.”

Ray moved to Nashville in 1987. He first worked as an audio and visual engineer, running equipment at events for musicians, speakers, and politicians. Ray ran into musicians Andy Denton and Billy Williams of Amarillo in the early 1990s. The trio, plus guitarist Michael Jacobs, formed Christian rock band Legend Seven. Ray, who played bass guitar, swapped his engineering job for a shot at rock-stardom. After the band broke up in 1994, Ray managed Sunset Studios, the largest sound stage and recording studio in the south at the time.

“I got to work with artists I had grown up listening to in the Panhandle of Texas,” he said.

Ray was asked to teach classes at nearby Middle Tennessee State University. He pursued his master’s degree while teaching there from 2000 to 2002. “I fell in love with the teaching aspect there,” he said.

When the opportunity to teach at WTAMU opened in 2003, Ray moved back to the Panhandle bringing his wife, Anita, daughter, Rachel, and son, Luke with him. Ray’s years in Nashville give him an edge at educating college broadcasting students.

“Randy’s experiences lend a lot to his teaching,” said A.J. Swope, a former WTAMU student. “He spent so many years in the industry, and he brings that to his classroom.”

“Ray’s experiences allow him to relate to students on a personal level,” said Alex Tomlin, a 2007 graduate. “The best thing about Randy Ray is that he is 100 percent there if you need him. He’s genuine, and he really invests in his students.”

Ray also used his knowledge of the recording industry to help design the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex. He outfitted the complex’s radio and television stations, audio suites and recording control room, and he’s been asked to equip the building’s high-definition studio.

In 2006, while Ray was designing and engineering the broadcast wing of the $32 million fine arts complex on the campus of WTAMU, he was also asked to design a video system for the athletic department. WTAMU now has a video production trailer that is used at the football stadium and the basketball arena.  The system was designed for multi-purposing. Each game is broadccast on the university’s TV station, Radio station, and streamed on the Internet as well as on  the venue video board. Ray also manages the student crew that operates the trailer.

J. Stern is in his 19th year at Ole Miss and oversees all of the athletics video operations. His work on the various Ole Miss coaches shows has earned numerous honors, including Telly Awards, Communicator Awards and awards from the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters.

In February 1990, Stern came to Oxford as the Sports Producer for the University’s Teleproductions Resource Center. He served in numerous capacities at TRC, including Assistant Director, Interim Director and the first Executive Producer of Mississippi Today, a public broadcasting show about business in the state.

Prior to Ole Miss, Stern worked at ESPN in Bristol, Conn., where he was a Production Assistant and Associate Producer on SportsCenter and remote Associate Producer for ESPN’s coverage of live Big 10 women’s basketball.

Stern was an associate producer for USA Network’s Thursday Night Fights and worked for F&F Productions in St. Petersburg, Fla., as a remote coordinator. While at F&F, Stern crewed and coordinated remote broadcasts for CBS Sports, WGN, Sunshine Network, the Republican National Convention and the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

A native of Opelika, Ala., Stern is no stranger to the Southeastern Conference, having studied at both the University of Alabama and Auburn University in speech communications and broadcast journalism.

Marc Parrish has worked at Middle Tennessee State University since 1993. As the Director of Technical Systems for the Department of Electronic Communication (which operates within the College of Mass Communication), Marc’s responsibilities include maintaining two production studios and a mobile production lab. He also oversees system integration and the installation of new audio, video, and computer equipment for the department. In 2007 he was the lead engineer in designing and installing the department’s HD studio and is in the first phase of renovating the mobile production truck to full HD.

As a former MTSU student , Marc earned his BS in Mass Communication with an emphasis in production and now serves as an adjunct professor, teaching both advanced mobile truck production classes and video systems classes. Under his supervision, the students in the mobile production truck class have recently produced football and basketball games for ESPN360.com.

Scottie Rodgers is the sports information director for the Ivy League.  Rodgers leads media relations, Website, and other communications efforts for the Ivy League’s 33 men’s and women’s conference sports.

Rodgers arrived at the Ivy League after more than two years as senior director, university relations at CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) in New York City where he served as the primary marketing, sales, and account manager for a number of online clients including two Ivy League members, Brown and Yale.

Prior to joining CBS College Sports, he spent five years at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis with the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship staff, joining the women’s basketball staff in June 2000 as assistant director and being promoted to associate director in September 2004. Rodgers was charged with coordinating the media operations for all rounds of the championship, including serving as the media coordinator for the Women’s Final Four, and also served as the NCAA national office liaison to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Rodgers’ career began at the Southeastern Conference office in Birmingham, Ala., as a media relations assistant working primarily with Olympic sports and assisting with football. He was promoted to assistant director in 1996, overseeing the women’s basketball and softball media relations while continuing to assist with football and promoted in 1997 to associate director working with men’s basketball as well as men’s and women’s cross country, women’s soccer and men’s and women’s tennis.

Rodgers has been active with CoSIDA since 1996 serving on the workshop social committee. He also worked on the local organizing committee for the 2002 FIBA Men’s World Basketball Championship and the 2004 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), as publicity assistant coordinating celebrity interviews at the Kentucky Derby from 2002-07, and on the media operations staff for the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic for the last nine years.

The 35-year-old native of Atmore, Ala., is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication. While at Alabama, Rodgers worked as a student assistant in the athletics media relations department for three years.

Rick Bagby is entering his 8th year as the director of athletic video services. Bagby oversees the daily operations of a department that services the entire Clemson Athletic Department.

After graduating from the the University of North Carolina in 1995 with a B.A. in Physical Education, Bagby took a job with the North Carolina football department as a video assistant. Working with the offensive coaching staff he oversaw the weekly breakdown of opponent’s game video and the North Carolina self-scout video.

Bagby left North Carolina in March of 1997 to accept the job of assistant video director at the University of Wisconsin before moving on later that year to become the first ever video coordinator for the University of Louisville football department.

In May of 1998 Bagby was named the Director of Video Services at Clemson. Bagby’s time at Clemson as been spent upgrading and improving the services of the video department. Taking the department into the digital age has been one of his largest tasks.

To keep up with changing technology and to feed the thirst he has had for video knowledge, Bagby is actively involved in two different professional organizations – Information, Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) and Collegiate Sports Video Association (CSVA). Bagby has served as the VP of CSVA for one year and is currently winding up his second year as President of this organization.

In 1999, he was voted as the ACC Video Coordinator of the Year – an award he greatly contributes to a hard working staff including his lone assistant Henry Guess.

Now entering his 15th year as director of athletics and recreation, Jack McDonald has guided Quinnipiac University into a broad-based Division I athletics program that consists of 19 varsity sports (7 for men, 12 for women).

McDonald has been one of the driving forces during 10 successful campaigns as a Division I member. 22 teams have won conference championships, with 12 qualifying for the NCAA tournament during that time. Along with its full membership in the Northeast Conference, Quinnipiac also competes as a member of ECAC Hockey for men’s and women’s ice hockey, and as a member of the ECAC for men’s lacrosse.

The 2008-2009 academic year was another successful one for the Bobcats under McDonald guidance. The Bobcats saw unmatched success as they posted their highest department-wide grade-point average as well as the largest number of student-athletes with a GPA of 3.1 or higher.

He also helped to secure NCAA Certification for Quinnipiac, its first since moving to Division I, and assisted in the successful men’s basketball coaching search that culminated with the hiring of former University of Connecticut associate head coach Tom Moore. In addition, nearly 140 student-athletes and five teams were honored by their respective leagues and organizations for academic excellence.

McDonald also was an intergral part of Quinnipiac’s program, design, construction and dedication of the TD Bank Sports Center, a 160,000 square foot facility that features separate state of the art venues for men’s and women’s basketball and ice hockey. The TD Bank Sports Center has received significant national recognition for its equity for men and women, as well as for basketball and ice hockey.

An active member of National Governance, McDonald was the President of NACDA’s IAAA Association from 2008-2009. McDonald was also on the NCAA Championships and Competition Cabinet (1998-2002) and chair of the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee, where he championed bracket expansion from 12 to 16 teams. He also has been a member of the NACDA’s I-AAA Executive Committee since 2002.

During the course of the 2007-2008 academic year, McDonald was also named president of Great Western Lacrosse. He has also been the president of the New England ICAAA, the regional governing body of men’s track and field.

Over the past few years, McDonald assisted in the development of a successful television, radio and Internet broadcasting package for Quinnipiac athletics. In 2008-09, Quinnipiac televised 15 games on local and regional outlets and broadcast nearly 200 additional games and events in all sports via live radio, audio streaming, video streaming and iTunes Podcasts.

McDonald and his staff oversaw the expansion and renovation of the Athletics & Recreation Center in Fall 2002, which included an indoor fieldhouse, a suspended banked track, a state-of-the-art athletic training facility and offices for coaches and staff.

He founded the Quinnipiac governing board of faculty and staff, the Athletics Council and instituted “Positive Play” programs with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Before Quinnipiac, McDonald served as director of athletics at the University of Denver (1990-95) and assistant athletic director for marketing at Boston College (1987-90).

McDonald is a 1973 graduate of Boston College. He earned a master’s degree from Springfield College in 1984.

During his college career, McDonald ran and coached track. He set the New England indoor mile record (4:00.9) and, as Head Men’s and Women’s Track and Cross Country Coach at Boston College, was selected Big East, New England and NCAA District I Coach of the Year in both 1984 and 1987.

McDonald was also inducted to the Boston College (1982) and the Archbishop Williams High School (1997) Hall of Fames.

A native of Braintree, Mass., McDonald is the oldest of 11 children. He and his wife, Linda, live in Cheshire, Conn., with their four sons: Brian, Jim, Jack, and David.

Blair Cartwright is in his third year as the Director of New Media for the combined University of Arkansas Athletic Department after serving in the same role for the Women’s Athletic Department for four years.

Cartwright oversees the production of video and audio content for the “RazorVision” portion of ArkansasRazorbacks.com as well as other video production projects for the Athletic Department. He also serves as the host and producer of the award-winning “The Razorback Report” podcast and the “Courtside with Tom Collen” internet show.

Cartwright served as co-host of the award winning “Lady Razorback TV” show with Lady Razorback Coaches in addition to shooting, editing, and producing all content for the show. Cartwright was also responsible for all the audio and video content on ladybacks.com and produced and hosted the award winning “The Lady Razorback Report,” the first podcast devoted to women’s college athletics ,which he began in the fall of 2005.

Cartwright has served as the play-by-play announcer for Arkansas women’s sporting events airing on Cox Sports Television and was the co-host of “Hog Tails,” a monthly television show devoted to Razorback sports which aired on Cox Sports Television from 2005-2009.

Prior to his joining the Razorbacks, Cartwright provided video production services to the Lady Razorbacks through his production company, Ponderosa Productions. Cartwright produced and co-hosted the award-wining “Gary Blair Show” covering Lady Razorback Basketball for 10 years as well as serving as the department’s official videographer for five years before joining the then Women’s Communications Office in 2000. In addition, Cartwright has served as the radio play-by-play voice for Razorback softball and volleyball.

Cartwright worked eight years at KHOG/KHBS-TV as a weekend sports anchor/ reporter. While at KHOG/KHBS, he won Associated Press first place awards for “sports special” and “sports videography”.  A 1990 Graduate of Arkansas State University, he has served on the Springdale Schools Alumni Foundation Board of Directors and has worked with Lincoln Financial Sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports on a freelance basis. An avid sports fan and golfer, Cartwright is a native of Springdale, Arkansas, where he and his wife, Suzanne, have two daughters, Chandler and Carrington, and two sons, Brooks and Baylor.