In partnership with the Emmy Award-winning sportscaster and radio personality Dan Patrick, Full Sail University announced their new Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting. At first, this initiative will kick off with the early 2018 launch of new undergraduate bachelor degree programs at the university, available on campus and online. Dan Patrick and Full Sail University are supported in this initiative by sports agency Playbook, Inc., who represents Dan Patrick and other prominent sports journalists, businesses, and brands.
The curricula of the programs have been designed with the primary focus of preparing the next generation of sportscasting talent by embracing storytelling and modern-day content creation techniques; aspects that Patrick identified as critical requirements for optimizing graduate employment opportunities.
“The traditional journalism schools have been left behind by technology, and graduates of those schools are arriving unprepared for success in the industry,” said Patrick. “Full Sail University is at the forefront of providing experiential-based learning, and for aggressively embracing new communication technology. It is the perfect situation for me to bring both my expertise, and the expertise of many of my colleagues in the industry, and to marry those with Full Sail’s expertise in education, in order to create what will become the best-in-class degree program for the next generation of sportscasting talent.”
With direct interaction and teaching from some of the industry’s most accomplished veterans, students will learn not only from Patrick, but also from other industry guest experts and notable on-air talents including, but not limited to:
- Steve Cohen – SVP of Sports Programming at SiriusXM, overseeing more than a dozen channels of content. Founder of Pro Football News & Injury Report, formerly a syndicated columnist and talk show host. Recent inductee to the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame.
- Ed Goren – President, Goren Media Group. Goren is a 47-time Emmy Award winner whose sports career spans more than 5 decades. He was inducted in the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2011, and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2012. Goren launched FOX Sports in 1994, and served for 20 years at FOX Sports as President, Executive Producer, and Vice Chairman. He started at CBS in 1966.
- Jay Harris – Sports journalist primarily featured on SportsCenter, Harris has hosted a variety of shows during his tenure at ESPN including SportsCenter, Outside The Lines, NFL Live, Baseball Tonight, Cold Pizza, First Take, Friday Night Fights, and ESPN Sports Saturday on ABC.
- Arthur Samuel Joseph M.A. – Founder and chairman of the Vocal Awareness Institute. With over five decades of teaching experience worldwide, Mr. Joseph is recognized for training world famous actors, singers, national and international political leaders, broadcasting and entertainment professionals, and motivational speakers, including professional athletes in broadcasting and for events such as the Pro Football Hall of Fame Ceremony.
- Chris McKendry – Anchor Chris McKendry is currently the host of ESPN’s Grand Slam tennis coverage. She previously was a SportsCenter anchor for 20 years, also hosting ABC and ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series, the Winter X Games, and as late-night host for the X Games. McKendry has been a sideline reporter for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and served as a columnist on ESPN.com‘s “Page Two.”
- Kevin Negandhi – Host of ESPN College Football on ABC and an ESPN SportsCenter anchor. Negandhi is a long-time friend of Full Sail University, having presented at the Full Sail Hall of Fame Celebration in 2014 and 2017.
- Jeremy Schaap – Sportswriter, television reporter, and author, Schaap is an eight-time Emmy Award winner for his work on ESPN’s E:60, SportsCenter, and Outside The Lines.
- Bill Simmons – Sports columnist, analyst, author, and podcaster. Simmons was recruited by ESPN from his website, “The Boston Sports Guy”. At ESPN, he served as Editor-In-Chief of Grantland, co-created the award-winning 30 for 30 and wrote the New York Times no. 1 bestseller The Book of Basketball. He now serves as the founder and CEO of The Ringer, a multi-media sports and pop culture site that also hosts his influential Bill Simmons podcast.
- Sage Steele – Sage Steele is the co-host of SportsCenter: AM. In her 10 years at ESPN, she has hosted numerous shows and events, including NFL Live, First Take, the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and spent the previous 4 seasons as the host of NBA Countdown on ESPN & ABC. Steele is also a co-host of ABC’s annual Miss America Competition. Prior to joining ESPN in 2007, Steele was an anchor/reporter for Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic in Washington DC/Baltimore, and covered local sports in Tampa, FL, Indianapolis, IN and South Bend, IN.
- Gus Ramsey – As a producer and coordinating producer at ESPN for 20 years, Ramsey has worked with and coached some of the best known talent on shows including SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, NBA Tonight, and many others.
The University announced that Ramsey will serve as the full-time Program Director for these newly announced degree programs.
The bachelor degrees of Full Sail University’s Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting can be achieved in 21 months on campus, and 29 months online.
Playbook sought out Full Sail University to partner with Patrick, not only for the institution’s reputation for cutting-edge technology and innovation, but also for its ability to partner in providing a degree program where students will develop and refine skills for presenting sports and e-sports content for multiple platforms ranging from broadcast networks – both television and radio – to social media outlets including YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and even into the realm of VR/AR and other evolving emerging technologies. Students will learn the traditional foundations of broadcast journalism elements such as storytelling and vocal presentation, with significant skills enhancement and focus on how to better communicate to 21st century audiences based on how they ingest content and information.
“Full Sail and Dan share a common ideal of striving for excellence in everything that they do. The joint vision of educating workforce ready graduates to enter sports media prepared to make an immediate impact and become the industry leaders of tomorrow is at the core of this venture,” said Playbook, Inc. CEO Reed Bergman.
“By partnering with Dan Patrick, the leading sportscaster and renowned sports broadcast and radio personality on–air today, we further highlight the caliber of education provided to our student body,” said Full Sail University President Garry Jones. “As a seasoned professional with decades of experience, Dan brings an unprecedented knowledge base to the program and we are honored to collaborate with Dan on this important mission.”
