LSU’s search for a play-by-play radio broadcaster is in the final stages and includes some recognizable local names.
Charles Hanagriff, Patrick Wright, Lyn Rollins, Sean Kelly and Patrick Netherton made the cut of semifinalists for the job to replace Jim Hawthorne. A source with knowledge of the search process revealed the five local candidates, but declined to reveal others.
There are as many as four national candidates in the mix who, along with aforementioned five, will be interviewed next week by a small selection committee, the source said. The school is still on track to make a decision by the end of the summer.
LSU athletic director Joe Alleva, school spokesman Michael Bonnette, Ward Wyatt, the general manager of LSU Sports Properties, and Gordy Rush, the vice president and market manager for Guaranty Broadcasting, for the selection committee.
The committee and university officials are not releasing names of the candidates. Alleva said the field had been narrowed to about seven people during an interview last week on Culotta & The Prince show on 104.9 ESPN radio.
The aforementioned five local candidates currently work in Louisiana in some sort of broadcasting capacity.
Hanagriff has a midday show on 104.9 ESPN radio. He’s served as the sports director for Guaranty Broadcasting since 2002 and has been part of the play-by-play team for the LSU baseball team since ’02.
Rollins, a longtime television play-by-play announcer, is a four-time Louisiana Sportscaster of the Year winner. He’s announced more than 100 LSU football games and has been the play-by-play TV man for many of the Tigers baseball games this season.
Wright, LSU’s “Voice of the Lady Tigers,” has called LSU women’s events for more than 20 years. He’s a 1992 graduate of LSU.
Kelley has been calling New Orleans Pelicans games for the last 10 seasons. Kelley served as the voice of the Tulane Green Wave from 2002-2005, calling TU football, basketball and baseball.
Netherton has been the play-by-play voice at Northwestern State for several years and was the sidekick to Tim Brando on Brando’s satellite radio show, which ended in May.
LSU wants Hawthorne’s successor to be in place for the start of an orientation period Nov. 1, but the new hire could arrive well before that.
Hawthorne, 71, announced in February that he will be retiring from the job as “Voice of the Tigers” following the 2015-16 basketball season, sparking the search for a full-time announcer that LSU hasn’t undertaken in more than 30 years.
Hawthorne will call the remainder of this baseball season and this year’s football season before calling it quits after basketball.
The school received about 120 applications for the position – officially called “Director of Broadcasting for the LSU Sports Radio Network.” The position includes being the radio play-by-play announcer for LSU football, basketball and baseball.
Via- Ross Dellenger, the advocate