Sports pros draw on careers to offer advice
Sports media students networked and got an inside look at sports broadcasting from two alumni working in the industry: Tom Ackerman and Dan Overleese.
Ackerman, BA’97, KMOX sports director in St. Louis, and Overleese, BA’79, vice president of operations at The Golf Channel, spoke to students at roundtable Friday in Franklin Hall commons as part of the sports media program’s Sports Media Alumni Weekend. The special event brought alumni to campus to reconnect with one another, talk to students and learn more about The Media School and its new home in Franklin Hall.
The two talked about their IU experiences that formed a basis for their eventual careers. Ackerman, for example, hosted his own show on WIUS (now WIUX), the student radio station. After graduation, he landed a job at KMOX in St. Louis, a station he grew up listening to, which covers all Missouri sports teams. Ackerman has moved up through the ranks since his first entry level job and now co-hosts his own morning show, Total Information AM, and is the sports director.
“I learned so much while I was here,” Ackerman told students in Franklin Hall commons. “I owe so much of my career to this place.”
Overleese started his career at Evansville and Indianapolis television stations, where he worked as a producer or director for nearly 20 years. He then moved to ESPN, where he was director for SportsCenter, Monday Night Countdown and College GameDay before specializing in golf coverage. After working for PGA Tour Productions, he moved to the Golf Channel, which covers 73 golf tournaments a year and reaches more than 80 different countries.
“It all started right here,” he told students, recalling his days at IU.
Ackerman, Overleese and the students talked sports for more than an hour, covering everything from how coverage of sports is changing and how networks are dealing with that, to the shifting popularity of the NFL.
But most of the questions had to do with finding a job in this competitive industry.
“Could you tell me about the process of finding that first job?” asked one student.
Overleese recalled the blizzard of 1978, which stopped central Indiana in its tracks. With streets impassable, Overleese said he rode his bike around Indianapolis, knocking on doors to see if potential employers had openings.
“Sometimes you have to be the aggressor,” said Overleese. “You have to stand out from the crowd. The doors that open are the ones you knock on.”
Ackerman said choosing places you are familiar with is key. If you walk into an interview knowing the station or network’s programming, hosts and times slots, “you will immediately connect with them, and it will give you the advantage over the others,” he said.
Other ways to stand out?
“Google people,” Overleese said. Understand their backgrounds, and learn about their jobs.
Knowing the company’s product and being able to mention some of its shortcomings and ways you could help improve them will set you apart from the crowd, too, he added.
Ackerman stressed the importance of writing skills.
“It’s an incredible skill and, in some ways, a dying skill,” he said. But how well you “communicate with the written word” could give you the edge over other candidates.
To make a good impression after the interview is over, write a hand-written note or email thanking the interviewer for his or her time. Even something that small could get you a lot of attention.
Students were also curious about working your way up once you get that dream job.
“This is an industry where you have to move,” he said. “And you have to take the initiative yourself.”
While he was working at ESPN, he was “obsessed” with being a director, he said. He had to ask for a chance to try it out and then got better and better on his own.
“No one will drag you by the collar to do something you want,” he said. “In order to love this business, you have to find something that gets you happy and rejuvenated.”
Ackerman said he is always aiming for some end-goal and using the opportunities given to him to his advantage.
“I always make sure that, no matter what my job is at the time, to do it to the best of my ability and then just a little bit more to make myself even better,” he said.
Many students, including freshman Mary Kate Hamilton, stuck around to speak with Ackerman and Overleese after the session. She attended because she hopes to concentrate in sports broadcasting.
“The main takeaway I got from this is to be adaptable,” she said. Overleese and Ackerman “went through so many changes, and it is important to mold yourself into what the industry wants you to be.”
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