At 7 p.m. every Monday night, men’s head basketball coach Rodney Watson goes live from Turoni’s Pizzery and Brewery for an hour long radio show.
He and radio sportscaster Dan Egierski discuss USI basketball and other topics that come up throughout the show, which airs on WYFX 106.7FM.
The crowd usually consists of faithful USI basketball fans and the week’s guests.
The show on Dec. 8 was no different.
The start of the show was met with claps and cheers from the crowd. The loudest of those cheers seemed to come from a man at a table front and center to Watson and Egierski.
Bill Frost, 70, has not missed a men’s or women’s home basketball game in 24 years, he said. He comes to the show every week and said he has been coming since Bruce Pearl coached the men’s team.
Frost said he enjoys everything about the show.
“I’m a big fan,” Frost said. “I want to come out and support the team and support the coach’s show.”
Support from fans like Frost motivates Watson.
“We have great fans. We like to get together and hang out together. We like to give them some insight into what’s going on in our program,” Watson said. “You want to give your good fans that care this much…as much insight into the program as you possibly can.”
He said some things have to stay in the locker room, but the show is also there to let fans hear from the student athletes.
“It’s about basketball, but it’s also about USI,” Watson said. “It’s really important that we get to know our student athletes better.”
The hosts invite various guests to the shows and allow them air time to discuss themselves and take questions from audience members. Watson said he tries to rotate throughout the men’s basketball team and wants to makes sure all of the players get on the show because he sees it as a great experience for them from a public speaking standpoint.
Besides the players, he said he is also looking for any story about USI athletes.
“Julia Kohnen was on last week. A two sport athlete, working on an MBA, and studied abroad in England,” he said. “That story needs to be out.”
This week’s guests were both student athletes: sophomore Bobo Drummond, a men’s basketball player, and senior Mary O’Keefe, a women’s basketball player.
The mic was passed from table to table, after Egierski interviewed the players, to anyone who had a question.
Watson said he sees the show as a great opportunity to let the fans know how remarkable USI’s student athletes are.
“Fans typically only see the score, maybe a play,” Watson said. “Once in a while you hear or read something where something went wrong. But how often do you hear about someone who studies abroad, or our guys who go overseas and play? There’s so many brilliant things our students do and we gotta get that message out in any way we can.”
The show will continue to air from 7 to 8 p.m. every Monday night until March 16. The show that was scheduled for Jan. 19 has been moved to Jan. 20 because the men’s team plays at home Monday night.
