What Mike Keith said about being Tennessee’s Voice of the Vols

What Mike Keith said Wednesday night while meeting with reporters to discuss becoming Tennessee’s next “Voice of the Vols”:

Being around Tennessee Basketball for the next few months, preparing to call basketball next season

“It’s trying not to get too overwhelmed by it all. There’s so much to take in. I’ve been playing basketball. I’ve had a chance in recent years to do a lot of state tournament stuff to kind of keep the skills there. I followed Bob (Kesling) back when he was doing the Lady Vols, I was Bob’s backup, so that’s where I started, but it’s just about what kind of sheet you want use to be able to follow with all the information? And the most important thing? And just kind of learn the most important things for a basketball game? I’ve done a lot more football that kind of thing, the flow of it, that’s what I need the most, and make sure I know all the rules, but that’s okay am excited to do so.”

If he reflected on the advice John Ward gave him, how much he applies it to this job as he becomes the new Voice of the Vols

“The John Ward thing is the biggest part of the equation. Because learning from John, there were so many lessons all the time. I’ve talked a lot about the preparation part of it because John was so prepared, it was just phenomenal. And I’ve followed back to a ‘T’ all the way, to the point of being overprepared most of the time. But it goes back to Ryan’s question of how to get ready. You can try to do too much, you can have too much information.

“So what’s really important? What John did was so big in terms of his preparation and his thoughts for us when we were giving points, like when I was part of the Big Orange Scoreboard if there was something going on like potentially influenced Tennessee, say at the end of a basketball season, say you play in the 17th conference, and it would help you if Mississippi State won, he wanted you to give Mississippi State score every break because he knew that that was it, Tennessee fans wanted most.

“And that philosophy of creating a broadcast, creating different content products that appeal to where people are, where they live and how they follow it, that’s what he did well. His secret is that his connection was there on every way because he was most interested in hitting it. It sounds really elementary, but John never forgot the thing. And that’s why they listened to it, that’s why they followed it. So there will be what I could give you six hours about what John Ward would think about everything he said out loud. And then the things we saw him do that we’ve all stolen from him over the course of our career.”

What has and hasn’t changed at Tennessee since he was here in the 1990s

“Well, the fan base hasn’t changed. The fan base is bigger, but Tennessee is a place like no other. There were several people that I worked with in Nashville that, when 30,000 people showed up in Columbus a couple of weeks ago, said , ‘well that’s just crazy’. I said, ‘come on, really?’ I mean they are. I was there for the 1986 Sugar Bowl. Miami was playing for the national championship and it was 95% of Tennessee fans down there New Orleans, ‘man we hope Tennessee makes the Sugar Bowl again.’ Because there was nothing like this fan base, and I want to be a part of it. I’ve been gone for 27 years. and really enjoying what I’ve seen of it so far. What’s happening on this campus is crazy. Just had someone close to me go to school here and they had a party because it was her dream school. When I got out of high school, people didn’t call us the school of dreams. You got in. And now the university is a bigger deal. And the excitement about it is just catching on joining this team in general at this time – not just the athletic teams and the athletic department – but being a part of it. Hey, I recruited two kids to go to Tennessee for breakfast on Sunday morning. So I want them all here .I understand not why you wouldn’t.”

Early moments when he thought he would be the Voice of the Vols

“So I really wanted to be the voice of the Vols from when I was little to the point when I came up here on my campus visit and at the end of my junior year, Mike Moore, who is a legendary figure in sports. production, worked at the time in the communications department for what was UTV Network. And I told him, he said, ‘so what do you want to do with your career?’ And 17-year-old me goes, ‘oh, I’m going to be the next Voice of the Vols.’ Now I want to apologize for that. I don’t know what I was thinking. I want to ask the 17-year-old me to cool it. And when I came to work for John (Ward), and I saw what he did and I saw how it wasn’t easy. And then I knew that Bob (Kesling) was going to be next and he had to be next because he had spent that time and everything that came with it, you know, it whole changed (for him). But when I was about seven to 17, I thought, oh, that’s what I want to do. I was very focused, and I had to stop. at this point you look back it’s like *cringe* but it meant so much to me. i knew how much i loved Tennessee I knew how much I loved (SEC), the college experience and especially with the CFP now and everything that goes with that, there are elements of that that make it a more exciting overall, college football in particular, a more exciting sport to be a part of. . So I’m excited to be here and excited about what we’re going to try to do. We have a lot that we need to build on from the tradition that is here. We don’t go near the things that aren’t broken. Like John Wilkerson doing baseball and the things that the Vol Network does well. Which is most things they do. I’m not here to reinvent it. I’m just here to take the next 25 years, I hope. That’s the goal I want to finish in year 100 of the Vol Network. That would be the goal.”

The support he’s received from Tennessee fans over the years, what the response this past week has meant to him

“I’ve told the story that I was nervous about the whole thing from the point of view of calling friends and saying, ‘okay, if I take this job, how do you think they’re going to react?’ And my friends didn’t really care. They said, ‘Okay, I think it would be fine.’ It’s been a little beyond what I thought it would be. And being out for breakfast last Sunday morning after the snow in Brentwood with my mom and my brother and nephews and sister-in-law and my family, just talking to people in public about it, you know, for the first time. It was just really so great because I think they understand what Tennessee means to me.

“And so they’ve been congratulatory from the point of view that they’re like, we know this fits into your story in such a nice and special way. I’ve never been shy about my story with John Ward. I’ve never been shy about being partial to WUTK, spending time with them and trying to help out anyway because that’s where I really started and I believe we have the best campus radio station in America I’ve been sending people to go to school here, just because it’s a place to get started.

“So all that kind of thing coupled with the fact that it’s an incredible career opportunity. I mean, Tennessee is one of them. Period. This is Tennessee, and when you look at the scope of what we’re in so many different sports, I don’t think there is anything like it. The kindness of the people to me has really been the cherry on top of this whole experience. Because you never know what to expect and when I was in the middle at 3-14 (with Tennessee Titans), I was kind of broken anyway. So you kind of fear the worst when you go through that. So it was extra special to have it go so well for a lot of reasons.”

What the support of the Titans organization and Titans fans has meant to him

“What was so meaningful to me was the phone call I got from (Titans owner) Amy Adams Strunk and Kenneth Adams, IV. And what they had to say to me about going forward with this opportunity, being happy for me , knowing that this meant something to me in a different way both personally and professionally. And I was nervous about it because the Adams family was extremely good to me. Everyone in the family has always been very good to me me. And at that completely basically they gave me a chance when I was 30. They put me in a position where I could put a roof over my kids and, you know, pay for groceries and stuff like that a job. They gave me a life like that and they gave me a chance to travel around the country and watch NFL games. And that phone call made it so much easier because it was so hard to walk away from that organization, that you have, in a way, poured out your heart and soul for over 30 years. I think most people would say that they could probably feel that I am up to it. And when I’m up for it, I’m up for it. And I was all in for 27 years. Just like I will be all in here come August 30th in Atlanta against Syracuse. So those who said go forth and flourish meant the world to me. And the fans, who were always very supportive, have also been very kind. And that’s, I mean, it’s still hard. It’s still hard because I still love it.