‘Dawgs experience BIG EAST in the Big Apple

What do a former dairy processing plant, The Drew Barrymore Show, and Butler basketball legend Shelvin Mack have in common? You’re about to find out as it relates to 12 current sports media majors embarking on New York City during our recent spring break trip.

Gary Beaulieu, senior director of Butler’s Career and Professional Success (CaPS) office, joined me in hosting the dozen CCOM students as part of a co-sponsored experiential learning opportunity provided by a partnership between our offices. 

The City that Never Sleeps welcomed us to where the Big East Conference and Butler alumni intersect during the opening days of the men’s basketball tournament. The festivities tipped-off on Wednesday afternoon and served as an invaluable whirlwind of activity and opportunity for our students. 

A pre-game gathering of approximately 75 alumni and friends at Mustang Harry’s, on Manhattan’s West Side, allowed current students to interact with former students, and current professionals, in the Tri-State area. Then it was time to head next door to Madison Square Garden to watch the Bulldogs Big East tournament game. The result on the court wasn’t what we hoped for but it was still a great experience, especially as some of our students had never been in “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” But the most-impactful slam dunks, in my opinion, occurred the next day.

We headed right back to Madison Square Garden on Thursday morning, this time through the employee entrance. Taylor Harmon ’21, who majored in Sports Media and Strategic Communication, greeted us at the door and our next adventure was underway.

Taylor is a tour de force, and made time in her busy schedule to give us a behind-the-scenes look at MSG and its operations. She guided us around the home of the New York Rangers (NHL), New York Knicks (NHL)—and another BIG EAST basketball team I won’t mention here—as well as the hub for nearly every great concert act you can imagine since the mid-to-late 1960s. Everything there—even the garbage cans—had sponsors. And much like the sponsorship team at MSG making the most of every piece of real estate to monetize, Taylor didn’t miss a beat or opportunity to answer questions about her journey and future goals from our focused students before we left “The Garden” for lunch.

Next stop: CBS Broadcast Center, a short Uber ride away. Ryan Briganti ’98, senior vice president of sports sales at Paramount, arranged a tour of their NYC studios, including the stage where “The Drew Barrymore Show” is shot for CBS. Then a bonus VIP tour guide, Drew Kaliski, arrived to lead the next parts of the visit. Drew produces the NFL Sunday pregame show and might just be Bulldog parent in the near future. He noted that the building was once a dairy processing plant, which is amazing given how much technical equipment and space is needed for all of their broadcasts and content production.

Drew spun tales, provided information, and fielded questions from our group of students. We were introduced to Adam Zucker, the host of the NCAA Basketball desk for CBS, who also spent some quality time with us. Adam even remarked that this opportunity was something he didn’t get when he was at Syracuse!  We met the professionals in the “Bullpen” who watched every conference tournament game and helped prepare the hosts for their halftime show. We engaged with the production team in the control room, and even saw Butler basketball legend, Shelvin Mack, prior to his halftime show duties with Adam later that afternoon. Little did we know that we would cram into the studio, being still and silent behind the cameras, to watch the opening segment live as they produced the halftime show. 

The trip would have been great if it ended there, but we still had the Big East Career Networking Event that evening. It was exciting watching our 12 students work the room, talking to representatives of the Big East, MLB, New York Yankees, New York Rangers (repped by Taylor Harmon), Military Bowl and many more sports organizations. They not only learned about career opportunities in the different organizations but also how to make themselves stand out in the applicant pool. This event was open only to students from Big East schools, and was such a great opportunity for our students to learn more about getting into the sports and entertainment industry.

This trip was an opportunity for me to spend significant time with these 12 exceptional CCOM students—and for that I could not be more grateful. I want to call out each of them for being such amazing ambassadors of The Butler Way. 

I’ll start with Emma Martin, a goalkeeper on Butler’s women’s soccer team, whose father traveled to meet her in New York. Ally White and Butler volleyball player Cora Taylor made it a road trip to New York from Indy. It was great to have a pair of Tri-State area locals in Nick Laudano and Michael Terzakis. Ethan Polak and Nina Mazzotti had the opportunity to work the men’s basketball game on Wednesday. And to round it out, I was able to learn more about Owen O’Keefe, Charlie Petrusch, Sam Carus (yes, Sam, I still remember your prediction😊), Tyler Bigford, and Sean Davies in a tremendous off-campus setting. This group made the trip memorable for me and there is no doubt they are destined for great things.

For a couple days Butler CCOM was the common thread between a dairy processing plant, The Drew Barrymore Show, and Shelvin Mack. Experiences like these, even when they happen during a supposed break, are what makes being a Butler Bulldog in CCOM so special, and I look forward to being back in the Big Apple again next year and paving the way for our students to learn from the best and brightest in more major cities in the future!