Better Know a Broadcaster: A Q&A with SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic

As we approach the 2020 season, we at Saturday Down South are bringing you a new series where we spend some time talking with broadcasters and media personalities who make our fall Saturdays so great.

This week, our newsletter editor, Adam Spencer, spoke with SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic. From discussing his long road to where he is today in the media business after his playing career at Auburn (where he was an offensive lineman) to former dreams of becoming a pro wrestler to intense Peloton competitions, here’s what Cubelic had to say during our conversation.

(Note: Interview edited for clarity and length.)

Adam Spencer: Thanks for taking the time to do this. To start, you were a player at Auburn. When did you start to develop an interest in the media side of things and what spurred you to get into this side of the business?

Cole Cubelic: I listened to sports talk radio when I was in high school, going to school and coming home from school. I actually listened to the station I do a radio show on now, in Birmingham, WJOX.

I also used to call games when I’d play Nintendo — Tecmo Bowl, NBA Jam, RBI Baseball. I would announce the games. Sometimes my friends would even ask me to announce the games even if we were taking turns and I was in between games. So, I’ve always wanted to do it.

I knew when I got out of school that I wanted to do it. I wanted to either be a professional wrestler or go into sports media. My body was too beat up to be a professional wrestler. I’d already had, I think, 9 surgeries by the time I finished playing college football, so that would have been a bad idea.

Sports media was not like it is now. When I got out, it was intern for 3-4 years, and then make $17,000-$19,000 a year, maybe. The ladder that you had to climb seemed so full that you just wondered if it was even worth it. There weren’t websites, there weren’t podcasts, there weren’t entities covering every Power 5 football team, there weren’t conference networks. The availability made it very difficult to say ‘Yes, this is realistically what I want to go do.’

And, I was tired of being broke. When I graduated from Auburn, I was tired of having $78 in my bank account or $36 in my bank account. I was ready to make some real money. I had an aunt who was in pharmaceutical sales, and she sort of helped me with the resume process and helped me with the interview process and I was able to get hired by a company that was expanding.

Thankfully, the guy that was hiring knew my name from being an Auburn fan, and that got me a step further in the interview process and I got hired. But the first fall that I was done playing football, there’s a guy named Steve Shelton in Huntsville, Alabama, and I was selling Plavix, Ambien and Pavapro … I was a drug rep up there driving a silver Pontiac Grand Prix as my company car. It wasn’t as cool as you’d think it would be. I knew this guy through my father because my father lived in Huntsville while I was growing up. My parents got divorced when I was 3.

(Shelton) owned a cluster of radio stations. One of his radio stations carried Auburn football. I literally pulled in the parking lot one day and asked if he was there. He was. I went to his office and I basically just said, ‘You carry Auburn football. I live here. Ben Leard, my quarterback I played with, lives over in Decatur, which is 25, 20 minutes away. Why don’t you let us do like a pre-pregame show? We know the team better than the guys doing it now. It’ll be great.’

I learned my first real lesson in sports media right then. He said, ‘If you can sell it, you can have it.’ We went out and got a couple of sponsorships and sold it and he gave us a 30-minute show. We called it ‘The 614 Show,’ which was really dumb. I was No. 61 and (Leard) was No. 14, so it was really corny. I remember when we recorded on a Wednesday night, I’m on my way back down south on Memorial Parkway to my apartment, I called my mom and told her that’s where I needed to be. I was home. That was my calling.

Then I learned my second great life lesson when it comes to sports media. She said, ‘That’s great that you know what you want to do, but don’t quit your day job. Make sure you find a way to financially make it work first.’

Well, that wouldn’t come until about 10 years later. That was the 2001 season and it was in 2010 that I first went full-time media. I was calling games for CSS, I was calling Sun Belt games and there was a startup sports talk station in Huntsville that gave me my first radio show. I still wouldn’t have been able to sustain it. I had to walk away a couple of years later and I tried selling boxes, I tried selling insurance, hated myself along the way. Thankfully, The UMP in Huntsville, which my show still airs on now, gave me my own morning show and I was able to do that and then bounce to WJOX.

Long story short, I’ve known I wanted to do it for a long time. That pregame show would lead to a 2-hour pregame show from Auburn that Ben sort of helped us parlay it into because he moved down there to Auburn and sort of made that happen. That would turn into the opportunity for me to call the Auburn spring game on CSS because Stan White moved over to the radio booth. Doing that spring game turned into doing the Auburn replays on CSS with Andy Burcham. That turned into getting the Sun Belt package when those games started going away. I did that with Joe Davis, who’s with FOX, Joe Block, who does Brewers games, and Tom Dore, who called multiple Bulls championships with WGN.

It was all sort of a gradual process, a long staircase, I guess. I don’t consider myself to be finished or done by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t one of those deals where, ‘Hey, I want to get into radio,’ and you job search for a few months and find your way in and that’s what you do. It just didn’t work that way for me.

AS: You ended up at ESPN before the SEC Network was a thing, right?

CC: No, because that was a major gut-punch for me was when the SEC Network was formed, that first wave of talent, I wasn’t a part of that. Then there was a second wave of talent that was announced and I wasn’t a part of that.

I think the first year, I did 2 alternate games. I think I did Arkansas-Nicholls State and then I did maybe a Mississippi State nonconference game. The next year, I auditioned for a studio job and I didn’t get it. Steve Ackels, who is still with ESPN, came to me and said, ‘Listen, we’re going to find you some games. We’re going to try to help you do some different things.’ That year, I did a Conference USA game, I did like 2 American games. I did a Mountain West game. I did a couple of SEC Network alternate games. It was mostly Mike Cousins and I did most of the games. A guy named Kevin Weidl who is now a scout with the Ravens — a great scout with the Ravens — he was our sideline guy for most of the games that year as well. It was kind of a hodgepodge of games.

Then, I got my first regular job with the SEC Network that next year. That was the early game package with Tom and Andre. It was me and Tom Hart and Andre Ware and I did that game the entire season. The next year, Tom and I went to the Saturday night game and they added Jordan (Rodgers) in the booth. We’ve been doing that, man, I guess this will be our fourth year if we’re all back.

AS: You talked about that long journey you took. When you talk about football, there are some rookies who have their ‘Welcome to the NFL’ moment. Have you had a moment where you’ve looked around and said, ‘Hey, I’m doing this big-time now’?

CC: I don’t know about the ‘I’m doing it big-time’ thing, but 2 things, well 3, stick out. One was bumping into the referee at the Arkansas-Florida A&M game a couple of years ago. That was actually the first game that Tom and Jordan and I did together. That ended up being a bit of a s—show after the fact.

The other would be the Tom Herman interview in Memphis — his last game at Houston before he took the Texas job. That thing went for like 48 hours, nonstop. That was one of my first instances really witnessing the power of the media.

Then, the other one would be going on with Scott Van Pelt during the Playoff games this year, after both semifinal games and then after the championship game. That was just a very different experience. You don’t understand how many people see one thing or are fans of one thing until after you’re a part of it. After those 2 semifinal games, my phone didn’t stop until 10 or 11 a.m. the next morning, maybe even past that — maybe even 2 or 3 the next afternoon. It was like ‘Saw you on SVP!’ or ‘Good stuff on SVP!’ or ‘Man, that was funny last night,’ or ‘You 2 had great chemistry’ — whatever it was. Again, you don’t understand how many eyeballs are on a certain thing until you’re actually a part of it.

Those were probably the 3 eye-opening instances for me being a part of sports media.

AS: Since you’ve been listening to sports radio since high school, I’m wondering who were some of your biggest influences getting started? And then, who do you still look at as being on top of the game and people you really like?

CC: The first part of that, it’s endless. I can go back to, I mean, I can remember listening to Dick Enberg call Wimbledon with my dad. My dad thought breakfast at Wimbledon was the coolest thing ever. He would make waffles or pancakes and he just thought it was a huge deal. Dick Enberg’s voice, that’s what it was for me.

Obviously (John) Madden and (Pat) Summerall when football was very impressionable to me. I’ve always been a big NFL fan. Madden was so enjoyable to watch and Summerall was a total pro. Keith Jackson, obviously, was phenomenal.

I’d be lying if I said (Kirk) Herbstreit didn’t fall into that mix. … I listened to Paul Finebaum when I was in high school. Obviously, he’s going to be an influence. Coming out of college, I was listening to (Colin) Cowherd every day because he was a college football guy. He was better than most of the national guys because he actually talked about college football. Van Pelt and (Ryen) Russillo when they were on, because they talked a lot of college football.

There are a lot of guys that I look up to now. If you’re specifically talking about what I do, Dan Patrick, Howard Stern, even a guy like Joe Rogan for his interviewing skills. I appreciate guys like Will Cain and what he does. ‘Golic & Wingo’ — I listen to them on occasion. Even guys like Ian Fitzsimmons.

The cool thing about this business is — and I tell people this a lot — for some reason, in sports media, there are more people who are willing to help you and not expect anything in return than in any other profession I’ve been a part of or heard about. I don’t really know why that is. I think, maybe, because it’s just flat-out hard as hell to get into. Unless you won a Heisman Trophy or were a first-round draft pick or have a Super Bowl ring or something like that, if you’re a regular dude like me, it’s really hard to get into. Ian Fitzsimmons was big for me my entire career.

Lance Taylor, who does the morning show over at JOX, he and Jim Dunaway have always helped me in a tremendous way, help me try to advance, try to put me in positions to succeed. People behind the scenes. I mentioned Steve Ackels before, John Vassallo at ESPN — they’ve always tried to put me in a position to be successful.

I look up to Greg McElroy, I look up to Dan Orlovsky. I think Joel Klatt is amazing calling a game. The list is endless, really. There are a ton of people who have helped me along the way. … Booger McFarland has become a guy I’ve really leaned on the past few years and has become a great friend of mine. I had Laura Rutledge on my show when she was covering recruiting when she was a student at Florida. She has been both a personal and professional friend of mine for a very long time. You get to know these people and they become your friends, they become your allies, they try to push you to get better things.

Perfect example — Stanford Steve. I’m not on SVP a couple of times without Stanford Steve. … He went out of his way to try to get me on.

AS: You played offensive line. You recently put out your list of the top 5 SEC offensive lines. Why, in your opinion, is it so hard to break down offensive line play and what do you draw on from your experience to be able to discuss it at a high level?

CC: What do people not get about it? I’d say, for most people, all of it. There are more misconceptions about that position than maybe any other position in sports. I think the reason people struggle with it is that there are no black-and-white statistics available to go with it that you can utilize to determine, ‘OK, he’s good. He’s not good. He’s productive. He’s not productive.’ It’s kind of like calling a foul in basketball. It’s kind of like calling pass interference. There’s a lot of it that’s just a judgment call.

When the people that do know what they’re talking about — like, if I gave you Aaron Taylor, if I gave you Geoff Schwartz, if I gave you Duke Manyweather, if I gave you Mike Golic Jr. — those guys can watch it and know what it is and what it’s supposed to look like. And that goes past just being a former offensive lineman. Greg McElroy knows what it looks like. Dusty Dvoracek knows what it looks like. Jacob Hester knows what it looks like. Those guys have a different appreciation for it. …

I believe you have to understand the technique that comes with it, the fundamentals that come with it, the differences in assignment that come with it, how things can change with it up front — that can be based on the play that’s called, that can be based on the defense that’s called — what the defender is doing in front of you and how that’s called. There’s so much that goes into it and it’s very detailed when you really know what to look for.

And, let’s be honest, it’s not a fun position for a lot of people to watch. Try to make yourself watch the offensive line during a game. People will be amazed when, we’ll be walking by a TV watching Thursday Night Football and I’m like ‘Oh man, that left tackle got destroyed.’ And they’re watching the ball being thrown to the other side of the field like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ I never watch the ball. My peripheral vision allows me to see where the ball is going, but I’m watching the line of scrimmage on every play of every game that I watch. That’s in my DNA. That’s what I do. That’s how I watch a game.

That’s what makes me different than some other analysts and other analysts different from me and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with either way of it.

It goes along with how do you become a better offensive lineman? You have to be in pads, going full-speed against someone who is trying to make you look bad. … You either have to really study it and ask a lot of questions about it and watch it a lot or you have to have done it.

Think about a quarterback and a wide receiver or a defensive back or a running back or linebacker or tight end. They can go run routes and they can cover each other and they can throw and catch and they can get better. That helps their craft. You can’t just go run block somebody. You and I can’t go in my backyard and work on run blocking. I mean, we could, but it’s not going to be ultra-productive.

AS: Alright, just a few random questions here to finish things off. First one: who is your dream interview subject? Someone you’ve never talked to before but would love to have on your radio show or interview during a game?

CC: Honestly, I would probably say Howard Stern or Joe Rogan. As far as the talk medium is concerned, not many people would argue that Howard Stern is not the epitome of that position. I would love to talk to him about achieving that, hurdles to achieving that, when he thought he could realistically achieve that and then just what his process is like day to day.

Richard Deitsch, his sports media podcast was great when it first started because he would ask people what their process was, how you prepare for a game, how you prepare for a season, how you prepare for an interview. I used to love listening to people talk about that because we’re all different, we’re all doing things in a different way.

Mine’s different now. I have 3 kids now, one of them is a month old. My process is very different now than it was 3 years ago when I had 1 kid of 5-and-a-half years ago when I had no kids. The amount of time I’m able to put into it is very different.

Joe Rogan, I think too, with this new podcast deal that he got, and how successful his podcast has been. They’re both great interviewers, so I always think it’s cool to interview a great interviewer because they know how to be interviewed because they do it all the time. I think they automatically become better interviews.

The cool thing about Rogan is that he has dominated 3 mediums. He’s one of the best standup comedians on the planet. I think he’s one of the best color commentators on the planet in any sport with what he does with UFC. I’m not a diehard UFC fan, I’m sort of a fringe fan, but I know when I watch him call a fight, he makes it easier for me to watch. I feel like I know more about the fighters when I watch it. And then there’s obviously what he’s done in the podcast space. You get someone who’s dominated 3 mediums of the media, that’s impressive. … He’s also been in movies and on TV shows.

If you’re just talking sports, this is just off the top of my head, but probably Barry Bonds. I was a big Barry Bonds fan and I don’t know how many people have interviewed him and given him a fair chance to really talk about his life. I think everyone obsesses with the PED part of it. I think there’s a bigger story there to be told. I think a 30 for 30 on Bonds would be amazing, and not just one that was the witch hunt that was ‘Game of Shadows.’ Like a real 30 for 30 on his life. You think about the way he grew up. With his dad, he was around the ballpark around pros like every day. Like Prince Fielder, like Ken Griffey Jr. That’s a very different life to live. I think those stories would be phenomenal to hear.

AS: Who is one person you’ve never worked a game with that you’d love to be part of a broadcast crew with?

CC: If I can pick anybody, any time, it’s Keith Jackson. To be able to sit next to him in the booth and call a game, I don’t know how you wouldn’t be excited and how you wouldn’t feel like you were the most important game that was happening that weekend. He’s unbelievable.

You hear Al Michaels call a game and you feel almost the same way. You hear Joe Buck call a game and you kind of feel the same way. All those guys would be in the mix, but I think Keith Jackson would have to be the guy. Summerall would be in there as well and I brought up Enberg before. He’s called football. Keith Jackson is still at the top of that list, probably.

AS: Last one for you. I’ve asked everybody this so far, but nobody else has become a dad during the quarantine process. What’s something you’ve learned about yourself during this process with no sports going on?

CC: I need competition in my life. I have to have competition in my life. There are a couple of ways that I’ve learned that. Number 1, not being able to have live sporting events to give me some sort of way mentally to root for one side of the other, or predict how something is going to go or anything like that, has been a major void in my life. The other part is that probably the first 18 or so days of this quarantine, I think I ate ice cream every night.

There’s a place down the street from our house and it takes them like 5 minutes to get here after you order and they have damn good ice cream. It got to where the days were so long. I would do so well during the day with the diet and everything else and at the end of the day, I felt like I needed this reward. And my wife was pregnant at the time. So we literally got ice cream like 16 or 18 straight days.

Obviously, I was gaining weight and I wasn’t doing a ton of stuff on the Peloton. Finally, I saw Boog (McFarland) tweeting about it one day and he’s convincing me to get back on there. I kind of got going again, and that competitive portion of that bike drove me. It pushed me. It motivated me.

I got on there this morning and I had no one to ride with, no one to compare scores with. It was boring. I wasn’t into it. I just realized I have to have that competitive aspect in my life somehow, somewhere. …

I didn’t know how important it was to me on a lot of different fronts until this whole quarantine took place. I’d be at my playing weight right now if it wasn’t for that (bike). I’d be up at 315.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.