When J.T. Wistrcill was in 5th grade, he didn’t play a sport. His parents wanted him to do something active so they placed him in karate. “I realized to be good at karate you have to be flexible, so I quickly went back to football and basketball,” Wistrcill laughs. Ironically, flexibility is what has led Wistrcill to his new position as Assistant Director of Broadcast and Video Services at Catawba College.
Catawba is an NCAA DII college in Salisbury, NC. When they needed to fill the position, they contacted STAA.
Jack of all trades
Wistrcill will serve as the play-by-play voice for Catawba, and create content for the athletics teams and social sites. His flexibility to call many sports, and to move from Utah to North Carolina, earned him the position. “Working multiple jobs around the sports field and calling a variety of sporting events,” Wistrcill grins. “I’ve been a student intern inside a university athletic department, assisted in PAC-12 broadcasts and have experience calling several sports. Being versatile and able to take on multiple things at once has allowed me to land this opportunity.”
Wistrcill’s university athletic department internship came at his alma mater, the University of Utah. He attended from 2019 to 2022. During school, Wistrcill started broadcasting football, basketball and baseball games for KSL Sports Rewind in Salt Lake City. Since graduating, he’s called basketball, soccer, volleyball and baseball for Salt Lake Community College and hosted the Locked On Utes podcast.
Wistrcill has even created a high school football recruiting and rankings website. Again, flexibility.
He joined STAA this year on the suggestion of his friend and fellow STAA member Spencer McLaughlin. “[STAA] has allowed me to learn more about what it takes to be successful in this field. Without it I would not have this opportunity at Catawba.”
Challenges
Even though Wistrcill is a sports media jack-of-all-trades, the sportscasting job market has presented it’s challenges. “Dating back to April of this year, I’ve applied for over 100 sports media jobs,” Wistrcill recalls. “I didn’t land any of the main ones I was hoping for but finished near the top of a few searches. That gave me the confidence to keep going, even if that meant another year of staying in my old jobs. The last job I applied for was Catawba, so after nearly six months I found the opportunity I was hoping to land.”
Though Wistrcill lacked sufficient flexibility to land a high kick, he is plenty flexible to land his first full-time job broadcasting NCAA athletics.