Full-time Division I play-by-play jobs are rare, especially for recent college grads. Nick Pietrzycki, though, has landed one hardly six months after graduating from Arizona State. He is the new Assistant Director of Athletic Compliance and Play-by-Play Voice at Houston Christian University. The job entails reviewing the applications of potential future Huskies athletes and broadcasting Cougar football, basketball and baseball
“In this industry you have to work a 9-5, to have fun calling games from 5-9,” Pietrzycki smiles. “The added job of Assistant Director of Athletic Compliance is exciting to me, and it seems really fun getting to get a preview of [high school athletes whose games] you might be calling in a year or two.”
HCU-STAA lineage
Pietrzycki follows fellow STAA member Garrett Jones at HCU. Jones recently joined the broadcast team at Boise State. Like Pietrzycki, Jones learned of the HCU opening in an STAA Job Leads email. Neither time was the position posted on STAA’s public job board. Also ironic is that Pietrzycki is the second ASU Sun Devil to land a DI play-by-play job within months of graduating because of an unpublicized opportunity they found in an STAA Job Leads email. Braiden Bell accepted the job at Cal Baptist in 2019.
Congratulations @NPietrzycki on your new position at Houston Christian! Share on XThe Southland Conference school is a good opportunity for Pietrzycki for several reasons. “First, being a year round full time job is very secure for me, knowing when the sports stop briefly in the summer, I’m still working with great people and around the campus. Second, I am a very religious person. HCU allows me to be very open regarding my religion, which in a lot of places you can’t do. And I am very grateful for that. Lastly, being the voice for a university allows me to get to know the players from year to year and make it a better broadcast for their friends and family to watch.”
Detour from hockey
Until accepting the HCU job, it appeared Pietrzycki’s immediate career path would be in hockey. He was a broadcasting/media relations intern with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL when he learned of the college opportunity. “At the end of the day, the people at HCU are people that I enjoy being around, the compliance aspect is something new and exciting, and I’m the lead/only play-by-play voice, which is a huge honor to be the voice of HCU. I really enjoy hockey, but at HCU, I’ll be calling football, basketball, and baseball, which I love.”
Pietrzycki called a variety of high school, college and professional sports in his time at Arizona State. He joined STAA late in his senior year. He recalls, “I learned about STAA through the Jim Nantz Award, and then followed [STAA] on Twitter to submit my calls for “Calls of the Week”. When I applied to the 2024 Jim Nantz Award, I thought about joining since I was graduating from ASU soon and was having trouble finding opportunities. And after I applied, I feel that it’s worth the money for connections, resources, and of course job opportunities.” He adds, “When I first heard about STAA, I thought it was just jobs. But with everything else that comes with it, it’s not just jobs.”
And at HCU, it’s not just play-by-play. It’s a full-time opportunity about which Pietrzycki couldn’t be more excited.
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