(August 14, 2018) Jim Noble took a chance when he heard Wofford College had a position available to broadcast football and basketball. He has 20 years of experience in sportscasting and noticed a familiar place when STAA alerted him to an opportunity. Now, Noble is the new voice of Terriers athletics.
The opening was an exclusive for STAA members. It was not published publicly.
“It was a surprise this late in the summer, but I was very familiar with the school having covered Carolina Panthers training camp there for many years while I was working local TV in Charlotte” says Noble. “So I jumped on it right away.”
Noble required a perfect landing spot to add another job to his busy schedule. That’s exactly what Wofford College had to offer. After working with the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina (WBTV), Noble moved on to broadcast for ESPN, NBC Sports, TNT Sports, Fox Sports Net and the NASCAR Media Group. Working as a reporter on the biggest platforms on television, Noble always wanted to do play-by-play. The Washington and Lee University graduate knew he had to commit himself in order to accomplish his goal.
“Finally about three years ago I said ‘it’s now or never’, and started asking around the area, resulting in Davidson basketball work and calling enough local high school football to make a demo reel to start pursuing play-by-play work seriously.”
It took more than television experience to secure a broadcasting job with Wofford College. As Noble was going through the interview process he knew he had to stand out. He focuses on his strengths. “I knew they had just parted ways with a broadcaster who had been there for 29 years so I stressed the fact that younger applicants might use Wofford as a stepping stone, and at this stage of my career, I wasn’t interested in moving around a lot anymore.”
So how did Noble sell himself as a play-by-play broadcaster despite his experience as a television reporter? “In terms of football play-by-play, I pointed out that a NASCAR booth work is pretty hard. There are 40 footballs instead of one and calling football and basketball is relatively easy in comparison.”
As for the new commute, Noble has that under control as well. “It’s only about an hour and a half from Charlotte to Spartanburg, and I have given up my daily NASCAR show on SiriusXM. I plan to be on campus at least twice a week just visiting, attending practices, meeting with coaches, etc. I do plan to fill-in on some of Sirius’ other channels – ESPNU, ACC and SEC conference channels – but I can do that remotely. Technology is a fabulous thing!”
Noble has been an STAA member since 2014. Last year, he was the subject of an STAA Member Makeover where his entire job market approach was put under the microscope to determine where it could be stronger.
“The STAA makeover was like a cold glass of water in the face – and I needed it,” says Nobel. “I was definitely too complacent, thinking that my experience and name recognition would simply blow schools away – it wasn’t like that, and I needed to hear that. I’ve always felt that I was really good at DOING the job, not very good at SELLING myself to get the job. STAA pointed that out with my admittedly lame YouTube channel and the work I was presenting on my STAA Talent Page.
“I realized I had to get serious and really sell myself.”
(Visit Jim’s STAA Talent Page).