SDSU is a place that is home for Ryan Howlett, who first came to the university as a student in the fall of 1993 and then graduated in 1998. He worked on and off serving with the SDSU Alumni Association and the SDSU Foundation. Howlett is currently the CEO of Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) based in Sioux Falls.
The Collegian was able to speak with Howlett about his newest role of being the Jackrabbit football PA announcer.
Q: How do you feel your first two football games went?
A: I feel like the first two games went okay. [There are] some things to work on and improve, for sure. But, you know, being a rookie, they went okay. They were both two disjointed games. Incarnate Word coming out that first game, running that hyper fast offensive to catch the Jacks defensive off guard also caught the Jacks public address announcer off guard. So, it was a rough start, the first game. Once I got used to the pace, it settled down a little bit, but it was quite the awakening.
Q: What did you learn that you didn’t know when you first started?
A: I’ve done a lot of announcing. But football, I had never done football. Just the pacing of the game is different and you are constantly doing math up there. When you are doing volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics and basketball you’re not doing that. But football, you are always writing down a distance, how many yards the player got per play and you are always tabulating that. For every other sport, you’re down there on the mic by yourself. But for football, to pull it off, just because of the production of the scoreboard and the distance from the field and the sheer number of the players, you’re up there and there is a whole team of people to make the broadcast work. It is a big production and frankly, when I walked into the first game, there was probably 150 people on that sixth floor of Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium up there in some role. Whether that’s stats, camera work, electricians or behind-the-scenes people that are working to make the game run for the television audience or the in-stadium audience. I was frankly blown away by that. That’s only a small part of the stadium, so that was pretty amazing.
Q: Why announce for football?
A: Obviously it’s cool to be a part of the gameday atmosphere. I thought that I could help with adding to our home field advantage and providing a good experience for the players and the fans. I’m a Jackrabbit, through and through, and I wanted to be a part of gameday.
Q: How do you prepare before each game?
A: You get to watch a lot of football, which is cool…I make a cheat sheet that’s about 16.5 font big and you go phonetically write the players’ names or, for our team you have to do it once. But then every week you go and grab the other team’s names. Nowadays most teams now have, if you go on their website, they have a little wave file. If you click the player’s profile you’ve got the player pronouncing their own name. That has been super helpful and it’s really professional. So that type of thing has been really easy. The way athletic departments are now – they are a big business and they are just hyper professional in the way they have worked to ensure the fan experience. All the way down to how that voice in the stadium sounds and how they conceptualized it. They make sure they have the information for that.
Q: How would you describe your announcing style?
A: I think you want it to sound confident and definitely supporting the home team, but not too over the top.
Q: What does it mean to you to be entrusted with the PA duties of Jackrabbit football?
A: In some ways, I still can’t believe they let me do it. I live with my wife and my two daughters…my joke was, I can’t believe that first game I said something and 20,000 people reacted and it was amazing, because I say something at home and I can’t get three people to react. It’s really humbling to be trusted with that and that they give you the microphone for the home crowd and to be a part of Jackrabbit football. We got a great thing going obviously with two national championships. I hope to be a part of bringing home a third this fall.
Q: What was the process like to be given these PA duties?
A: I had to record some tape. They gave me a list of things that they wanted me to say. We’ve got a radio studio at work so I went into the studio and recorded the reads that they wanted me to do. So, then I sent off a file early, mid-spring, and then they called back a few weeks later and I went up to the stadium. We kind of watched two series, the series where the Jacks were on offense and then when the Jacks were on defense and did some live reads, then just went from there. It was a fun experience trying out. It was really cool; I mean you’ve been in the stadium so many times as a fan and now they have the scoreboard running and that big boom of when you push that button and say that first thing was like, “Holy smokes.” That was just an overwhelming experience to try out.
Q: What’s it like to replace a guy who has been here for 40+ years?
A: It’s a little intimidating, you know, when you think about it that way. But I’ve known Tom for about 25 years and he is such a kind person and so caring. It’s really cool to carry on his tradition and the legacy that he’s had. He had a certain sound and I want to bring forward some of those things and make sure that we keep some of those, because some of those are Jackrabbit football. There will be some things we want to do in addition to those that Coach Rogers wants us to do going forward. Tom is a legend and so I can’t imagine doing it for 44 years, because I’m 49 I’m probably not going to be alive in 44 years. It’s a thing that, if I get a decade run of doing this, I’ll be grateful. [I’ll] have served my time and served the Jackrabbits and pass it on to the next person. This job is about ensuring the fans and the players in the stadium have a great experience and that we have the best home field advantage in the FCS. And if I can be a part of that, that’s what I want to make sure Jackrabbit fans are excited about coming to the games.
Former Jackrabbit football PA announcer, Tom Manzer wishes Howlett the best and believes he will do a great job in the position.
“I think Ryan is off to a great start and will continue to get better and make it his own,” Manzer said. “I’ve known him for years. In addition to our friendship, we are both fans of Jackrabbit athletics.”
Howlett thanks all those involved with the athletic department and gameday production for helping make his job run smoothly and creating a great experience for all the athletes and fans.
