Putting on a show

If you've never done it before, it can look scary. But now that I've done it for so long, I tell people it's really not, and I can teach them exactly how to do just about every part of it.

"If you've never done it before, it can look scary," said Moxcey, who joined Longwood's ESPN+ crew as a junior and worked her way up from camera operator to full-fledged director. "But now that I've done it for so long, I tell people it's really not, and I can teach them exactly how to do just about every part of it."

As a member of the Big South Conference, Longwood is required to broadcast more than 80 games annually on ESPN+, the global, subscription-based streaming service administered by "The Worldwide Leader in Sports." And since Longwood officially joined the conference in 2012, students like Moxcey have played a crucial role in getting those broadcasts on the air.

Utilizing modern cameras and broadcast equipment, including a state-of-the-art studio in the Joan Perry Brock Center and a portable broadcast trailer that travels campus, Longwood's student crew puts on broadcasts that are routinely among the best productions in the Big South. Buoyed by ESPN's reach, viewership ranges from hundreds to tens of thousands per event, providing significant exposure for Longwood, its Division I teams and hundreds of student-athletes.

And just as the ESPN+ partnership has increased the exposure of Longwood through its Division I athletics teams, so, too, has it served as a launchpad for Longwood students who want to enter the broadcasting profession.

"I see students do what I did: They come in, they don't know what they're doing at first, and then the bug bites them," said Brandon Fenters '21, Longwood's director of video operations and a former student member of the ESPN+ crew he now directs.

For Fenters, a former communication studies major, the broadcast bug bit him almost immediately. His first involvement with ESPN+ came during his sophomore year when, as part of his COMM 335 Media Production class, he was assigned to run a camera during a broadcast for a class assignment.

"I came in just approaching it as something I was required to do for a grade," he recalled. "But once I was there, I was really intrigued by what I saw in the trailer. I saw the board, the camera switcher, the on-screen graphics and the replay machine, and I immediately said I want to do that. After my third or fourth game, I was in the trailer and I didn't leave."

Now Fenters occupies a multifaceted role with responsibilities not only to coordinate and execute the production of Longwood's home broadcasts every year, but also to train students on everything from how to frame their shots to how to direct entire games. He's a mentor who bridges what students in his broadcast crew learn in the classroom and how they can apply it to the often unpredictable, real-world setting of a live broadcast.

That brand of experiential learning is a crucial component of a Longwood education, and ESPN+ is one of many avenues students have to pursue it.

If you're choosing to hire a recent graduate who didn't do live broadcasts versus one who has worked dozens of ESPN+ broadcasts over several years, which are you going to hire? Sometimes that experience speaks volumes beyond a GPA.

"One thing I tell my students is there's no learning on the job for the unemployed," said Jeff Halliday, Longwood professor of communication studies. "If you're choosing to hire a recent graduate who didn't do live broadcasts versus one who has worked dozens of ESPN+ broadcasts over several years, which are you going to hire? Sometimes that experience speaks volumes beyond a GPA."

Halliday, who has been a driving force for student involvement with ESPN+, credits numerous university partners, including the athletics department, for providing outlets that allow students to apply the knowledge and skills they've learned in the classroom to real-world settings. Those partnerships have created a pipeline that has launched Longwood graduates into careers in broadcasting, from professional sports to local news, thanks to their early exposure to the world of 4K cameras, switchboards, encoders, replay machines and more.

"Our students have demonstrated over almost 20 years now that they have the capacity to step into those roles and be successful," Halliday said. "We've had many alumni come back to us over the years to tell us they felt prepared the second they showed up to their first jobs. They had already put their hands on equipment similar to what they're asked to use as professionals-sometimes the exact same equipment."

Many of Longwood's ESPN+ "alumni" are employed by professional organizations like NASCAR, regional news outlets including WDBJ 7 in Roanoke and even college athletics departments like Longwood. But before those Lancers became full-fledged professional broadcasters, they cut their teeth running cameras and filling various studio roles on Longwood's ESPN+ crew.

"You can't really replicate in a classroom setting what you experience live," said Jose Ramos Flores '26, who has been part of the ESPN+ crew since his freshman year. "There's a pressure to it. When I'm doing graphics, if the score or fouls are off by one, I know somebody out there is going to notice. If I'm on camera and my shot isn't framed right, that impacts what the viewers see. If I'm calling a game and I say the wrong information, people notice."

Now a senior, Ramos Flores is holding fast to his dream of becoming a basketball commentator, specifically for his favorite NBA team, the Chicago Bulls. His ESPN+ experience will no doubt help him get there.

"It's been a great lesson because I've learned everything that goes on behind the scenes and how commentary actually fits into the broadcast," he said. "I've gotten to interview professional commentators at high levels of college athletics, and they've all told me that understanding what's happening behind the scenes is really important."

Ramos Flores remains a jack-of-all-trades with Longwood's crew but has earned his share of appearances calling games as a play-by-play commentator and color analyst as well. Working alongside Sam Hovan, Longwood's director of athletics communications and voice of the Lancers, Ramos Flores has learned firsthand how to prepare for games and share his insights in a manner that enhances what viewers see on their screens. He's also learned how to deal with unpredictability and overcome miscues in a live setting, much like the high-performing Longwood teams he's covering.

"You can't predict what will happen during a live broadcast," he said. "Things will go wrong, but you can't stop. You're live, so you have to keep going. Learning patience and calm in the face of a crisis is crucial."

Those are all lessons Longwood faculty like Halliday integrate into their syllabi, but it's not until students are faced with those crises in a real-world setting that the lessons become cemented.

For me, I looked at ESPN+ as a key that would open a door for me, and it's done that for many of our students, too.

"I truly believe the best way to learn is to get thrown into the fire," Fenters said. "For me, I looked at ESPN+ as a key that would open a door for me, and it's done that for many of our students, too, be it something in sports or news or film or really anywhere. If you can hang in sports production, you can hang in pretty much anything."

• Christian Fox '17
  • Transmission engineer, NASCAR Productions (Concord, North Carolina)
• Autumn Childress '18
  • Morning reporter and anchor, WRIC-ABC 8 (Richmond, Virginia)
• Payton Conway '18
  • Senior associate producer, World Wrestling Entertainment (Stamford, Connecticut)
• Shannon Blunt '19
  • Senior producer, SiriusXM (Washington, D.C.)
• Colby Dunaway '19
  • Director of broadcast operations, High Point University (High Point, North Carolina)
• Kiersten Freedman '19
  • Social media strategist, Cars.com (Washington, D.C.)
• Alaina Jacques '19
  • Founder, Purpose Media LCC (Richmond, Virginia)
  • Social media editor, iHeartMedia (Richmond, Virginia)
• T.J. Wengert '20
  • Associate video editor, CoStar Group (Richmond, Virginia)
• Victoria Coleman '22, MBA '25
  • Morning news producer, WAVY-TV 10 (Hampton Roads, Virginia)
• Jamila Cromartie '22
  • Director, ABC 13 (Norfolk, Virginia)
• Makayla Jennings '22
  • Associate producer, WDBJ-7 (Roanoke, Virginia)
• Nicole Ardovino '23
  • Technical media producer, 12 On Your Side (Richmond, Virginia)
• George Gaston '24
  • Manager, game presentation and production, Durham Bulls (Durham, North Carolina)
• Ryan Forrest '25
  • News producer, CBS19 (Charlottesville, Virginia)
• Jacob Halloway '25
  • Manager of video production, Christopher Newport University (Newport News, Virginia)