Toting a folding table and a bag full of equipment, senior broadcast journalism major Nick Coit heads down Boylston Street, off to announce at an Emerson Lions baseball game. While he’s not the traditional Emersonian—he gave up his love of the stage for his love of sports—his dedication to his field is in true Emerson form.
During his time at Emerson, Coit has put his all into starting a sportscasting career. You may have recently caught him hosting WEBN’s “Inside the Grapefruit League 2011” show at spring training in Florida. He and seven other Emerson students were right in the heart of all the action, reporting from the MLB’s spring training facilities during spring break. The experience gave him the opportunity to interview baseball players he had idolized since childhood, including Red Sox players.
“It was an awesome experience, [interviewing] players I’ve watched for years on TV,” he said. “Hosting it was fun. I had my eye on the position since the start of my time at Emerson. When I was down in Florida actually doing it, I knew I could do this as a career.”
Coit also keeps himself busy interning at Fox 25, where he works 3-4 nights per week and has gotten the chance to report and anchor at Boston Bruins hockey games.
Although Coit certainly hits the big leagues from time to time, he still enjoys covering small games for Fox 25. “It’s lots of high school and local stuff, but you interview kids who are excited to watch and talk to you,” he said. This week, Coit was hired as a sports producer for Fox 25 and is set to start the job right after graduation.
Aside from his experience in the business, Coit actually played on Emerson’s baseball team through his sophomore year but chose to quit in order to focus on his career and continue enjoying his other sports-related passion: playing the saxophone in Boston College’s marching band at college football games.
Though Coit doesn’t play baseball anymore, he is still part of the baseball team in a more professional kind of way. He has traveled around the Northeast and as far as Florida to broadcast the play-by-plays of the baseball games. “It was my way of staying on the team without playing,” he said. “I was able to do something new.”
Since Coit is always trying out something else in his field, this is only a fraction of what he’s done. To get involved in Emerson’s small but very present sportscasting niche like Coit, check out EIV’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct, WEBN sports, and the Emerson College Sports Business Society.