Friends are already lining up to get their hands on Mike Stowell’s season ticket to University of Tennessee football games this fall.
Stowell won’t need his. He’ll be moving a little closer to the action.
The former UT offensive lineman has been hired as the new sideline reporter for the Vol Radio Network.
Stowell replaces former UT quarterback Jeff Francis who is stepping down to spend more time with his family after eight years.
“This just happened and the season’s only eight days away, so I’m really excited,” Stowell said. “The Vol Network has been so strong for so long and they always put such a great product out there.
“When I came to Tennessee a long time ago, I realized really quickly that the fans are pretty special. It’s kind of a dream come true to be involved with this.”
Stowell, a native of Meridian, Idaho, played offensive guard and tackle for the Vols from 1989-1992.
He started at right guard in 1991 when UT went 9-3 and made it to the Fiesta Bowl. He shifted to left tackle in 1992 when the Vols again went 9-3 and defeated Boston College in the Hall of Fame Bowl.
“You get to play for Tennessee and experience some great things,” Stowell said. “To be able to come back and share some viewpoints with the fans that make Tennessee so special is an awesome opportunity.”
Stowell has previous radio experience with the Vol Network and will continue to work high school games for WNML 990-AM/99.1-FM with John Wilkerson when UT’s schedule allows it.
He also has been a regular guest on John Pennington’s Hall’s Salvage Sports Source on Sunday mornings on WATE.
Stowell joins an already veteran broadcast team led by Bob Kesling, going into his eighth season as the play-by-play “Voice of the Vols.” Former UT defensive back Tim Priest returns for his eighth season as color analyst.
“You look at the history, and there’s not a whole lot of opportunities to be with the Vol Network,” Stowell said. “I’m just thrilled to death.
“I’ll be looking for the little things. There’s a lot that goes on at the line of scrimmage that can be missed and hopefully I can catch some of that and share it.
“Just being on the sidelines you get a whole different feel for what’s going on out there.”
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Comments » 19
mdvol writes:
Just give me John Ward and Bill Anderson.
volfan73120#211815 writes:
mdvol, I agree
dlyle#248125 writes:
What I don't like about Bob Kesling is how he mis-pronounces the word "Vol". Hey says it like "Vall"?! We aren't the Tennessee Vall-unteers. We are the Tennessee Volunteers. It drives me nuts!
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
i miss john ward and bill anderson...could somebody pick up john's saying of "give ....him.....six!!!!" that should be a tennessee tradition give to us by john
pamjeffnelson#212803 writes:
Get rid of that idiot Bob Kesling ! (After reading some of the above comments, I guess that I am not the only one that feels this way ) It used to be when the Vols played on TV,you could turn down the sound and listen to the Vol Network. No more ! (I don't know anyone that does that anymore). He makes lots of mistakes , NEVER resets the game for listeners tuning in and sometimes goes half the quarter without giving the time on the clock. The ironic thing is that UT could have had anybody they wanted for this job and they picked this local yokel. John Ward was one of the best in America. Bob Kesling is probably not the best on Kingston Pike.
volfaninchattanooga writes:
Bob is really good at basketball, but he is terrible at football. It's not so much that he get's excited, the thing that bothers me is his call of the game. He rarely tells you the score, down and distance, and time left. It is a Television conversation on radio. You really don't know what is going on unless you listen to every second of the broadcast. God forbid you miss 4 minutes. You would be lost for an hour.
DadwasaVol writes:
No problem. Turn off the radio if you do not like it.
thevol writes:
The problem Dad is we used to turn the radio on. As a kid I always listened to the radio instead of the T.V. announcers. It really is a lost tradition for a lot of UT fans. Go Big Orange!
Bigger_Al writes:
What happened to Jeff Francis?
Bigger_Al writes:
Never mind - sorry for taking up space... "Francis is stepping down to spend more time with his family after eight years."
jopad#212858 writes:
Thank you Dadwas a vol!!! I've known Bob Kesling since the days he was a student and football player on the Hill. There is not a better person in Knoxville than Bob. It's a shame people like Pamjeffnelson have to resort to idiotic name calling to express themselves. I enjoy Bobs commentary, Tim Priest commentary, and yes Berts enthusiam. By they, what has happened to the great old poster on this site since it went free? Where's Busybody, Dsalvol, et all?? Hope to see their posts again. I enjoy the banter.
Sheepscape writes:
Bob's out of his element doing play by play on football games.
flstf writes:
I like Bob and think he has done an exceptional job. Not easy to replace a legend.
GreerVol22 writes:
guys, radio is an art. Old school color is not taught these days since everyone in America has cable and especially our Vols are on TV 8-10 times per year. John ward grew up in an era when there was no TV to speak of and he had to draw a picture with his voice. It often never synced up with real time. If you ever turned on the radio and turned down the TV you know what I mean. But it never mattered did it? We used to pipe out the radio into our side yard where about 10 kids used to turn green and brown every fall. So for everyone that thinks Bob is doing a good job painting a picture, think again.... compared to John, he is an elephant with a paintbrush. Best of luck Stowell!
threehundredbowler writes:
I agree.Kesling is not very exciting.However,there will never be another John Ward.Five,four,three,two,one give him six,Touchdown BIG ORANGE.
stephens#212291 writes:
I like Bob OK and I like Tim OK and I liked Jeff OK. This is hard to say but if you have heard Kenny Stabler (especially) and Eli Gold as his set up man, we do not have this and that is the problem. Stabler is good.
DadwasaVol writes:
I live on just the bare edge of radio reception here in the mountains, so I could care less who calls the game. I'm just happy to hear something. Is that static or did Foster just score another touchdown?
Dalton writes:
Who gives a phooey....Stowell-Francis-trained monkey-anybody with working vocal chords....just tell me who scored
mastrbildr88#232471 writes:
Geez...so Bob is a good guy, you've known him forever, that is irrelevant! the point is when ESPN plays the highlights on Sat night, with the succeeding school's radio call dubbed in, every other school's broadcast is better than ours. It used to be the opposite. No one had a John Ward, I think the fans deserve an announcer equal to the task of calling for a school like UT. Dickey hired Kesling for political reasons, another "national search" and guess what, we just happened to have the best announcer available in the whole country right here! Bob is a nice guy, but he does miss a lot of the action and does not give you a visual picture of the game, not to mention the essential information like the down and distance, time etc. Sometimes he calls a pass complete and the play is over before he even tells you where on the field the pass was thrown. As for turning off the radio, a lot of people do! I only listen when I have no other alternative....as everyone is saying it used to be the opposite, I don't carry a radio and earplug into the game anymore! or turn down the TV in favor of radio. I want someone as excited and biased about UT as Larry Munson is about Georgia. I hate Georgia but it is always entertaining to listen to their radio play by play....and I hate that! Why would GA have anything better than we have that we have the ability to change?
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