Bud Nameck: ‘The bottom line is, Bob is the play by play guy’
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- Had a phone conversation earlier this evening with Bud Nameck, who will move from the sidelines to the booth for Cougar radio broadcasts this football season. Here's a partial transcript of our chat.
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(Could you talk a little about how you view your role?) "In my mind, Bob is doing the play by play and I will do whatever it is to help Bob out to see what’s going on. And I’m going to sit with Bob, he’s coming over in June, he and I will get together and he and I will talk though a bit how we can best put things together. The bottom line is, Bob is the play by play guy, and I’m going to do whatever he would like me to do to help the broadcast.
"Bob is the play by play guy and he should be. This is his 46th year and he’s a legend and when Bob wants to step aside, that’s when he should be done. I wouldn’t want to be in the position of replacing Bob if he is forced out or it’s not his choice. That wouldn’t be fun at all."
(Do you see yourself taking over play-by-play duties if Bob decides he doesn't want to anymore?) "This move makes it that much more probable. It’s something I look forward to but not at the expense of Bob ending his career when he doesn’t want to. Coug fans want to hear Bob do the games. We should do that as long as he can possibly do it. That should be what happens.
"Every time I talk to Bob about it, he loves what he does. I think it’s important that Bob continue to do it. He’s so identified with Cougar football. If you look at the history of Cougar football, he’s the one thing that has been consistent. You wouldn’t expect someone to coach for that long, there haven’t been many real long coaching runs. Jim’s was probably the longest. For a long time there was a lot of turnover and there’s been turnover in ADs, changes for what stations, changes for the color people. He had been the one constant. I think that’s part of what endears him to Coug fans and the fact that he’s done this. When the day comes when he’s no longer a part of it, it’ll be a sad day and a very strange day for a lot of people."
(What do you plan to bring to the broadcast?) "I think just from my experience of working the sidelines the last eight or nine years, Bob and then with Jim (Walden) as the color guy, they didn’t get into the stats too much. I don’t think you can do an entire broadasct with stats, but I think they’re worth mentioning. I’ll keep a play-by-play on my pad of paper so I can keep track of how the cougs are doing on third down. Maybe Jeff Tuel has completed five straight pases, those sort of things. That might be my role, maybe throw those little bits in. I’m not a football X and O guy. That’ll be Shawn’s job. Bob will certainly describe what’s going on on the field. I’ll try to pick my spots and add something I’m not hearing. Maybe a stat or a different observation. I might take my binoculars and watch one particular thing instead of watching the ball."
(Do you know Shawn McWashington well?) "I covered Shawn when he was a wide receiver here. It was kind of funny, people always say 'how can you interview the same guys over and over?' As you know, there are some guys that just do a good job of it so you tend to go back to the same guys. Shawn was one of those guys we talked to a lot because he always had interesting conversations and interesting things to say, so we ended up talking to him a lot. I’ve gotten to know him pretty well. I haven’t talked to him since this has all happened. I think he’ll do a good job. He’s a guy that observes things well and talks very well. He'd talked about writing a book about his senior year as a Cougar player. I don’t believe it was ever published. Maybe now he can add a new chapter."
(Will it be strange not having Walden around?) "I think it definitely will. I’ll definitely miss Jim. He always had an opinion about whatever he wanted to talk about, and always had stories to tell an that certainly will be missed. At the same time I’m excited for Shawn to get the opportunity. It’ll be something that we all ... we’re all going to be adjusting to new roles. I don’t know Jessamyn either. I look forward to getting to know her. It's a new role for her, for me, for Shawn. Bob’s the stalwart who’s done it all. It’ll be interesting to grab all of that and put it together and hopefully make for a great broadcast."
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple