Intro

Russell Ries 0:53

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, wherever you're listening from. It's Sunday, August 30th. My name is Russell Ries, and you are listening to the Nashville Sports Report. All right, well, we started today's show with a clip from Robert Sala's press conference last night after the Titans' final preseason game. Sala was talking about the inevitable cuts that will happen today as cut down to the 53-man roster is due, I believe, by 5 p.m. today. It was a pretty busy week for the Titans since we last spoke. Last Sunday, they defeated the Seattle Seahawks 19-16. Cam Ward started and played three drives in that game, finishing 8 of 12 for 69 yards. Not an incredibly inspiring performance from him. The Titans trailed 16-3 when he left. The Reserves scored the final 16 points for the win. That visit from the Seahawks was featured on this week's episode of Hard Knocks, which is available on HBO or Hulu if you have it through that. It was an interesting look at the Seahawks traveling to town, practicing against the Titans, and then participating in the preseason game. Then later last week, the Chicago Bears came to town for a joint practice on Thursday. If you've been listening to the show, you know that I feel like the joint practices are a lot more important than the actual preseason games. And I'm excited to say that Cam Ward had a really good day throwing the ball against the Bears on Thursday. Carnell Tate was the offensive standout. He had seven catches, two for touchdowns, winning a bunch of reps against the Chicago defense. Speaking of defense, the Chicago first team offense had some success against the Titans defense on the day. Still, things seem to be trending up. Potential roster cut Xavier Restrepo, Cam Ward's old college buddy, had a pretty good day against the Bears in practice. And then yesterday, the Titans and the Bears met at Nissan Stadium for the final preseason game for both teams. Cam Ward and most of the starters did not play. Will Levis handled most of the quarterback duties. He went 14 of 22 for 143 yards. Surely the Titans are hoping to showcase him for a potential trade. So they don't have to cut him today. Xavier Restrepo had another great day. Four catches for 71 yards. Another name to watch during cutdowns today. Will he make the 53-man roster? Will they try and sneak him through to the practice squad? We'll be curious to find out. Again, the roster cut down deadline is at 5 p.m. this afternoon when the Titans must have their roster reduced to 53 players. Finally, in Titans News this week, the Titans and Nike and the NFL unveiled the rivalry jerseys for the Titans. That'll be their alternate this year. They'll only wear them once. It's going to be on November 15th against the Jaguars. It's a Music City themed jersey. They feature the old dark blue that's primarily gone away since the Titans rebrand. It actually kind of reminds me of the Pred's old blue jerseys for some reason. But it's got Music City written across the front. The numbers are quote unquote neon inspired. And like every jersey that gets made for a team in Nashville, there is a reference to six strings this time on the pants stripe. It's an interesting jersey. I think the uniforms themselves look pretty good. I really like the helmets, which are featuring the primary light blue with the navy on top. I'll put a link to some of that stuff down below. Moving on to Nashville SC, yesterday they had a resounding win 4-0 over FC Cincinnati at Geodis Park. Another huge statement win. I think FC Cincinnati's like fifth or sixth in the Eastern Conference right now. Nashville SC just dominated, stomped them about the park. They are now on 52 points. They have four straight MLS wins. They are nine points ahead of their closest competitors in the Shield standings. That's Vancouver. Ten points ahead of the second place team in the Eastern Conference, that's Miami. They will hit the road on Friday for a match at New York City FC. They will be playing at Yankee Stadium. That'll be Friday evening at 6.30 p.m. That'll be the first of three straight road matches for Nashville SC. They'll again be on the road not this Wednesday, but the following Wednesday, and then again the following weekend after that. College football kicked off this weekend with week zero games. I'm not going to get too deep into the weeds on that because none of them were Nashville teams, but it does mean that next weekend, football is kicking off. Vanderbilt is opening their season on Saturday, the 5th, versus Austin P at First Bank Stadium at 6 p.m. Got a great conversation with Andrew Allegretta, the voice of the Vanderbilt Football and radio director of Vanderbilt on today's show. Check that out in just a minute. Moving on now to the Nashville Sounds. This past Thursday, Brandon Sproat and Tate Krooner combined for Nashville's first no-hitter since 2017 in a 2-0 win at Norfolk. The Sounds are now 69 and 59 on the year, 26-27 in the second half. That puts them at fourth in their division and seven and a half games back of the leaders. Vanderbilt Soccer, who is number three in the nation, improved to 4-0 with a 3-1 road win at Rice on Thursday. They will be playing again in Texas today against Houston. That game is at noon.

Andrew Allegretta Intro

Russell Ries 6:57

Alright, well, my guest today is Andrew Allegretta. As I mentioned, Andrew is the director of Vanderbilt Radio Broadcasting. He does play-by-play for the Vanderbilt Sports Network, covers football and baseball. Coincidentally, uh Vanderbilt just yesterday extended their radio partnership with Cromwell Media. That means they will be continuing on 1025 the game as the primary flagship for football, men's basketball, and baseball. So you'll be able to hear Andrew on that radio station for many years to come. Andrew also calls Vanderbilt Men's and Women's Basketball on the SEC Network. And he originally arrived in Vanderbilt from Tulane, where he was also the director of broadcasting. On Thursday, I sat down with him to talk about his path into broadcasting, how he prepares for different sports, and his perspective on Vanderbilt as we head into this new season. I hope you'll enjoy my conversation with Andrew Allegretta.

Andrew Allegretta Interview

Russell Ries 8:01

All right. Well, Andrew, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited to have you. I know that uh this is a busy time of year for you, getting ready for kickoff next week, but uh thanks for making the time to come on.

Andrew Allegretta 8:13

Happy to chat. Good to talk with you, Russell.

Russell Ries 8:15

Yeah, thanks. Uh I'll go ahead and dive right in, hit you with questions that I give everybody to just kind of start off. Starting with what is your earliest sports memory?

Andrew Allegretta 8:24

Fun question, good question. Um, for me, so I'm from Maine originally. I think two things come to mind, perhaps. I remember getting a hockey stick at a very young age, which I suppose feels very fitting for someone from the Northeast. Um, but I also remember going to a Red Sox Yankees game when I was like four years old. That was a really special moment. I mean, I don't think I fully grasped at the time at four what the Red Sox and the Yankees were, especially for that region. But, you know, as you get older, you can kind of put that into context. And I can still kind of see Fenway Park from from that perspective. And I think we sat behind tone plate, but like, you know, regressed behind some of those beams and the way that Fenway Park has it set up. So uh I think that's the one that comes to mind uh first for me, which is, you know, thankfully a pretty cool one.

Russell Ries 9:12

Yeah, that is.

Andrew Allegretta 9:12

And I take it being a maner, you fall on the Red Sox side of all that, or you know what's um funny, and this is difficult for um people outside of New England to understand, only because like geographically it's so tight up there. Um, I never felt deeply connected to the city of Boston, despite the fact that I'm from New England. Um, it's about two hours away, which for us here in Nashville is nothing, right? Like Memphis and Knoxville are both further. But everything is so geographically condensed up there that two hours feels like a lifetime. Um, so I enjoyed going to uh Bruins games growing up or going to Red Sox games growing up, but like we also had our own sports community of minor league hockey and baseball teams there that I felt a little bit more connected to. And I I actually don't have like a deep affiliation for the Red Sox or Yankees. I we kind of had our own thing going on up there. I don't that's that's kind of a a unique thing. I mean, most people certainly are in the the Boston or New York camp. For me, I never felt connected to to Boston sports like that for whatever reason. Perhaps I was just trying to be contrarian. I don't, I don't know.

Russell Ries 10:20

Yeah, fair enough. You know, I'm a firm believer of however you arrive at whatever you arrive at. It's more more than good enough justification. Absolutely. So totally understand that. Well, coming down from Maine, how did you find your way into Nashville?

Andrew Allegretta 10:36

It was twofold. Of course, the opportunity professionally was here. Um it's something that I had pursued, maybe not Nashville and Vanderbilt specifically, but uh broadcasting um very fortunately at you know, perhaps the highest level that I could obtain. And SEC football, SEC baseball, all this sort of stuff is certainly way up there. Um so I was really thankful to to you know have that have that opportunity I could take a swing at. Um the other is family. So my wife is from up the road in Franklin, Kentucky. So that's 45 minutes or so away. And she's got family here, and we've got a young family, so they get to grow up around extended family. So um it's one of those, I would say, typically unusual situations in our line of work because it can take you far and wide. Like I've lived in the Pacific Northwest, I have lived, you know, in the Northeast, I've lived uh in the mid-Atlantic, and I've lived in, I suppose, I don't know if it's the deep, deep south. New Orleans is kind of its own place, but um, I've lived uh a lot of different places. So the fact that I could pair two things together is is pretty fortunate.

Russell Ries 11:39

That is. I I often think of New Orleans as the northernmost Caribbean city.

Andrew Allegretta 11:45

I think that's fair. Like it's it's a place unto itself. I when I first moved down there, someone told me to like suspend all of what you know about how American cities operate. And turns out they were right. There's a lot of unique but also deeply wonderful things about uh New Orleans. It is in a class unto itself. Um, I mean, it's the American South, but the the city of of New Orleans itself is uh it it operates uh very much to its own drumbeat, which is great.

Russell Ries 12:16

Yeah, absolutely. I've got a family down there and don't get down there enough, but yeah, incredible city. Okay, so gonna move on to some more Nashville stuff. What is your favorite Nashville sports memory?

Andrew Allegretta 12:28

Uh for me it's gonna be, you know, Vanderbilt stuff. You know, I am aware from afar some of the fun moments the Titans had in their history, whether it's, you know, the McNair and Eddie George days. And um, I certainly, you know, being from the Northeast, am a big fan of hockey. So, you know, from afar, following what the Preds did back in, you know, 2017 was was awesome. Uh, but but for me, it's it's what Vanderbilt has accomplished in the past couple of years. You know, that really fun night on October 5th, 2024 versus Alabama is something that's going to stay with us for forever. And that's great. Uh, what we did last year on the football field was was, you know, about as fun as I've had in a broadcast booth, perhaps ever. You know, I'm sitting at Hawkins Field in our press box. We've had some really awesome moments in the past couple of years as well. Um, so I I I would say it it's the Vanderbilt stuff that we've been able to experience in the past 24 months or so.

Russell Ries 13:27

Yeah, that makes total sense. I was thinking about it before I talked to you. I've lived here since 1985. You and I have experienced the exact same number of Vanderbilt victories over Alabama, uh, I believe.

Andrew Allegretta 13:40

Yes, yes, exactly. Um, and specifically in the the the metro in the metro area. I mean, the last time that they beat Alabama before 2024 was 1984, but that was in Tuscaloosa. So you had to go back to 1969 when when they did it in Nashville. So yes, 100%.

Russell Ries 13:58

It's pretty incredible. I often think about that. Vanderbilt seems like it's what I've uh sort of punningly become to call the black and golden age of Vanderbilt sports. Do folks realize that that like the students or you know, do they understand sort of the history and can you feel that?

Andrew Allegretta 14:15

You know, I've I've thought about that to an extent in in part just to ground myself in the history, because I recognize that I've not been here for all of it. I don't want to gloss over moments in the early 2010s when the basketball team is winning SEC championships and Coach Corbin wins the national championship in 2014. Obviously, uh three very successful seasons with Coach Franklin. Um, so I I don't want to move past those. That's a pretty important era. And, you know, we're students of history here at Vanderbilt, too. Like Coach McGugan ran the state of Tennessee from a football perspective for many years, albeit a hundred years ago, but he sure did. I don't know. Um, it's hard to say anything is a golden age until you've got the perspective of history behind it. I think, I think the the people that have been around long enough, the ones that have helped me understand the depth of the moment, absolutely get kind of where we are. What's really fun being in it is this recognition that there's no attempt to stop. There is a very focused and driven desire to make this not just a moment, but a standard. Um again, I'm sitting in Hawkins and I can see construction that's happening uh for the baseball facility. I was just over at football practice. Like you can, you can see and feel all of the enhancements that have happened there, uh, both from a skill and talent perspective as well as a facility perspective. So uh do they do they understand it? I mean, I think Candace Lee certainly understands it. She's got the depth and perspective of history. She talks all the time about, you know, not being satisfied with where we are moving forward while also understanding where we come from. So that's a big point of emphasis for her. Like we just had an all-staff meeting where we talked about our vision, but also took a moment to recognize everything that's happened inside memorial and how much the men's basketball and basketball programs meant to the city of Nashville before it became a major pro sports hub. So we're really good about kind of putting our moments in context. We'll see where this one goes. I can tell you the past 24 months have been pretty impactful.

Russell Ries 16:17

Yeah. I mean, I I asked that as someone who remembers when four wins could get Jerry Donardo hired away from Vanderbilt to LSU. Plus you, yeah.

Andrew Allegretta 16:25

No, I've heard the story. Um yeah, I don't um I it's a it's a it is perhaps I mean, there's no doubt that um what's happened specifically in football is in the collection of top two, three, four, or five moments in the history of the program, if not the single greatest individual season in the history of the program, depending on you know what your metrics are. If it's the fact that it's the first 10-win season in the history of the program, then it's the best season in the history of the program. If it's the fact that you put somebody in New York City for a Heisman Trophy uh presentation and they finish second, which isn't a remarkable accomplishment, then it certainly has the ability to be the single best season in the history of the program. The victory versus Alabama is going to be something that is remembered as one of the best victories in the history of the program, if not the greatest. Um, so again, I have a hard time like, you know, stamping anything as like the single greatest ever without having the history of context, uh, because we all become prisoners of the moment. We've got recency bias. But I mean, you can't, from a football perspective, walk away from the fact that it's certainly very, very, very, very, very high up the list of one of the best eras. But Clark's not satisfied. Like he's been here six years. So five of his six years, well, back up, of the first five seasons, two were exceptional. A third was okay, and two are really tough. I don't think he's sitting here feeling like he's on top of a mountain, feeling like the work is done. Um, I really don't feel like in any way he thinks the work is done here at Vanderbilt. Um, so that's that's the great part about having Clark and Candace and Deermeyer around.

Russell Ries 18:05

I think that's an exciting thing for me from the outside looking in is that what you're speaking to there, like previously I think there might have been a little more resting on the laurels of like, hey, we've done great, but it seems very much like what you're saying. Like Vanderbilt is not satisfied and wants to continue pushing forward in a way that maybe we previously haven't seen on West End.

Andrew Allegretta 18:28

I think that's fair. I mean, I think Clark and Candace and Deermeyer, but just because I'm around Clark at practice, I think that's probably something he has fought against specif specifically. Like there's there is an easy tendency to just go, wow, that was great, that was fun, that's the best thing we've ever done. Okay. I don't I don't think he's an individual that's just he's not gonna rest on laurels, he's not gonna say, Well, that's cool, that got me a contract extension, whatever. I mean, he's he has spoken to many a groups where they're continuing to push into into more. I mean, he wants to bring a national championship here, he wants to set the standard that competing at the absolute highest level is is not just the hope, but the expectation. And, you know, he's got a lot of alignment from his staff and from administration in that regard.

Russell Ries 19:19

That's really cool. And it yeah, it definitely seems like sort of something that Candace has really driven forward. I do want to ask you more about Vanderbilt in a little bit, but I'd like to pivot a little bit more to you and your career. You mentioned growing up in Maine. When did you realize that you wanted to get into sports broadcasting? Was there a particular broadcaster that you admired, or what what was it that sent you down that path?

Andrew Allegretta 19:43

I don't know. I mean, I I had the inkling and the feeling and the inertia for it for probably a long time. I've I've got a wonderful family. They were all in the medical field. Um, that wasn't anything that spoke to me. It's an incredible field, and I have just remarkable respect for it because I've seen it, but that's that's kind of not where I wanted to spend my days. I don't know. I mean, I'm a product of those, I guess, like the Dan Patrick Rich Eisen Sports Center days to an extent, and I just knew that that looked really fun, and there's not a lot of depth behind that. So I sort of just gravitated toward it. I mean, I also was always very much into sports, um, not athletically gifted, but there's different ways that that you stay involved in it, and it just it always was something that kind of felt natural and felt right. And I didn't have to think or struggle with it. You know, I feel fortunate in that regard where a lot of people, not in a bad way. It's just you're they're you're trying to figure out what you want to do, and some people figure it out, some people don't. And that's okay too. It's like you don't, not everybody has to. A job doesn't always have to be um this like remarkable calling. It can be part of your life that that includes family and all of that sort of stuff too. Um, for me, it was just it was a really easy fit. So from that, I just I stuck with it. I did internships in high school and pursued colleges, even if I didn't have like a refined idea of what I was going to do within it. That kind of came later. But it was an easy fit. And I just kind of pursued that path. And it never was a struggle of whether or not I want to do this. It just it felt like something that I was gonna be willing to do full throttle and with passion for as long as possible.

Russell Ries 21:31

That makes sense. I I'm kind of the opposite of what you described. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, but yeah, you know, it's all good either way.

Andrew Allegretta 21:38

There's no there's no answer in that. Like I've got great I've got great friends that that there is there is some of that, like uh this is a completely off topic conversation, but there is there is some of that, like we yeah, everybody gets asked, what do you want to be when you grow up? As it as if you have to have an answer to it, as if it like sort of defines your path or it defines the way that you. You climb a ladder or a staircase as if it has to be linear. Like I don't know. I I you don't have to do anything. You can do whatever it is that you want that makes you happy, that kind of uh sets up your day-to-day in a way that's positive. I I don't know. Um, I just for me, for me, it was an easier fit. So in that regard, I felt really fortunate that I I didn't have to, you know, ebb and flow. I mean, from from that perspective, that that part of the questions that you try to figure out if you're going to college or whatever, I I didn't I didn't have to struggle with those questions. Those were easy questions for me.

Russell Ries 22:36

That's great. Once you got into sort of the broadcasting path, this is something I'm always curious about. You have a very distinctive voice, you have a very distinctive sort of cadence, and and I feel like you know, you kind of tailor the way you call football versus baseball given the ebbs and flows of the game. But is that just kind of come out of how you naturally talk, or do you put have you put a lot of sort of thought behind how you want to present your voice and your cadence, or sort of how does that evolve over time?

Andrew Allegretta 23:05

Yeah, I that's a good question too. I think the shortest answer to that is probably rooted in where I went to school. I think if you lined up a lot of Syracuse announcers, we would all sound almost uh borderline insanely the same. Maybe not to an exact tone or pitch, but presentation is very we all fall off a little assembly line up there. So I think it's mostly rooted in how I was taught and what resonates with me as someone that listens to a lot of stuff. The people that I have always really like gravitated to. So Dave O'Brien does the Boston Red Sox, Sean McDonough used to do the Boston Red Sox, uh, Don Orsillo used to do the Boston Red Sox. I mean, I despite not being a huge Boston sports fan, like there's a lot of Boston influences on me just because it was around. Those guys all have a voice that kind of cuts through. And I don't uh I would never insinuate that half of the announcers that those guys are, but I I like hearing something that is noticeable. Like when I when I listen to announcers, like how well did you get my attention with just the way that you were able to, you know, I I always I always think like, can you make a one-one pitch interesting? Like, can you make me pay attention to a one-one pitch? And you know, how that sort of ends up fitting in your own style is that's a long process, and I would never even suggest that I'm like done learning. But I I I really appreciate announcers that can make you pay attention with just the way that they speak. And it's it's professional, it's as full as possible, it's confident, it's clear, it's um, it's something that just kind of makes you instinctually pay attention. Um, and there's there's different presentations for every moment, you know. If you're a musician and you've got a show at the Ryman versus a show at Nissan Stadium versus a show at the Bluebird, like I think you're gonna, I don't know, I've not talked with a bunch of musicians that have done all this, but my gut would tell me that the the room is important, um, and what you need to do to occupy that space is important. And I don't I don't think they're again, not apples to apples, but I think how you are thinking about each sport, each moment, each setting, each game, there's variances there. So I don't know. That's a long-winded answer. I I think we all, number one, fall off an assembly line at Syracuse. So there's a lot of similarities in what we were taught. And then from there, I've just always I don't know. I just really appreciate announcers that that can make me just pay attention with the way that they've presented something. That's probably how I've sort of landed where I've landed, which isn't to fake anything or be disingenuous with anything. It's just trying to capture an emotion and a moment to the best of your ability.

Russell Ries 26:19

I want to ask about that emotion piece too. How do you kind of balance bringing out the emotion while also sort of maintaining a professional veneer?

Andrew Allegretta 26:28

I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I would tell you that again, Syracuse is very, very predictable in the way that it instructs its announcers. And I think it's great. Like, again, I went there. It is my foundation for sure. Um, it's very, you're gonna wear a suit and tie when you go call a game. It's very, here are the rules. These are, you know, passed down from Marv Albert to Bob Costas to whatever, right? Like, this is the way it works. It's very structured and and it's great in that regard. It's really great. I mean, those are some of my favorite announcers. I will tell you that when I got to Nashville, not just Nashville, but the SEC specifically, I kind of looked around and realized that it wasn't the same as Syracuse. And that's I mean that in the sense of like, I'm still going to be who I am. And I I believe in professionalism and I don't like whining about officials. I I every now and then I do it and I listen back and I'm like, I don't like that. It just feels to me. I mean, there's you know, there's some moments where it's like representing your team feels fair, but I don't, I don't know, it just never doesn't feel right to be out there as the one that's just throwing haymakers recklessly at officials or talking crap about the other team or whatever. I don't know, it just never, it's not who I am. Um, I do it sometimes in the heat of the moment, but when I do it, I look back and I go, I don't know, I could have handled that better. But I recognized, especially learning more about yes, the history of Vanderbilt, but the history of the SEC from you know Fife to Munston to Ward to all of those guys to Kwood to all these guys, like what it meant to represent your program and this kind of really structured professional that Syracuse kind of creates. There was a gap there, and I kind of had to bridge it. So I I think I think I've kind of found my own voice, I hope, in that space where I still am rooted in what I was taught, but being more comfortable being, I don't know, Homer's not fair, but you know, really, really representative emotionally of what a Vanderbilt fan might be going through in any given moment. Whether it's again, I'm sitting at Hawkins Field, the walk-off that Tommy Gooden hit versus Tennessee, like that's a really big deal for us, or beating Tennessee last year in Knoxville is a really big deal for us. Um it's a big deal for me. It's like the people that I work with, right? Like I'm in this environment all the time. I want Vanderbilt to have tremendous success for our fans, for our community, for the players, for the coaches. So some of it happens naturally just because you root for the people that you're around. Um, some of it has come from learning the the landscape of the SEC, but also falling back on, you know, what I was taught at Syracuse. So yeah, I think I've had to learn and grow and evolve in that, in that area. I've actually that that's an interesting question. It's probably one of the things I've I've thought about the most in now five going on six seasons at Vanderbilt.

Russell Ries 29:42

Yeah, I always find it interesting to ask. I think it's really cool in your professional capacity that you have the ability and the space to really like dive into that and consider that. You know, while listening to you talks, thinking about the fact that Mike Keith left the Titans to go to Tennessee. Uh, you know, like I think a lot of people would go, you're gonna leave the NFL to go call the vols, but yeah, not to be cliche, but it just means more sometimes.

Andrew Allegretta 30:08

Yeah, well, for for Mike, it certainly did. I don't want to speak to Mike, but I I I visited with it with him once, and I there are other people that could certainly speak way better about this, including Mike himself, but I know what John Ward meant to him. To to have that opportunity was obviously really significant. I you know, as I don't know. I think I would never portray myself as someone that has like found all these like magic formulas to stuff. A lot of it is just trial and error um and learning and growing as you go. But I mean, yeah, it it's the job. I think I think a lot about I don't know, man. Like it, I I really I like turning on games and listening to people do games, whether it's TV or radio. So, you know, you just have things that you gravitate toward. That just happens to be the thing that I have fun doing, especially on, you know, every time that I come into a football game on a Saturday or I leave a game on a Saturday while I'm driving, I'm gonna put on somebody else's broadcast. I just have fun doing it. So I think when you kind of have that thing that you you have fun doing, you just spend a lot of time around it. And then all of a sudden, a lot of your thought process and how you do stuff just sort of becomes osmosis. You just kind of take it in. So, I mean, it's all trial and error for the most part for me, but I do I spend a lot of time around it, so I think about it.

Russell Ries 31:24

Yeah, it totally makes sense. I do want to ask about that too. So, what kind of preparation goes into preparing for a game? I I assume that baseball and football are going to be much different preparation, but what are what are the kind of things that normal people wouldn't see, like the the groundwork that you have to do entering into a game?

Andrew Allegretta 31:44

Uh, research. Like Google certainly becomes your best friend and game notes become your best friend. There is a point of diminishing returns where if all of a sudden you're getting 10 paragraphs about the third string left tackle, perhaps you're a little bit in the weeds on things. I think there's a lot of structure to how football comes together. And yes, that's the prep, but you know, I'm also director of radio broadcasting, which means who knows what, but it does mean that that I have responsibilities that extend, at least as far as I'm concerned, beyond just putting on the headset. We're making some upgrades to how our booth works technically. I'm trying to make sure I'm involved with that. Um, if we've got radio affiliate stuff that we're doing, I'm trying to be involved with that. If we're thinking about how we're doing stuff digitally, I'm involved with that. There's stuff that, you know, is going to happen on a game week where it's MCing something. Like going into the game week for Austin P, I've got like a semi-MC thing on Sunday and Friday. So that's that's all part of the structure. We've got interviews to do, you've got to do editing for the show. So there's a lot of moving parts uh on all of that, uh, which is great. Totally, totally fun to do that. The game prep, I think, is kind of what people talk about the most. You know, having done this for, I guess, 15-ish years, you get a feeling for what you're actually going to use and what you're not going to use. The broadcaster saying is that you prepare 100% and you prepare to use 20% of it. Um, I think that's really true. Um, I probably over-prepare like everybody else, and most of your stuff kind of gets left by the wayside. But you have a you have a sense of like how you want to tell a story throughout the course of the game. Like Austin P is coming up. A lot of that is gonna be about how does this team look as they try to re-establish the 2026 version of the Commodores coming off one of the greatest seasons in the history of the program. What does this year's version of the team look like? Who are gonna be the stars? How do they gel and come together, all that sort of stuff? You you can think about the storylines in advance. You can think about, you know, playing a team up the road in in Clarksville and how much it's gonna mean for Austin P to come down here and put on an incredibly good show, um, which I fully expect that they'll do. Um, so you can kind of see and feel the storylines in advance, and then your prep work sort of evolves around that. And then if it's not really deeply related to the storylines of the day, then perhaps you can kind of not worry quite as much about the fourth string left tackle and where he went to high school.

Russell Ries 34:11

Uh fair enough. I'm curious too. You mentioned the digital component, and I feel like your career has kind of coincided with sort of the necessity of having digital representation really blowing up, you know, short clips, things like that. Is that something you're aware of while you're broadcasting, or is it sort of like we'll go back through later and pull out some things that we might want to share?

Andrew Allegretta 34:33

I think first and foremost, you still try to call the game that's in front of you. Yeah, it's a little bit different now, knowing that things are gonna exist both in the moment in the broadcast as well as a second life on social. I fight against the urge to think that way, not in a bad way to social. It's just like you've got to call the game in front of you. So I resist the urge. Like I I try to make sure that the call is the same how I would think about it if it was in the moment or if you're trying to think about it for social. I don't, I don't try to call anything for social. Now, I know how we do things operationally for like recap videos if we win, you know, usually, not always. It's up to the kind of creative direction of the social team, but um, it's not uncommon for them to clip like a little scene set or portion of our broadcast to use. Well, I spend I spend a little bit extra time thinking about how I want to set the table in that particular moment because I know if we win, then they might clip it and use it for a recap video if they want. So I try to make sure that I don't I don't breeze past moments that they need too, right? Like I to me, it's to me, some of it is being a good uh teammate, honestly. Like if I don't, if I don't help them get what they need, then I've to some extent been disrespectful to what they need. That doesn't, again, that doesn't mean that like you're doing all of this stuff just to perform for social. Again, I resist that, but I know certain moments and certain things are helpful for an entire unit. So I try to be mindful in those spaces that you kind of need to hit your marks. It's a it's a little bit like I suppose performing on a on a stage. Like you gotta hit the you gotta hit the blocking so the lighting is right. Well, if I don't hit the blocking, then it doesn't help the social team, and then they've got a little bit harder job to do. Or, you know, if if you've got a sponsorship thing to execute, then if you don't hit your mark, then their life's a little bit more difficult, all that sort of stuff. Um, so um I'm I'm cognizant uh of all of that. Um, I try not to over extend and make it a problem for what's happening in the moment. That is first and foremost. But again, to your point, you would be naive to to dismiss the fact that you're trying to be mindful about everything having a shelf life. And if you only think about things as having an expiration date from the moment that you take your headset off, then you have kind of walked away from what everybody else around you is trying to do.

Russell Ries 37:06

I wonder too, uh, do you ever look back at calls you've made and go, oh, I didn't even I don't remember that.

Andrew Allegretta 37:13

I would say I've got a pretty good sense of what I've said now. I I think we all kind of like an athlete would go back and watch the tape. There's stuff I go, eh, yeah, I like that, I don't like that, I like this, I don't like that. But as as far as like being aware of what you said, I've got a decent sense of what I've said.

Russell Ries 37:31

I asked that I don't know if you follow any of the Irish Association football or anything, but recently there was a major, major um County Cork uh hadn't won in like 90 years, and they against all odds, David and Goliath kind of thing. They ended up winning. It was a huge thing. And I just saw I happened to see a video recently of the guy who called the game for County Cork. He was like basically blacked out. I didn't know if that was just the pure ecstasy of that moment or if that was sort of a common thing that happens.

Andrew Allegretta 38:00

I I you know, so we're we're in the era of everybody's got like a booth cam running, um, which was a hurdle I had to get over mentally. I've had I've had like friends be like, what are you doing? And I'm like, I know what I've said. I will say that all that stuff on the booth cam is all pretty genuine. Like, I just I'm fired up that something good has happened. You know, I'm I can think back to the the Miles Capers strip sack versus Alabama, and I think I threw a piece of paper or something like that. Uh and that's the stuff that I have no idea. I mean, like I knew it happened in the moment, but it's just like I didn't think about it. It wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't, I didn't really have context on like how that would play. Like I was just happy that we forced a turnover in the fourth quarter against Alabama. Um, that's probably the closest that I have to like, I don't really know what's going on. It's just happening sort of thing. Again, I guess just because it's an audio broadcast, I'm pretty dialed into like what I'm saying. The stuff around me is probably more just zoned out, and whatever happens, happens.

Russell Ries 39:09

I think that makes sense. You mentioned Vanderbilt in the upcoming game, and I want to kind of pivot to the football team now as we head into that. What are some things that you feel like the casual Nashville sports fans should know about this iteration of Vanderbilt football heading into the season?

Andrew Allegretta 39:25

It's really talented. I know that when I went to the SEC Media Day in Tampa about a month ago, my biggest question was how would they treat the next year after Diego Pavia, after 10 wins, after Eli Stowers? Would there be an assumption of continued success? Or would there be from the media, from the external people, would there be um the assumption of regression? And I learned very quickly there was the assumption of regression and the almost inevitable collapse from the external perspective. You could feel the skepticism. You could feel the skepticism in Tampa. Um, and that's okay. I get it. There's a lot of history that would lead you to be skeptical. But I truly think that this is one of the more talented teams that Clark has assembled in six years. That doesn't mean it's gonna go result in X, Y, Z number of wins, but you could feel it back in Springball that the defense was experienced, it had size, it had some of the get off the bus factor, right? Where they just look the part. That was really exciting. And you can feel that in in fall camp too, that the defense has an extra step that maybe previous iterations of Clark's defenses haven't had. And they've had some good defenses that have had great moments and stood up when it needed the team to stand up, but from a from a depth of talent perspective, it's it feels a little bit different. Like there's more talent on all three levels when in the past, perhaps you were protecting a certain level of the defense by how you called your plays. I don't I don't know that they have to do that in the same way that they did in the past. That's really exciting. I think they've got a one-two punch at running back that um should be a lot of fun to watch. I think junior Sheryl, what's been really fun about all this, and you know, uh the quarterback position is part of it, is the way that Nashville's are impacting Vanderbilt on the field. You know, Junior Sheryl is a Nashville kid impacting this team on the field. Brian Longwell at linebacker is a Nashville kid impacting this team on the field. Obviously, Jared Curtis has the potential to impact this team on the field. He's a Nashville kid. That's been really fun too, because I know when Clark got here, the hardest people to convince that Vanderbilt football was going to be good for Nash Billions for understandable reasons, like 100%. You know, Glenn Seabrooks III talked about that a little bit in one of his press conferences. Like when he accepted coming to Vanderbilt, there was just like inherent skepticism of like, why would you do that? But now, coming out of Davidson Academy, like, oh, that's awesome. You play for Vanderbilt football. Watching that evolution locally has been, you know, I'm I'm happy for a lot of people that have been, you know, hunkered down with Vanderbilt football for not to borrow a Munson phrase, but to see that growth has been really cool. So I think there's a lot of talent out there. I don't we'll see, we'll see where it goes, right? Like we have so much time in front of us. Uh I I know we're in the prediction season um before we actually kick off. We'll see where everything goes. Um, we'll learn a lot about the team in the first couple of weeks. I'm excited for it. I think they're very talented. But, you know, just because you return 80% or 90% of your roster, whatever it is, it's still interacting with a new 10 or 20%. And those pieces have to figure out how they fit together. Um, so we're we're gonna we're gonna go through that. That's a that's a natural transition from one year to the next. Um, so I'm excited to see where it goes. But I I do believe from a skill and depth standpoint, like it's a it's a good roster.

Russell Ries 43:10

Yeah, you mentioned Jared Curtis, obviously very excited to see him. I do wonder, too, who have you seen sort of stepping up into the leadership void that was left by Diego Pavia and Eli Stowers and some of those guys.

Andrew Allegretta 43:23

Yeah, no, I think we'll figure a lot of that out as the season goes and as games evolve, right? Um, leadership is not just something that happens away from game action, it happens in the hard moments. MK Young strikes me as somebody that's got a voice. When we talk about leadership and you talk about it with Vanderbilt, I had this conversation with somebody else, Norm Jordan actually. Leadership doesn't have to walk and talk and act like Diego. Leadership can happen in different forms. And that's that's great. That's fine. Like you the goal is to get to the finish line. I don't, I don't think there's gonna be leadership that walks and talks and acts like Diego on. The 26 team. And that's again fine. It's gonna look different. But I see MK as someone that's got a voice. I think there are probably people in position rooms that may not be quite so external, but can hold everybody to account in the room. You know, Junior Cheryl is someone that is not like the loudest individual necessarily. And again, that's totally fine. But he's a veteran. He can he can carry a presence with how he practices, how he talks, he can carry it in the room, all of that sort of stuff. There's linebackers like Brian Longwell, who's kind of again a soft-spoken guy by nature, but he can carry that presence in the linebacker room. So there's a lot of people that are older that I think can just establish standards for position groups that will help leadership develop around it. You're not gonna have number two in the Diego sense running up and down the sideline the way that he did. But again, it's not all created the same. There there are different forms of leadership. And I I think there's a lot of upperclassmen that will we'll see how it develops as time goes by, but I think it's gonna I think it's just gonna evolve and look different than it did in the past. But that doesn't mean that there's not really passionate, caring people. Like it's still a really good locker room. Um, it's still a really good group of guys that care and are supportive of each other and want excellence, and Clark demands excellence from them. So we'll we'll see what that kind of looks like from a game-to-game perspective. But yeah, I there's there's options out there, and there's people out there, and you know, that's up to that's up to them in the locker room to kind of figure that out.

Russell Ries 45:33

Makes total sense to me, and I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

Andrew Allegretta 45:38

It's gonna be a fun year, it really is. The whole setup over here, we've got new stuff from a fan perspective. Like Vandyville is gonna look different for people that come out in Tailgate, which is gonna be awesome. We're making uh a lot of improvements there. We've put information out on our website. You know, this this place at the end of 25 became just like such a fun place to be on a Saturday in Nashville, and I uh I'm fully expecting that to continue.

Russell Ries 46:01

Right on. Well, Andrew, I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today. I know you've got a lot going on getting ready for the season, and uh I'm very grateful for your time. Any uh final thoughts or words to the Vanderbilt fans, people in Nashville?

Andrew Allegretta 46:14

Uh no, I mean like if you spend any time with us throughout the course of the season, football, basketball, baseball, we appreciate it. You know, we're we're right back on 1025 and 949 locally. We've expanded our network uh a little bit too, which is great. And then always always have the digital options of the Vanderbilt Athletics app and the Varsity Network app. So if you if you spend time with us at all in any sport, uh we we appreciate it. We have a we care a lot about doing the best that we can uh for our teams, for our players, for our coaches, for our fans. So if you spend time with us, we appreciate it.

Russell Ries 46:47

I think personally you guys are doing a great job, and I look forward to hearing more from you this year. So thanks again, Andrew Allegretta, voice of Vanderbilt Football, director of radio, uh voice of Vanderbilt baseball as well.

Andrew Allegretta 47:00

We're all over the place. We're just it's a whole team effort, man. We just all we all push to the finish line.

Russell Ries 47:05

Right on. Well, thank you so much.

Outro

Russell Ries 47:08

Thank you. All right, well, that was my conversation with Andrew Allegretta. Thank you so much to him for coming on. I know he's got a lot of stuff going on this time of year, and I was really grateful for his time. Excited to hear him on the radio 1025 calling Vanderbilt starting next weekend. That's gonna be our show for the day. Thank you for listening. As always, you can reach out to us on social media. We're on Twitter and Blue Sky at Nashville Sports Report, or it's NSH Sports Report on both of those spots. We're also got a link down in the description where you can email us directly, and have just added an Instagram account. Amazingly, we were able to get at Nashville Sports. Not sure how active we'll be, but we'll be doing something. Again, as always, thank you for listening. Love to hear from you. Have a great week!