"America East On Campus", a feature-oriented, half-hour television show will debut Monday, December 19 at 6 p.m. on New England Sports Network (NESN). The show will re-air on NESN at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 22. "America East On Campus" will also be available at AmericaEast.com following the initial airing on NESN.
"America East On Campus" will include features on some of the top personal stories, beyond the athletic arena, among the conference’s student-athletes, coaches and administrators at each of the nine member institutions. A new show will air each month with broadcast dates to be announced.
"We are very pleased to offer this venture to fans of America East," said America East Commissioner Patrick Nero. "The show will highlight many of the top student-athletes who excel on the courts or playing fields, in the classroom and in the community. These positive stories represent just a few of the many from among the 3,500 student-athletes who compete at America East institutions each year."
The first "America East On Campus" includes segments on new University of Maine women’s basketball coach Ann McInerney, who steps up to Division I after years of success at Division II Merrimack College and first-year University of Vermont men’s basketball coach Mike Lonergan as he replaces legendary coach Tom Brennan, who last year guided the Catamounts to a memorable win over Syracuse in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The show also sits down with University of Hartford President Walter Harrison, who serves as Chair of the NCAA Executive Committee, the highest committee in the NCAA structure. The final segment takes a look at University of New Hampshire volleyball student-athlete Holly Young as she battles Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer.
Cod Rock Media Productions, based in Kittery, Maine, will produce the show in conjunction with America East. Veteran NESN announcer Eric Frede will serve as host of the show, which will be shot at various campus locations throughout the year. Dan Hannigan, the play-by-play announcer for Maine Black Bears’ ice hockey and Cod Rock cofounder, partners with Frede in the production.
America East institutions include University at Albany, Binghamton University, Boston University, Hartford, Maine, UMBC, New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and Vermont.