KTIB hires first female football color analyst in area

KTIB’s broadcast of the Vandebilt-E.D. White tussle Friday night had a different tone than any football broadcast ever heard in southeast Louisiana.

The Thibodaux radio station hired the area’s first female football color analyst, Suzette Brantley, 38, who covers the Saints for the sports Web site bleacherreport.com.

She and play-by-play announcer William Taylor handle the KTIB high school game of the week and the post-game show.

“William called and asked if I would be interested in doing this for Vandebilt and E.D. White,” Brantley said. “It sounded like a great opportunity. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“I had no idea that no female in this area had done anything like this before,” she added. “I don’t want to say it’s odd, but it’s interesting. I thought for sure somebody had done it.”

Taylor wanted to add a female color analyst last year but hurricanes Gustav and Ike threw his plans off track.

“Frankly, I thought it was long overdue,” he said. “KTIB has new management that really wants to bring the station in a new direction. I thought she would be a perfect mesh for doing the high school broadcast.”

Although their first broadcast went off without a hitch, Brantley and Taylor forgot how much faster prep football is compared to college and NFL games, which have television timeouts.

“I failed to realize that there was going to be less time between plays for her to talk,” Taylor admitted. “So, she didn’t talk as much time on the air as I thought she would. I was thankful we were able to get her in, if not after every play, at least some of the plays.”

Taylor didn’t pitch the idea of having Brantley in the booth to new station manager Bethany Burns until two days before their debut. Still, Burns agreed and stayed at the station Friday night to monitor the game and enjoyed it.

While Brantley grew up in a football family and has been around the game most of her life, she only got into sports journalism in May.

An ultrasound technician at LSU Medical Center in Bogalusa, Brantley has covered the Saints’ offseason training activities, the LSU World Series victory, the Steve McNair murder-suicide tragedy and the NFL preseason. She is currently writing a series for the Web site, “NFL Cheerleaders: Behind the Scenes.”

Her love for football began in the mid-1970s when her father, Bobby Lampard, played semi-pro for the New Orleans Blue Knights of the Dixie League. Her brother, Bryan Lampard, played and coached in college at Idaho State University.

“Watching and breaking down game film was common in my household,” she said. “I didn’t know other people didn’t watch football from Wednesday night to Tuesday morning. That’s what we always did.”

While attending Nicholls State University in 1989, she was a member of the Colonelette dance team. She was also on the Saintsations’ dance team from 1992-93.

Having females as sideline reporters is standard practice in today’s football broadcast. But women in the booth are still very rare.

The color analyst position is usually given to a former head coach or ex-player to provide expert analysis and background information.

Brantley doesn’t feel like a pioneer for women in sports journalism because she said there are many on the sidelines who could easily be in the booth. But, she does hope to bring a different perspective to the broadcast.

“There’s a growing fan base of women. A lot of women attend high school games, especially the moms in the stands,” she explained. “I don’t think I’m going to do like Clairee in ‘Steel Magnolias’ that’s going to be just talking color. I do know my Xs and Os. If I can do play-by-play to my 10-year-old daughter and get her excited, I can explain it to the masses as well, but have more of my take on it.”

Because she was asked so late to be part of the broadcast team, Brantley will miss some games, like Friday’s Destrehan-Thibodaux tilt, due to prior commitments.

However, she is honored to have this opportunity and wants to see how far it takes her.

“Mrs. Burns said not to have anyone else come looking for me because I’m theirs,” Brantley said. “I’m just happy to be around the game I love and have grown up around in any way, shape or form.”