Nicholls announced broadcasting changes

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There’s a new voice of Nicholls State University athletics.

He arrives in Thibodaux after earning experience calling games 7,544 feet above sea level in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Nicholls Athletics Director Rob Bernardi announced this week that he’s has hired veteran sportscaster Bryant Johnson to be the team’s new radio and TV voice for the 2015 athletic seasons and beyond.

Johnson will replacing outgoing Nicholls voice Mike Wagenheim, who left the school’s athletic department recently to chase other opportunities.

Prior to working with Nicholls, Johnson was the Director of Sports Broadcasting at KSPK-FM and TV in Southern Colorado. He called games in several sports for Adams State University in Colorado.

Bernardi said Johnson’s official title will be the assistant athletic director for communications – otherwise known as ‘The Voice of the Colonels.’

“We are excited to add Bryant to the department,” Bernardi said. “He brings a great deal of energy and enthusiasm to the game broadcasts.”

Johnson will have some pretty big shoes to fill, though his resume indicates that he’s probably the right man for the job.

Wagenheim was popular around the athletic department for all of the hard work that he’d done to make Nicholls athletics accessible both on TV and online.

The outgoing Nicholls voice was the head of the Colonel Sports Network, which oversaw the athletic department’s radio, TV and internet broadcasting properties. In addition to that, Wagenheim was the play-by-play voice of Colonels football, men’s basketball and baseball, while also hosting weekly TV shows for each show that aired on regional TV.

But Johnson’s resume shows that he’s capable of doing a lot of the same things, which should make the transition about as seamless as one could expect.

While in Colorado, Johnson helped launch a 30-minute TV show on the Altitude Sports Network called ‘Walk with the Wolves: All Access with Colorado State University-Pueblo Athletics.’ Because of Altitude’s large reach throughout the country, the show was seen in up to 6.5 million homes in the country. It also lead to a partnership with the TV network and the school, which saw Altitude broadcast four of Colorado State University-Pueblo’s football games during the team’s championship season.

While working for KSPK-FM, Johnson called more than 100 football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, softball and lacrosse games for Adams State, which is a NCAA Division II program that annually faces top-flight Division I competition in all of its sports.

Johnson is a 2005 graduate of Brown College in Minneapolis. He’s also spent time as a sports director in Anacortes, Washington and as a reporter for ESPN Radio in La Crosse, Wisconsin. In his gig with ESPN Radio, Johnson was an on-site reporter for the Green Bay Packers and also University of Wisconsin basketball.

Johnson said he’s ready to get to work in Thibodaux. He said that the family-like feel of the university’s athletic department was attractive to him – one of the biggest reasons why he wanted the job.

In his position, Johnson will do most-all of the things Wagenheim used to do, including play-by-play for Nicholls football, men’s basketball and baseball. He will also manage the department’s broadcasting and communications efforts, while hosting Colonels All-Access content.

“All athletic departments speak of being a family, and Nicholls is the embodiment of one,” Johnson said. “It didn’t take me long to recognize how special the Nicholls community truly is. This is a program on the rise and it’s a pleasure to call Colonel Country home.”

“Nicholls has a wonderful tradition of experienced play-by-play talent,” Bernardi added. “Bryant will carry that tradition forward by providing a quality game experience for Colonel fans.”