Episode 17: Tony Barnhart | Mr. College Football & SEC Network TV Studio Analyst
Episode 17: Tony Barnhart | Mr. College Football and SEC Network TV Studio Analyst
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Rich Take On Sports
Show Notes:
- Rich Spotlight: Tony Barnhart
- Prediction for college football top 4:
- Alabama
- Ohio St.
- Florida St.
- USC
- National Champion Prediction:
- Alabama
- Grew up in small town in Georgia (Union Point)
- Fell in love with baseball early on but once he went to a football game at the University of Georgia he was hooked on football
- Went to Georgia Southern because he wanted to be away from Athens which felt too close to home
- Planned on being a PE teacher until he saw a salary chart for teacher’s salary in the state of Georgia and had second thoughts
- Saw an ad on the student board for help in the Sports Department for the school newspaper and inquired
- Fell in love with seeing his name on the byline in the paper and knew he wanted to be in journalism and transferred to the University of Georgia
- Got his first job as the one-man sports department for a small newspaper in Union, SC
- Moved then to Greensboro, NC and had some of the best years of his career there before getting the call to join the staff for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Atlanta
- Became the beat writer covering the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team
- Promoted to Assistant Sports Director for AJC and learned so much on the job but was miserable not being close to the game and went back to being a beat writer for UGA in 1987
- Most memorable games to cover have been the National Championships and the greatest game he ever saw was the Texas vs. USC game in January 2006 for the national title
- Social media completely changed how he did his job and a relative convinced him that he should be on Twitter
- His goal was to have 100 Followers and he now has over 122,000
- Scott Peacock can be credited with giving Tony the name Mr. College Football after suggesting that Tony start writing a blog called “Mr. College Football”
- Prepares by compiling binders on each team with updated information during the off-season
- Sports completely defined his professional career and never dreamed that he would ever reach these heights
- Will celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary on August 14th and owes a lot of his success to his wife Maria
- Words of Wisdom from Tony: “You’ve got you got to be yourself. Figure out what works for you. Don’t try to be somebody else. Everybody’s road is different. ”
- Prediction for college football top 4:
- Weekly Words of Wisdom: “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard
Social Media:
To Follow Tony Barnhart on Twitter: @MrCFB
Find Tony Barnhart on the Web: www.tonybarnhart.com
To Follow Rich Take On Sports on Twitter: @richtakesports
About the author, Richmond Weaver
Richmond, a graduate of Clemson University has been involved with sports for most of his life and developed a passion for basketball and sports at an early age. He currently lives in Greenville, SC with his wife Karen, founder of Upstate Esthetics and their three kids.