story courtesy of the Desert Morning News (Salt Lake City, Utah)
by Mike Sorensen, Desert Morning News
photos by Tom Smart, Desert Morning News
When Mike Lageschulte was named last month as the new "Voice of the Utes," it left a few Ute fans scratching their heads.
Many knew of Lageschulte because he has served in the school's sports information office for more than a decade, including the past eight years in charge of men's basketball.
But the appointment left a few questions.
Does Lageschulte have the proper background in University of Utah athletics?
Does he have the appropriate radio voice for the job?
Does he have any radio experience whatsoever?
The answers are yes, yes and yes.
For Lageschulte, getting the Ute radio play-by-play job fulfills a life's dream that started back in a small Iowa town when he did mock broadcasts in small stadiums he created.
"I've wanted to be a broadcaster since I was about 9 years old," he said. "Timing's everything, and I just happened to be in the right spot for this."
The official title for his new job, which begins next month, is director of publications and broadcasting.
Besides doing play-by-play for men's basketball and football, Lageschulte will produce the football media guide and women's basketball guide, game-day programs for football and men's basketball and help keep the athletic department's Web site updated.
"Mike is very talented and very good at play-by-play," said U. director of athletics Chris Hill. "He's a valued employee and it's something he's always wanted to do. Everything lined up just right. We think he'll do an excellent job."
Lageschulte grew up in the small town of Plainfield, Iowa, where the population is 500 and the number of stoplights is zero.
"A little like Mayberry," he said.
He was a big Iowa Hawkeyes fan and used to listen to the various broadcasts (believe it or not, three main stations did regular broadcasts of the Hawkeyes) as well as broadcasts of Chicago sports teams.
"I was always looking for ballgames on the radio or TV," he said.
Lageschulte would build mini-stadiums and "do play-by-plays of the make-believe games."
He had a close friend with muscular dystrophy who died when the two were in high school. When they were younger, the two of them would "mess around and have pretend talk shows," said Lageschulte.
Sometimes they would turn the sound down on the TV and do their own play-by-play.
"It was good practice," Lageschulte said. "By the time I got to college, I had a lot of the rough edges worn off."
However, when he started at the University of Iowa, he found there were a hundred other guys who wanted to do the same thing.
Figuring the odds weren't in his favor, Lageschulte decided to pursue sports information with the idea of eventually getting into broadcasting.
However, while working in the sports information office at Iowa, Lageschulte was able to get some experience doing play-by-play for the baseball team and women's basketball team.
He was hired at Utah in the summer of 1995 and started off working with volleyball, basketball and softball.
One morning, he walked into sport information director Liz Abel's office, and Hill turned and said, "You sound like you should be on the radio."
Lageschulte was happy to tell his boss that he used to do broadcasting in college and added he would be interested in doing some radio sometime. He sent some tapes to KALL Radio and ended up working several women's basketball games his first couple of years on the job.
During the 1997-98 season, he did more than half of the U. women's games and filled in for Bill Marcroft on occasion over the next few years when there were conflicts between basketball and football. He also filled in on KJZZ-TV for a couple of games at Wyoming and Colorado State in 2004.
When Utah Sports Properties took over earlier this year as the multimedia rights holder for Ute athletics, Lageschulte was a natural choice.
Lageschulte lists the 1998 Final Four and 2004 Fiesta Bowl as two of his bigger highlights working in the sports information office. But the 2004-05 basketball season was his biggest highlight because of his personal involvement.
"The Sweet 16 year was awesome," he said. "We were nationally ranked the second half of the year, and I worked closely with Andrew Bogut. He ended up as consensus player of the year. To see it work out the way it did was pretty gratifying."
So which announcers have had the biggest influence on Lageschulte?
He enjoyed Jack Brickhouse, the former Chicago Cubs announcer, and loved Jim Zabel, one of Iowa's play-by-play announcers.
"I listened to him every Saturday, and it sounded like the press box booth was the place to be. He had fun, was entertaining, got excited and made the game seem like it was a can't-miss type of thing."
On a national basis, his favorite has been Dick Enberg.
"He can do everything — baseball, football, basketball, track and field. ... He's the guy I always tried to pattern myself after. He had such enthusiasm and was always knowledgeable, prepared and had fun with it."
The 36-year-old Lageschulte recently got engaged to Becky Pugmire, and the couple are planning a wedding in June of 2008. He says he loves living in Utah and would like to bring some stability to his new job after three Ute announcers in the past four years.
"It's the kind of job I've always wanted, and now I've got it," he said. "This is what I see myself doing long term. I could be here until I retire. I plan on doing this for a long time."