Brant Freeman: 20 Years at Texas State

“I couldn’t tell you how many games I’ve called,” Freeman said. “All I know is I can’t wait for the next one.”

If you’ve tuned into a Texas State game in the last 20 years, you’ve probably heard the voice of broadcast coordinator Brant Freeman. Freeman has been commentating for Texas State Athletics, beginning as the radio voice of Texas State Football, since 2003.

“I couldn’t tell you how many games I’ve called,” Freeman said. “All I know is I can’t wait for the next one.”

After being the radio voice of Texas State football for 15 years, Freeman pivoted to a new role serving as Texas State’s ESPN+ play-by-play broadcaster in 2018. But his journey to this position with the Bobcats started back when Freeman was 12 years old. 

The game that changed Freeman’s perspective on sports? A playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Portland Trailblazers in 1993. 

“One day my dad brought home boxes of cards and wanted my brother and I to help sort them,” Freeman said. “As we did this, he put on a basketball game. I’d never really seen basketball before, and I remember really getting into it. After that playoff game I was watching the games intently, listening on the radio and my love of sports started there.”

Then, in 1999 while the Spurs made a run to its first-ever NBA Championship, Freeman followed even closer as the team went through a historic season.

“I was such a hardcore fan I wanted to watch every single game,” Freeman said. “I would listen on radio, the pregame show all the way to the end of the postgame show, intently. I would listen to every call of the game from the then-voice of the Spurs Jay Howard. I wanted to be that guy, I wanted to do what he was doing.”

When Freeman graduated high school, he was looking at options to go to college. He attended UTSA for a year before transferring to San Antonio College for its broadcasting program. From there, though, he knew he needed a bachelor’s degree and began looking for a school with a strong program.

“I had narrowed it down to [Texas State] and North Texas,” the Boerne native said. “North Texas had a great program, but it would’ve been far away from home to go to North Texas, Denton is 4-5 hours from home.”

Ultimately, Freeman decided to stay close to home after a phone call from a friend gave him a reason to become a Bobcat.

“I had a friend from high school call me,” Freeman said. “He said, ‘hey man I’m coming to San Marcos, I heard you got accepted there, you should just go to school there, and we can be roommates,’ and that was the deciding factor.”

When Freeman got to San Marcos, he got a job at a local restaurant called Palmer’s, which still stands on Moore Street today, to put himself through college. While working there, a coworker told Freeman of an opening at the campus radio station, KTSW

Brant Freeman as a student reporter.
Brant Freeman (left) with 'Voice of the Bobcats' Bill Culhane (right)

Shortly after beginning at KTSW, he got to call his first game. He’d be the play-by-play commentator for Texas State women’s basketball at Lamar University while serving as the analyst for Texas State men’s basketball games at Lamar.

That game was where he met and worked alongside longtime ‘Voice of the Bobcats’ Bill Culhane for the first time.

After that weekend, Freeman continued taking any opportunity to call a game. 

 

In the 2003 football season, the university’s first after changing its name from Southwest Texas State, Freeman became the play-by-play radio voice of Texas State football. 

“I caught a tremendous break because I was still a student here,” Freeman said. “I had all of three months of experience, but they asked me to do it and I accepted. Admittedly, I was awful at it.”

Freeman worked to improve, though. He took the opportunity to be the primary radio voice of home games for the Bobcats and did everything he could to improve his craft.

“I made sure I developed good relationships with the people I worked with and the athletic department,” Freeman said. “I was present at as many things as I could be, I would ask for feedback, go back and listen to my own games to try and get better.” 

Now Athletic Director Don Coryell had asked Freeman to stay and continue to be the Voice of the Bobcats when he graduated. 

“[Coryell] and I had a conversation,” Freeman said. “He said ‘we know you’re graduating but your we’d love to have you still be involved.’ So, I became the football play by play voice for the radio officially, no longer as a student.”

Those first few years with Texas State football brought some of Freeman’s fondest memories behind the mic.

“[The 2005 team] was able to catch lightning in a bottle,” Freeman said. “They won the Southland Championship. They go to the 1AA postseason. They win two playoff games. Arguably one play away from going to the national championship game and it really put Texas State on the map. I had the pleasure of being the radio play by play guy of that ’05 team. Calling all those games and championships that year. I don’t think that we are where we are today without that 2005 team.”

Three years later, Freeman got to call Texas State football, winning a second championship. Three more years after that, the team officially joined the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

“I don’t think [going FBS] happens without the two titles they won in ’08 and ’05. ’05 put them on the radar, ‘08 showed that it was sustainable.”

For Freeman, one of his favorite Texas State football memories was the first game the Bobcats played a full-fledged FBS team.

“That first game against Houston,” Freeman said. “Houston was a 35-point favorite, and we beat them 30-13 in our very first FBS game ever. That was such a special thing to be a part of. Here’s this new era of Texas State football. We were playing with the big boys. And it felt like a ‘we belong here kind’ of deal.”

Freeman (right) interviewing head baseball coach Steven Trout (left) ahead of the Bobcats game at TCU on May 16, 2023

Freeman had been doing contract work with Texas State Athletics while also freelancing with different outlets in the area. He had anchored the Daily Sports Report, covered the Spurs as a reporter for three of its NBA finals, been to Dallas Cowboys training camp, did play-by-play for high school football, and more.

But after asking some friends around the industry, Freeman ultimately decided to jump and join the ESPN+ project. This decision landed him a full-time Texas State Athletic Department member. 

At first, there were some growing pains. Freeman remembers the first football game he broadcast with ESPN+ being a “production nightmare,” where he recalled, “pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did.”

From there, though, things drastically improved.

“There was definitely an adjustment period, but now I love it; I love the nuances of television, the challenges it presents,” Freeman said. “I do still slip into radio every now and then, though, I take a lot of pride in being able to do both.”

One thing Freeman also loves about Texas State is the hands-on experience students get. Since he started as a student, he has liked to help provide that opportunity to students. Texas State Athletics has largely student-produced broadcasts for its events. 

“I’ve worked both with professionals and students and I do enjoy the opportunity to work with students,” Freeman said. “Because it was me in their shoes at one time.”

Freeman attributes much of his success in his time as a Bobcat to the crew of people surrounding him. Between the student production team, the directors, and his world-class team of analysts alongside him, they all make a big difference.

Brant Freeman on Bally Sports

“My voice and face get a lot of recognition for being associated with the broadcast,” he said. “But they make me better. All the analysts and the crew, I really can’t thank them enough. I can’t do what I do without all these people, and I owe a lot to my support group of where I’ve come from.

Throughout his 20-year career, Freeman has shared the booth with plenty of incredible analysts in their own regard. He’s worked with longtime USA Volleyball legend Mick Haley, former Philadelphia Philly Keith Moreland, former Texas State women’s basketball coach Suzanne Fox, Texas and USA softball legend Cat Osterman, national champion Oklahoma softball player Nicole Mendez, and former Bobcat Hailey MacKay, to name a few.

Texas State has given a lot to Freeman and his family. He met his wife while he was here, his daughter was born while he worked here, his wife’s parents are alumni. Though things weren’t always perfect for Freeman in his tenure broadcasting here, he has a lot of ties to this city that make it the perfect place to continue his career.

“I’d be lying if there weren’t times where you think ‘should I continue to pursue this, should I continue doing it,’” Freeman said. “There’s bumps along the way and you really must be passionate about what you’re doing. But those that are passionate seem to be the ones that stick it out, and I feel like I’m one of those.”

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