Both Penn State and Wisconsin have a game plan for Saturday night and so does NBC’s Kathryn Tappen.
The sideline reporter for “Big Ten Saturday Night,” which airs on NBC and Peacock, might only be on your screen for five minutes or so during this week’s game, but she invests hours of preparation into her work every week and her years of experience show through in all she does.
Tappen’s typical on-air moments include one coach interview before the game, another after halftime, a post-game on-field interview and maybe another “hit” or two. She does much more than you see, though.
Observations and notes she gets from the field regularly get passed to her broadcast partners, play-by-play man Noah Eagle and analyst Todd Blackledge, as well as producer Matt Marvin and director Charlie Dammeyer. She’s always looking for something to make the broadcast better.
During Penn State’s first appearance on “Big Ten Saturday Night” earlier this season, she let her partners know that then backup kicker Ryan Barker was warming up, and the broadcast was quickly able to share and show that information with viewers. It was helpful and timely.
Game week starts early for Tappen and includes everything from the expected interviews and research to onsite logistics as well as some athleticism, strategy and support.
Here’s a look at how she prepared for Penn State-Wisconsin.
Information Gathering
Tappen sharpens her focus on a specific matchup at the start of each week, identifying potential storylines and looking for trends or possible gameday topics. She conducts two or three player interviews with members of both teams on Tuesday night or Wednesday. She uses those to complement her research and identify something different and specific that viewers might find interesting.
While she’s traveling to the game site Thursday, she’s working to itemize and prioritize ideas, things she can share with the rest of the broadcast team as they map out their plan and prepare for weekly production meetings — sessions with coaches and coordinators, as well as select players. Those typically happen in person for the home team and either in person or on Zoom with the visiting team.
Those sessions offer insights and, if the broadcasters know enough to ask, or coaches are willing to share, hints about things that might be attempted in the game.
A tight end moving to snap the ball, as Tyler Warren did earlier this season, is a good example. Because that came up in production meetings for the USC game, the CBS broadcast team was prepared with the right camera angles and context on what happened.
Institutional Knowledge
Along with work about a specific game or matchup, Tappen’s experience is vital. Knowing who’s who with the teams makes her more efficient on gamedays and helps her find answers and information quickly.
This game is the second with Penn State on NBC this season, and the fourth in the past two seasons. It’s also the second time in two seasons the broadcast operation — which includes 16 cameras and 25 microphones — has visited Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium.
“This year in particular, because it’s year two of the Big Ten package, I’m way more familiar with coaching staffs,” Tappen said. “It’s almost like I have a better Rolodex than I did last year.”
Tappen’s not new to this, though. She joined NBC in 2014, worked as a sideline reporter on Notre Dame football coverage for eight seasons and hosted studio coverage of the Fighting Irish. She has served as a host or reporter on many of the biggest events in sports, including the NHL, the Olympics and the Super Bowl.
NBC’s “Big Ten Saturday Night” broadcasts have drawn good numbers this season — averaging 4.1 million viewers, led by Ohio State-Oregon with 10.4 million viewers two weeks ago — and Tappen’s work offers an example of the quality of the broadcasts. (The Illinois-Penn State game earlier this season drew 3.094 million viewers.)
Campus and Gameday
While production team meetings matter greatly, getting a sense of a campus and community matters for Tappen as well. Along with knowing everyone from the teams’ athletic directors to team trainers, she knows she’s better at her job when she has a feel for what’s happening among its fanbase. So, she listens and observes, padding her preparation with some perspectives beyond her own.
All of that — she’ll have so much information that only a small percentage of it will ever get shared during the broadcast — helps her feel ready for gameday.
Once at a stadium, and Tappen arrives early, she gets familiar with the setting.
“Every school is different, and lot of schools have alumni and guests on the sideline,” Tappen said. “Some places are tighter than others, so you have to be ready for that, and I always know where the training rooms are and where the X-ray rooms are located.”
Before a game starts, Tappen talks to the kickers to get a sense of their mindset and the field’s conditions because those things could play a big role in the outcome. She also knows what local medical facility will be used in case of a serious injury. It might seem small, but it’s a detail that cannot be overlooked — even if it might not be needed.
“I want to have information in my back pocket that nobody else has,” Tappen said.
She’s able to roam the sidelines freely, with her accompanying camera and light operators, and she moves about regularly.
On Saturday she’ll start on the Wisconsin sideline because she’s scheduled interview coach Luke Fickell before the game starts. She’ll interview Penn State coach James Franklin at the start of the second half.
Interviews and Sideline sprints
It all eventually boils down to the deliverables. Yes, there’s the information she shares with her broadcast partners, but it’s the public part of the job that viewers notice — the interviews and any on-camera reports.
Tappen knows judging what she does by those moments alone offers a somewhat incomplete measure, but she also understands the job. Once the broadcast begins, she’s confident and focused — just like the teams themselves.
She said simple interviews are best.
“For me, the key is always the who, what, when, where and why. Plus, I have something no one else has at that point, the coach,” she said. “Something as simple as ‘What did you tell your team at the half?’ works. He can tell me whatever he wants because nobody else has the access.”
She said her experience often helps her cut through the coachspeak and elicit information that serves viewers.
The brief pregame or in-game interviews can have a familiar feel no matter the game or reporter, but curiosity and preparation can make some better than others. Tappen’s work fits in that category.
Bigger moments come after the game, when Tappen must find a coach amid players and other media members on the field. Sideline reporters have to try to stay focused in what are typically celebratory, if not fully emotional, moments.
Tappen, who competed in steeplechase as a Division I college athlete, keeps her eyes on the coach she needs to talk to as a game ends. Then she makes a beeline, dodging players, media members and other hangers on, as she runs onto the field for an interview after a game.
Her postgame effort at Ohio State-Oregon a couple weeks ago was the latest example of a hectic post-game environment.
“My camera guy has his eyes on me, and I just bulldoze my way through,” she says. “I’m not afraid of it. I embrace it.
“My No. 1 job is to interview the head coach after the game. I just go out in the middle of the field. I think it’s just me and my personality. That’s your job, go get it.”
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