HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Steve Cotton was close to giving up on his broadcasting dreams in the early 90s but with mentoring from a longtime friend and a break falling his way, he flipped his fortunes and is now a Marshall legend.
Cotton was honored before Saturday’s Marshall men’s basketball game versus North Texas for his 1,000th broadcast of a Marshall sporting event.
He appeared on Monday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline’ and said he appreciated all the love and support shown on Saturday and throughout his journey behind the mic.
“It was really fun to hear from so many people,” Cotton said of Saturday. “Many checked in with me, some of whom I have not talked to or had contact with in several years. I felt loved and appreciated, that’s for sure.”
Cotton took the job in 1996, replacing Stan Cotten who is currently the play-by-by broadcaster at Wake Forest. The two met at Carson Newman College in Tennessee and Cotton said without his predecessor, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
After growing up in Michigan and moving to Gainesville, Florida during high school, Cotton graduated from the University of Florida in 1987. He was calling women’s basketball and baseball games for the Gators when he thought about leaving broadcasting and attending graduate school at Central Michigan University.
That’s when Cotten stepped in, in 1993.
“Stan said ‘nope you’re coming to grad school, come here, we need a sideline reporter for football and we will put you to work,'” Cotton recalled. “After I finished up my masters degree, Stan said ‘don’t give up on this dream, you’re close.’
“1996 he became the play-by-play guy at Wake Forest and I was able to get his job and have been here ever since.”
The 13-time West Virginia Sportscaster of the Year earned a masters degree in journalism from Marshall in 1995, one year before taking over as The Voice of the Thundering Herd.
The 1996-1997 sports season for Marshall was a special one and it happened to be Cotton’s first as the main guy. The football season capped off a 15-0 season by taking home the I-AA National Championship.
That same month, Keith Veney put together one of the single greatest individual games in college basketball history. Just eight games into Cotton’s play-by-play basketball tenure at Marshall, Veney scored 51 points while making a current NCAA record 15 three-pointers against Morehead State.
On Monday, Cotton remembered the first touchdown he called was one of Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss in the Green & White.
“The first time I said ‘Touchdown Herd’ Randy Moss had the ball in the end zone. I would highly recommend to any aspiring broadcasted that you start with a great team and everybody thinks you’re doing a good job because all you do is say touchdown for the good guys,” he joked.
While Cotton enjoys the victories and feels the sting in defeats, he said one of his favorite parts of the job is telling each team’s story. And he also said he enjoys calling a fair, balanced game, which is a reason he has become such well-respected throughout the entire country.
“Yes, I am talking to people who are 90 percent or more wanting Marshall to win and they want me to be excited when things are going well,” he said.
“But I also just try to tell the story and be realistic about everything.”