TV, radio keep Brennan involved in basketball
By Brian Moritz | Press & Sun-Bulletin (3/4/06)
 
VESTAL -Tom Brennan is still working the officials.

Before a conference game, he sat on the sidelines talking to and joking with the game's referees. But this season, he's doing it from press row, not his team's bench.

"They hated me for 10 years," Brennan joked before the Binghamton-Boston University game last month at the Events Center. "Now, I'm their best friend."

A year after guiding Vermont to a Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament, Brennan is a rookie broadcaster. Along with his appearances on a morning radio show in Burlington, Vt., Brennan works as a weekend college basketball analyst for ESPN. He has also done color commentary on a handful of Boston University games.

Brennan, who spent 18 seasons as Vermont's head coach, retired after leading the Catamounts to three consecutive league titles. Last season, Brennan's team upset Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Michigan State.

"I wish everybody who does this could go through what I went through last year," Brennan said.

Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine, the duo who led Vermont to three consecutive America East Conference titles, are playing professional basketball. Coppenrath, who signed with the Boston Celtics as an undrafted free agent but was cut from the NBA roster, is playing for AEK Athens in Greece. Sorrentine recently signed with the Florida Flames in the National Basketball Developmental League.

Brennan, meanwhile, works a couple days a week at ESPN. Despite being one of college basketball's all-time best talkers, he said he's learning how to be a broadcaster.

"It's more work than I thought it would be," Brennan said. "The people (at ESPN) are nice, they're patient with me. It's like anything else, you have to learn how to be good at it. I'm nowhere near being good at it."

Brennan said he has no regrets about retiring when he did and doesn't miss coaching one bit. Aside from his radio and TV gigs, he's busy being retired.

"You'd be surprised how fast a day can go by when you're doing nothing," he said with a laugh. "I've got a lot of lunch dates.