★ Coming soon

★ Learn from Charlie

Courses coming soon

Charlie taught Sports Broadcasting at the University of South Carolina. Now he is turning that class into courses anyone can take, built on More Than a Game and the fifty years behind it. Get on the list and you will hear first when they open.

★ The class he taught

Sports Broadcasting, University of South Carolina

It was a Maymester course: six weeks, three hours a day, five days a week. His first class had sixty students. The subject was how to be a sportscaster and the business of sportscasting, and they touched every part of it: writers, producers, directors, on-air talent, and off-air talent.

The first day, Charlie walked up to the chalkboard and wrote one line: this is a no B.S. class. That is what it was.

“Everybody starts with an A. It's what you make of it. I want you to get something out of it. Get your parents' money's worth, or your money's worth.”

Charlie Mac
Network guestsNot a local writer or a local radio voice. Network people: producers, play-by-play, color, engineering, and writing. Friends drove in from Atlanta, Charlotte, and Florida.
The press boxThe Gamecock reported in June 2001 that students got to announce from the press box at Williams-Brice Stadium, with guest speakers from ESPN and other networks.
Year after yearThat same 2001 Gamecock story said it was his fourth straight year teaching the course, and that it ran in the Carolina Coliseum.
His best students“The women. They worked harder. They were zoned in to what we were doing.”

★ What he told them

The truth about the business

A lot of those kids thought it would be exciting, or an easy grade. At the end of the term they came up to him and said, thank you for telling me the truth. Here is what he told them.

  1. Your first job will not be at a network“Their first job was not going to be with CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN, or Fox, whomever. It just does not work that way.”
  2. They will work you like a rented mule“To see if you can take it. Some do, some don't, most don't. A few do.”
  3. Learn to write“Get into a school, if you can afford it, that has a good journalism department so you can learn how to write.”
  4. Fall in love with the mic“The other part is sheer personality, and falling in love with the mic or the camera.”
  5. Be committed, or be warned“If you love it, have a passion for it, you know what it's all about, then go for it. Otherwise, be aware there are pitfalls.”
  6. Know what it costs your lifeHe told them plainly that the hours are hard on a marriage, and that some people he knew went through more than one.
  7. Call it straightHe was never a big-time homer. He gave the other side credit when it earned it, the way Cawood Ledford, Jack Cristil, Verne Lundquist, and Keith Jackson did.
  8. Build an honest base“Shooting them straight about everything. If they don't have an honest base, they're gonna be missing a lot of stuff.”

★ Coming soon

The courses

Coming soon

Course

The No B.S. Broadcasting Class

How to be a sportscaster, and the business of it

The class he taught at South Carolina, rebuilt for anyone. Writers, producers, directors, on-air and off-air talent, how the business really works, what your first job will look like, and how to tell if this life is for you before you spend the money.

★ Get on the list
Coming soon

Masterclass

Calling the Game

Play-by-play the honest way

Preparation, the coaches show, working with a crew, and calling it straight. Charlie called four SEC schools in four states and never learned to kiss up. He will show you how he did the job and kept his name.

★ Get on the list
Coming soon

For schools

For Journalism Programs

A legend in your classroom

Universities and journalism, sports, and broadcasting classes can use the modules in class. As Charlie puts it, just like a lot of professors, to take their course you have to buy their book. More Than a Game is the textbook.

★ Ask about class use
Booking

Speaking

Charlie Mac, Live

Keynotes, banquets, booster clubs

The stories from the booth, told the way only he tells them, for schools, banquets, booster clubs, and book signings. He will sign your copy while he is there.

★ Book Charlie

★ Where he learned it

Fifty years on the air

Charlie Mac calling a game with his headset on
Play-by-playOle Miss, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Middle Tennessee.
Charlie with the sign for Charlie Mac's Sports Facts
TelevisionSports director in Greenwood, Jackson, Memphis, and Nashville.
Charlie in the press box with the radio crew
Network radioCBS Radio, Host Communications, and syndicated SEC and ACC.

Be first in line

The courses are not open yet. Send your name and email and you will hear first when they open.

Every course starts with the stories in More Than a Game and goes past the book into the business. Online, at your own pace, with guest speakers and a certificate of completion.

Get on the list. Tap below and your email opens with the subject filled in. Add your name and what you want to hear about (courses, the masterclass, or speaking), then hit send.
★ Join the list

The memoir, now taking preorders

More Than a Game: A Life in Sports, Stories & Second Chances.

★ Preorder at charliemacbook.com