On a balmy January night in 2008 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, a 54-year-old Les Miles led his LSU Tigers to a BCS National Championship victory over top-ranked Ohio State. “The Big Easy” was rocking as LSU won their second national championship in five years and first consensus national championship since the Eisenhower administration. For Tigers’ quarterback Matt Flynn, the fifth-year senior finished the championship-winning season with over 2,400 yards passing and 21 touchdowns.
Flynn’s journey at LSU was not one where he walked in and began slinging the pigskin in “Death Valley.” He found himself as a backup not once, but twice—playing third string to Marcus Randall and second string to JaMarcus Russell. It was right place, right time for Flynn as he started every game of that 2007 Tigers season. And earlier this month, it was right place, right time again for the now-retired signal caller.
Matt Flynn got the call to join the team at 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge, hosting the wildly popular Off the Bench morning show with his former teammate Jacob Hester.
“Jacob (Hester) threw it out there to me and I blew it off. I just kind of laughed at him and thought this wasn’t serious, just an off-the-cuff comment. I was like, ‘You can’t afford me, buddy,’” said Flynn. “Then I started thinking about it, and I was like, the morning show from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.—there’s nothing during the show within that timeframe that’s stopping me from doing this.”
Flynn reconsidered the offer and discussed the opportunity with his family, thinking about the work-life balance of running his own business and hosting a morning radio program. After a week of considering the concept, Flynn and his wife agreed that there was nothing but positives regarding the broadcasting possibility.
“I’ve always kind of been the anti-media guy. I just kind of go on radio and chop it up a little bit,” noted Flynn. “There are not many people I would have agreed to do it with besides Jacob Hester.”
Teammates On The Field Moving To On The Radio
Hester and Flynn called each other teammates while playing at LSU from 2004 to 2007, connecting through a love of football and playing for the Tigers. Beginning June 2, the two will be teammates again, as Flynn replaces T-Bob Hebert, who left the program earlier this month to take a position with Barstool Sports.
Flynn is no stranger to the Off the Bench program and its audience, as he’s been a regular contributor to the station since Hester began hosting evenings in 2018 and continued with Hester’s elevation to Off the Bench in 2021.
“I have this reputation on their show that I’m going to have to let the listeners down a little bit, because they always expect me to show up five minutes late to my segment or call in last minute because I’m in traffic,” joked Flynn. “Now it’s a job. I told Matt Moscona (program director, 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge), if this opportunity is real and I decide to do this, I’m all in and excited for it.”
Now moving from the role of contributor—where, in Flynn’s words, he could “do this for fun” and “show up when he wants”—to a three-hour program, five days a week, changes how Flynn will approach his preparation for his full-time on-air role.
“Jacob could handle a solo show for eight hours if he needed to—he is just so knowledgeable when it comes to everything,” explained Flynn. “I’m not known around here to the listeners of the show for being the most ‘sports guy’ as far as knowing people and stats. What I’m going to bring to the show is the mindset of an athlete—X’s and O’s, bigger picture stuff. Jacob is so good with stats, and I know that’s one thing I’m certainly going to sharpen up on.”
Be Authentic! Be Yourself!
Flynn and Hester have spent the last couple of weeks discussing different segment ideas and feature concepts to insert into the program, all while keeping the same Off the Bench identity. The chemistry that Hebert and Hester built together over the past several years is something both Hester and Flynn understand and respect. While there are ideas being discussed, Flynn knows one thing for certain—he can’t try to be something he’s not.
“One thing we don’t want to do is try to re-create and emulate T-Bob. He is so talented—there’s only one T-Bob. No one’s going to go in there and try to replicate what that show was or what T-Bob did,” said Flynn. “We’re going to have a lot of fun. I’m sure some of the segments will carry over, but we’ll just see. I’m the newbie coming in, so I’m going to do a lot of following at first before I can start giving too many opinions.”
As a former football player who played at the highest level in college and in the NFL, there are always expectations placed on every player on a roster. Flynn, a former quarterback, knows all about performing under pressure in the biggest moments. As he transitions to sports radio in a full-time morning drive role for the first time in his career, he knows there will be some expectations to meet, following a successful run.
“I’ve always felt that morning shows should be informative, have opinions, and get feedback,” explained Flynn. “Be engaging and entertaining. I don’t think this show will ever get to the point where you’re listening and we’re just driving home stats every segment and breaking down the seriousness of sports. We’re going to break it down and have a lot of fun doing it. That’s the expectation—to be entertaining.”
From Ignoring The Outside Noise To Being The Outside Noise
Flynn notes that he doesn’t expect himself to attack athletes who go about their business the right way, but he will be critical if need be based on performance on the field. He said that while he played in the NFL, he was bothered when media members went personal with their criticism. Flynn joked that he is now part of “that outside noise” that athletes say they don’t pay attention to—something he never envisioned himself doing during his playing career.
“I’ve never once had the aspiration to go and do something like this up to this point,” said Flynn. “There is so much noise out there with so many options that people can tune into. I think what they’ve built here is this great community of people that love Off the Bench, and love what T-Bob and Hester did, certainly, but also really enjoy the segments that I’ve done for six years. So, we’re just going to make that elongated.”
As the countdown to the first official show begins next Monday, Flynn is excited to see the launch of this new era of Off the Bench. Former teammates who won a championship are now reunited again—looking to beat the competition, have fun, and do things their own unique way.
“I can tell you there’s not going to be anything traditional about the show,” Flynn noted. “It’s going to be a new show. It’s going to be its own show—and it’s going to be awesome.”
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
