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St. Bonaventure will host ESPN Radio’s Freddie Coleman this Wednesday as he broadcasts his show live from the Reilly Center from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Coleman will be joined remotely by his partner, Harry Douglas as the two host the Freddie and Harry show.
Coleman is a 1987 graduate of Mansfield and a member of the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame. The Bonnies are hosting Mansfield and not only will Coleman do his radio show, but he will also serve as color analyst for the game broadcast after his show on ESPN+.
Coleman said the idea came from ESPN VP, Audio & Digital Production, Justin Craig, who happens to be a graduate of St. Bonaventure. “[Justin] thought it’d be a really cool idea to have a chance to have me be a part of the broadcast,” Coleman told Barrett Media. “So when Justin suggests something, usually more often than not, it’s going to come true. So, I said, ‘whatever you can make happen, I’m definitely all in’ because I have not broadcast a game involving my university since I was at the university doing basketball games back in 1987, and it’s really a cool thing to have happen.”
Coleman will work the ESPN+ broadcast with longtime Bonnies television voice Brendan McDaniels. Coleman said he has seen many St. Bonaventure television broadcasts over the years and has a lot of respect for McDaniels although this will be their first chance to call a game together.
Asked some of his thoughts as he prepares for the big day, Coleman said, “One of the things I always tell people, and St. Bonaventure has a lot of it going on as well, is that there’s a family atmosphere [at Mansfield}. And when you’re a smaller school, like we are, a Division II school, you’re always going to rally around each other because you always feel that the odds are going to be against you, whether you’re playing against [similar Division II teams] or you’re jumping up in class when it comes to playing St. Bonaventure.
“And that’s the one thing I love about both of these schools, because one of our producers on Freddie and Harry is Devin Kane, and he’s a proud alum of St. Bonaventure. And the one thing he always has mentioned, or you hear it come through, is that family atmosphere that made things worthwhile, because that’s exactly the same way I felt about my time at Mansfield, and the friendships that’ll last me a lifetime being a graduate from 1987.”
During the broadcast a former ESPN colleague, Adrian Wojnarowski, who now serves as the General Manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, is set to join the show. This will mark the first time ‘Woj’ has appeared on ESPN since he departed the network, unexpectedly in September.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him because when he decided to go back to his alma mater and leave ESPN, being a dean when it comes to what he does, better than probably anybody else in the history of being an NBA insider, maybe even sports insiders… to have a chance to sit down with him and catch up with him, because as great of an insider as he always will be, he’s an even better person. So, I really can’t wait to see him, to give him a big old hug and be happy for him, because I know that St. Bonaventure means so much to him.”
Coleman was a two-year starter for the Mansfield Mountaineer football program. In 1985, Coleman hauled in 12 catches for 308 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The following year, Coleman led Mansfield with 41 catches for 644 yards and four touchdowns. He was named to 2nd Team All-PSAC East honors at wide receiver following the 1986 season.
ESPN Radio paired Coleman and ten-year NFL veteran Harry Douglas together starting in Sept. 2023. Asked about how the first year plus of the show has gone, Coleman said, “I don’t think we’ve reached the pinnacle of where I believe this show is going to go, because I think we’re just barely scratching the surface of how terrific that this show is going to be.”
