Chat with Barry Leonard

The Cornell Basketball Blog had an opportunity to chat with Barry Leonard, Cornell Basketball’s play-by-play commentator on 1160 ESPN Radio, WPIE and on Redcast, Cornell’s streaming internet audio/video service. Below is an excerpt of our lengthy conversation with Barry.

(originally published 2.26.09)

Maybe you can tell us a little about how you got into the broadcasting for Cornell Basketball.

Ironically, one summer I went to a basketball camp which was run by the old New York Knicks Center Willis Reed. The director of the camp was a guy by the name of Dave Bliss and of course he is a Cornell alum. I remember at the end of the camp when we’re saying goodbye and getting our certificates, he looked at me and he said, “look, stay in basketball.” So reading between the lines, Coach Bliss back then said, you know, you have a love of the game. You may not be able to play it, but stay with the game… But in terms of how it got me to Cornell University and announcing. I went to Ithaca College, and my best friend there set me up with an internship doing Cornell basketball. Ultimately, I came back to Ithaca as a professional sports broadcaster. I’ve been doing the basketball games for 12 consecutive years now.

I guess in your time, Cornell has travelled to play nonconference games in some pretty incredible venues. Any particular road experiences that stand out for you?

Playing in the Rainbow Classsic in Hawaii… and then this year, to go to Assembly Hall in Indiana Gives you the chills. Minnesota also had one of the most amazing facilities. I also enjoyed going with Cody Toppert and that team to New Mexico and play at the Pit. Michigan State, I think that was Steve Donahue’s first year. I got to meet Tom Izzo before the game. He sat down, did like a 25 minute interview with me, a total class act. Of course, Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium last year. The fans are crazy there. I mean, it’s not much of a gym from an aesthetic standpoint but when the fans get loud, it’s a very impressive sight. Georgia Tech was great. We’ve been down there twice. Of course, Syracuse in the Carrier Dome every year. I just love the fact that Coach D. challenges this team outside of the league and he was challenging this team even before they became a title contender. We’ve gone to some nice venues over the years. and see those championship banners and to watch Ryan Wittman walk on the court where his dad was a great All American.

Did you always travel with the Cornell basketball team or at one point were you just doing home games in Ithaca?

The nice thing about working in a smaller market where you don’t have any pro influence, Cornell is pretty much it for Division 1 here and the University has always been very generous in allowing the announcers, whether it’s football, basketball, hockey or lacrosse, to travel with the teams. So, if they go by bus, I go by bus. If they fly, I fly. So, you know, it’s a nice relationship because you get a little bit more personal at this level. I eat with the guys, travel with guys, and we share all the ups and downs together you might say.

Can you tell us a bit more about the Ivy double-header travel schedule for road weekends?

I think Coach Steve Donahue treats these guys like men. He gives them a tremendous amount of flexibility and leeway and in return they show a tremendous amount of devotion to him.

Typically, for example, I’m talking to you now here on Thursday, they’re practicing until about 5:30 – 5:45 pm on the travel day. They’ll shower quick after practice, get on the bus and we’ll leave at 6:15. Now, kind of a tradition that we started, we’ll stop at this Italian Restaurant in a small little town called Whitney Point, which is about 40 minutes outside of Ithaca called Aiello’s. We’ll eat, dinner and then get right back on the bus and it’s usually anywhere from 4 to 6 hours from there to travel to our first Ivy opponent with the game the following night.

So, a typical bus ride will be a couple of DVD movies that are either picked up by the players or either approved or disapproved by the coaches. They’ll watch some DVD’s. Some of the players still study, some put their headsets on, listen to music. Some bring their own DVD players and watch what they want. It’s a pretty laid-back leisurely bus trip.

After a long trip, typically you get in on Thursday night, players get their keys and go right up to their hotel rooms. Sometimes if we get there a little bit earlier, players will go off and watch a small amount of scouting film. Maybe 5-15 minutes. So the coach gets them in that mindset of, you know, let’s take a little look at who we’re playing tomorrow.

And then the next morning usually breakfast anywhere from 9 to 10 am depending on when the shoot around is, after breakfast, they usually have ½ hr to 1 hr before we’ll go the opposing gym for you know, a shoot around and a walk through. They’ll do, you know, different shooting drills and then receive the scouting report on the opponent were the assistant coaches extensively looked at and broke down game film on the opponent and they’ll be on the court actually doing a walkthrough, you know, going through their offenses and defensive sets. And the shoot-arounds are usually about an hour, give or take.

They’ll go back to the hotel, have some down time. On that Friday night, they usually eat four hours before tip off. So for the 7 o’clock pm Friday game, they’ll eat at 3 o’clock. That’s usually pretty much set in stone.

For the most part, not the most exciting dinners. These are young athletes, so it’s a lot high carbs, chicken, pasta, vegetables. These guys don’t starve. They eat very well. For the most part, we’ll eat in the hotel, but if we’re out at a tournament a lot of times they’ll set up something at a restaurant the night before and go from there or we might get hosted by an alumni group.

After the Friday night game, we try to get out of the gym within the hour and get moving to the Saturday night destination.

So, you see that’s why this is the toughest conference in the country. I think, you know, you talk to coaches in other conferences, with the exception of their post-season tournaments; you don’t have anything like this where you have virtually a 24-hr turnaround before you play next

When you travel with the team, are you with them most of the time and how do you spend your time on the road?

Pretty much when you travel with Cornell, you know, you’re on their schedule in terms of when the players eat, when the players go to the shoot-a-rounds at the opposing teams’ gyms and I like to go to those because it kind of give you like an insiders look at specifically how they’re gonna prepare for that night’s opponent. Each coach that I work with, whether it’s football, basketball or lacrosse, has pretty much given me an open locker room policy in terms of what I see on the road, whether it’s practice, film session and the like, it’s up to my judgment how I wanna use it. I’m not gonna say I lost my objectivity, but you get close to the players and coaches. But it is sort of like when I travel with the team, I’m part of the team. And quite honestly, while a lot of people may have some down time, for the players studying or what not, I’m usually prepping. My motto is those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail. I may only use 30% of the stuff that I put down that night but my feeling is if you don’t have it, there’s gonna come a time when you wish you would have had it.

What’s your perspective on your role with the program? Do you view yourself more as an objective journalist or more of a fan who is sharing the action for those who can’t be there in person and providing them the commentary?

Absolutely, I am first and foremost an objective broadcaster. Even though I’m a subcontractor, I get paid by Cornell to announce their games first and foremost. Here your job is to objectively call the action descriptively and to best of your ability. I think for the most part, I try to do a balanced broadcast.

But I think, you know, if you listen to the broadcast, it’s a reflection of who I am, you know, I’m a type A personality. I get excited at certain times but I think over the course of the game, you know, you get a pretty balanced broadcast.

Now, being the Cornell announcer, do I at times, you know, give extra praise maybe to Cornell? Well of course you, because, you know you’re travelling with them and you’re a part of it. But I think, you know, for me, the best compliments come not just from the parents who listen around the county, but also from the opposition. For example, last year after the Columbia game at home. The Columbia sports information director Darlene came up to me and told me that Coach Joe Jones wants to see me in the locker room. And I had no idea why, because, you know, I thought I done a pretty balanced broadcast. I don’t think I had said anything, you know, excessively negative about the game. And when I went into the locker room he looked at me and he said, “I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time. I listen to the tapes that come in on the Cornell games and you do a tremendous job. You’re a credit to our League.” So, I’m the Cornell guy but at the same time I think I try to do a job of promoting the other teams around the League when we play them. These are truly unique student athletes in the Ivy League.

I think we noticed in the last year or so that you’re basically becoming more and more a “TV man” at least with respect to the post-game interviews on the Redcast video internet service. Now the cameras are right there on you as you interview the players following the game. Do you see yourself becoming more of a video personality in the years to come?

No. I don’t think so. I just think it shows the technical advances that all the Ivy Schools can do now to offer the live video, particularly on home games. No, I don’t consider myself transitioning into the video full time. To me, radio is the pure medium and that’s what I really enjoy doing.