Belmont Basketball Announces Broadcasters For Upcoming Season

Featured L-R: Belmont men’s basketball coach Casey Alexander and Belmont alumni and Bruin Sports Network’s Emily Proud. Photo: Courtesy of Belmont Athletics

Belmont University Athletics has announced the broadcasters for its upcoming men’s and women’s basketball seasons.

The broadcasters include, Belmont alumna Emily Proud, returning voices like Rich Tiner and Steve Layman and former basketball players like Jenny Roy and Ellie Harmeyer.

Here is the full list of Bruin Sports Network broadcasters that will appear for this season of Belmont basketball:

Steve Layman returns for his second season as lead broadcaster for Belmont men’s basketball. An award-winning broadcaster, Layman is a Nashville sports fixture in his role as sports anchor at NewsChannel 5 (WTVF-TV), the CBS affiliate in Nashville. Beyond calling Belmont games and serving as emcee at various campus events, Layman will also host a new podcast series on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio. Layman came to Nashville after spending five years as sports director at KOKI-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Previously, Layman served as a play-by-play announcer for University of Illinois Athletics on the Illini Sports Network and radio co-host of Sports Talk on WDWS-AM in Champaign, Illinois. He covered Illinois men’s basketball during its historic 2005 National Runner-Up season. Layman has been honored for best sportscast by the Associated Press and the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. He also received three OAB Awards for best sports special for his role as host and producer. The Illinois native has been a regular guest host on Nashville sports talk radio.

Emily Proud (’16) returns as lead sideline reporter for home Bruin Sports Network and ESPN digital broadcasts. Proud recently joined CBS Sports and 247Sports as a studio host and anchor. She previously served as weekend evening news anchor and sports reporter at WKRN-TV. Proud was named ‘Top 30 Sportscaster Under 30’ by the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America. The Knoxville, Tennessee native began her career at WATE-TV. A four-year letterwinner on the Belmont women’s soccer team, Proud graduated from Belmont University with honors in journalism, sports and media in 2016.

Dr. Rich Tiner returns as the voice of Belmont women’s basketball. Tiner retired as a distinguished professor of media studies and faculty athletics representative in May 2021. In his over two decades at the mic of Belmont Athletics, Tiner has called 18 Belmont NCAA Tournament games across women’s basketball, baseball and volleyball, including the Bruins’ victories over Gonzaga and Oregon. The Texas native also served on the NCAA Division I Council. Considered one of the “pioneers” of Contemporary Christian Music radio, Tiner began his career in Houston, Texas at KFMK-FM, one of the very first radio stations to program Contemporary Christian Music full-time. After several years as an air personality, his career path led him into programming, sales, and management–and ultimately into station ownership.

Greg Sage returns for his 18th season as lead color analyst for men’s basketball. Sage has been honored for outstanding writing by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association and for professionalism in announcing by the Ohio Valley Conference. Prior to Belmont, Sage worked as a producer at The Golf Channel in Orlando, and a sports anchor/reporter/producer at two affiliates in his hometown of Rochester, New York. Aside from covering NFL games and calling hundreds of college games throughout his career, Sage also served as a fill-in radio talk show host for ‘The Takeo Spikes Show’ on the Buffalo Bills Radio Network.  He earned his master’s degree in broadcast journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Jenny Roy returns for her fourth season as color analyst for select women’s basketball games. One of the most versatile players in Belmont and Ohio Valley Conference history, Roy helped the Bruins to a 108-26 record and four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament from 2016-19. She was named 2019 OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player and celebrated her 22nd birthday by recording the third triple-double in program history. Roy finished her Belmont career with 1,029 points, 892 rebounds, 489 assists and 128 steals.

Ellie Harmeyer returns for her third season as color analyst for select women’s basketball games. Like Roy, Harmeyer was a member of four consecutive NCAA Tournament teams and emerged as one of the top frontcourt players in the country in 2020. The Wisconsin native led the nation in five statistical categories as a redshirt senior as she was named Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A two-time First Team All-OVC selection, Harmeyer became the third player in Belmont history to register over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.

Hannah Harmeyer returns for her fourth season as color analyst for select women’s basketball games. A three-year letterwinner during Belmont’s run of NCAA Tournament success, the Wisconsin native played in 57 games and shot 50 percent from 3-point field goal range for her career.

Hanley Riggs returns for her third year with the Bruin Sports Network as a sideline reporter, and second as lead sideline reporter for women’s basketball. The Belmont senior broadcast journalism major has been a regular contributor to Bruin digital ESPN productions in Olympic sports. The Tampa, Florida native serves as lead anchor and social media editor for Belmont University student media, Belmont Vision and has spent time as an intern with the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators, Sirius XM, ESPN 102.5 The Game and Ryan Seacrest Studios.

Jay Gilmore returns for his second season as a sideline reporter for select games. A veteran broadcaster whose work includes time at affiliates in Atlanta, West Palm Beach and Huntsville, Gilmore has covered NBA championship runs by the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. He most recently contributed to Tiger Sports Properties for the University of Memphis. No stranger to the Nashville market, the Middle Tennessee State University graduate has been featured on MyTV30 high school sports coverage and began his career at NewsChannel5. Gilmore serves as an instructor of journalism within the Belmont media studies program.

Noah Syverson (SEE-ver-son) returns for his second season with the Bruin Sports Network, serving as a contributor and sideline reporter for select men’s basketball games. Syverson, who called the Nashville SC regular season home finale for iHeartRadio, has been the lead broadcaster for Belmont Volleyball the past two seasons and lent his voice to baseball, women’s basketball and soccer. The Berry College graduate holds extensive experience in baseball play-by-play, serving as lead voice for the Johnson City Doughboys and Macon Bacon, and was the play-by-play voice of the Northwest Georgia high school Game of the Week. The Washington state native is completing his master’s degree in sport administration from Belmont University.

Michelle Knezovic (kuh-NEZZ-uh-vick) joins the Bruin Sports Network team in 2022-23 as a sideline reporter for select games. Producer and co-host of Robby & Rexrode on ESPN 102.5 The Game, the New York native covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators and Nashville area college teams. Knezovic hosts a weekly college basketball show and podcast and serves as an adjunct instructor at Middle Tennessee State University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Kentucky and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Steven Boero