Reconnecting with Eli Gold, a former radio voice for Alabama, and landing a dream job at JSU | Goodbread

Eli Gold’s journey from his home in Birmingham to the Jacksonville State campus, which takes approximately one hour and twenty minutes, isn’t significantly longer than his journey to Tuscaloosa during his 36 years as the radio play-by-play announcer for Alabama football. Anyway, it’s fine with him. Gold, who is now the television play-by-play announcer for JSU football, loves the peaceful isolation of the drive and made the journey on Monday with the broadest smile. The cancer that devastated his body two years ago has not returned, he discovered earlier in the morning during an oncology appointment.

“Bloodwork was great and I’m still clear of it,” he added. “So I’m having a great day.”

Gold, 70, was formally out of work for only two hours when UA made public in February that they would not be renewing his contract with the Crimson Tide Sports Network. It took exactly that amount of time for his phone to ring, and the person on the other end was Greg Seitz, the director of athletics at JSU.

“I hear you’re looking for work.” Gold recalled what Seitz had said.

With a “yes,” Gold replied.

You located it. You’re being hired.

A week after that, Gold began making the 80-minute journey to broadcast baseball games for the Gamecocks, and he has since made the station his home away from home. He’s already famous on a campus that’s about a quarter the size of UA, with a little under 10,000 students. If his shifts go late enough, JSU will pay for his hotel room so he can get a ride home in the morning. Seitz texted his wife Claudette a Happy Mother’s Day message in May. Randy Owen, lead vocalist of Alabama and a part of the JSU Board of Trustees, called him “welcome to JSU” one night earlier this year. An invitation to a concert in Alabama, where JSU officials had suite access, came Gold and his wife’s way shortly after.

Gold mentioned that it’s been the small gestures like those that have truly made him feel at home.

“Randy Owen is a busy man, traveling all over the globe,” he added. The phone rings while I’m at home, and someone’s voice says, ‘Hey brother, how are ya?’ I was unaware of who was behind Alabama’s music, despite my affection for it. ‘This is Randy Owen, just wanted to welcome you to Jacksonville State.’ I couldn’t recognize the voice immediately away…

As soon as Gold was hired, he called longstanding JSU radio announcer Mike Parris to reassure him that Gold had no intentions of taking over the JSU radio job. The former football coach at JSU and UAB is back on TV after two years, and he gets along great with color analyst Bill Clark. Alabama baseball telecasts were his most recent TV work before his cancer diagnosis, but he discovered there was little to no rust to shake off. He even finds it easier than radio, which is somewhat surprising.

“When you’re on television, you’re adding captions to images. “On radio, you have to paint the whole picture,” he remarked.

With the start of the basketball season next week, Gold will be captioning a lot more photographs than usual, but he’s excited for the challenge. Not to mention his coworkers. As the “Friendliest Campus in the South,” Jacksonville State University proudly proclaims itself.

Gold stated, “That’s not just a line of crap.” on the other hand. “That’s been my experience.”

Chase Goodbread co-hosts Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 every week in addition to being a columnist for the Tuscaloosa News. Email him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Thank you. Chase Goodbread can be followed on X.com.

Nick Saban’s Potential Return to Alabama Crimson Tide Coaching, Revealed by Rece Davis

Many rank Nick Saban among the all-time greats in collegiate football coaching. With six titles at Alabama and one at LSU, the former Crimson Tide head coach has a total of seven.

His record was remarkable, with 297 victories, 71 defeats, and 1 tie. Saban, however, surprised everyone by announcing his retirement after last season. “College GameDay,” ESPN’s premier college football broadcast, now counts him among its lead analysts.

Many have wondered if Saban will be returning to coach Alabama after the Crimson Tide’s recent losing streak of two games in a row.Colleague of Saban’s on “College GameDay,” Rece Davis, shot down this idea on the “Paul Finebaum Show,” saying that Saban is totally dedicated to his current position.

“I think he’s firmly entrenched in his current position coaching us,” he added. He is occupied with us. He has performed admirably.

Former Alabama football coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban © Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Davis attempted to allay Alabama supporters’ fears by admitting that it would be extremely challenging to follow a coach of Saban’s caliber. He brought attention to a number of significant distinctions between Saban and Kalen Deboer, the team’s new head coach.

While Saban was in charge, Alabama practiced in the afternoons; however, the Crimson Tide now do their work first thing in the morning. Also, music is allowed throughout practice now, although Saban forbade it. As a last point, freshman are now able to participate in all forms of media, including podcasting, which was previously forbidden under Saban.

While this approach is not inherently flawed, Davis argues that it does reflect major shifts in the surrounding environment. But he doesn’t see Saban going back to his bench any time soon.