An Interview with NHS 2026 Media Team Coach Brian Bass

Coach Bass, can you introduce the students and staff who make up the Friday night scoreboard media team?

Our Gameday Experiece Team consists of: Indy Abercrombie, Joel Moyer, Jackson Gainey, Nate Perry, Marcella Loza, and Murphy Johnson.

How far in advance does the team begin preparing the videos, graphics, advertisements, music, and other content for each home game?

We began preparing this summer.  We held a media day this summer in which all the fall athletes came through on a rotation schedule for hm “hype” style videos.  Each my week my team is also editing video and audio content to create new material for the week.  They work hard everyday at it!

What different jobs are involved in operating the scoreboard and Jumbotron during a game?

We have some students filming the action, some doing interviews on the sidelines, and some in the student section to gather the student section experience.  We will add more roles as we learn all the bells and whistles of what our new board can do!  This includes doing live shots to the video board during the game!

How do you train students to use the cameras, production equipment, and scoreboard technology?

We are trained on the one of the industry leaders in creative content production: Adobe.  My students learn the many levels of this powerful software which includes Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and After Effects.  What is great for my film students is that these Adobe skills transfer to the next levels of either film school or professional based work so they are prepared to hit the ground running when they leave NHS. 

How do team members decide which players, students, fans, and special guests will be featured on the Jumbotron?

We would like to keep the feature spotlight moving!  Our goal is to give everyone some shine not only in the school but in the town of Nolensville. There is so much cool stuff going in our neck of the woods and we hope this new board is a way to bring light to all of it!

What is the process for creating sponsor advertisements and making sure they appear at the correct times during the game?

First our students will meet with the local business owners and have a discussion with them about what their goal is for their advertisement.  For some businesses, that has been showing off their business or product.  For others, they have wanted a spot that is more focused on their connection to the town and what the town means to them.  From there my students will create a storyboard to help capture the clients goal and branding hopes.  We then set up a shoot time and knock it out! It s is such a great professional level opportunity for our juniors and seniors to go out and make professional level commercial work for their portfolio. 

What are some of the biggest challenges the media team faces during a live Friday night football game?

Whenever you are trying to pull things off during a live production like a ballgame, there is inventively the dreaded technology issues.  I try to keep the students (and myself) calm when we run into snags and use it as a problem solving opportunity.  

What skills and experiences do students gain by participating on the scoreboard media team, and how could those skills help them in the future?

The kids learn how to create professional level promotional work.  This could be hype videos to get the whole town locked in and fired up for a third down, or a 30 second ad for a local sandwich shop.  Whichever the case,  the students are pushing themselves to create work that people see and say “wow, a high school student made that?” We get that a lot, and nothing makes me more proud!