John Fanta has quickly risen the ranks as one of the premier voices of college basketball. On Tuesday, during an appearance on The Big Podcast with Shaquille O’Neal, Fanta offered some advice to aspiring broadcasters on how to navigate the sports media landscape.
Fanta is a bit of a Swiss Army knife regarding his roles across college basketball. This past season, he was a play-by-play personality for both NBC and Fox on select Big East and Big Ten games.
Additionally, he contributed to the digital college basketball outlet The Field of 68 over the course of the season and has become more of a fixture on studio programs like FS1’s Breakfast Ball lately.
Versatility has been the name of the game for Fanta. Similarly, he believes that any aspiring broadcaster should try out many roles in sports media before ultimately deciding that they like and have a skillset for.
“What advice would you give to a young sports reporter who wants to amplify their career like you have done?” asked O’Neal.
“My favorite question of the whole thing,” replied Fanta. “Because when I was in high school and college, some people helped me out. I went to Seton Hall up in New Jersey. When those people at Seton Hall gave me a chance. You know, Shaheen Holloway is now the coach there. A kid from Queens, but he’s as tough as they come. When guys like him gave me a chance, I always said back to them, ‘Thank you. What can I ever do for you in return?’ They said do it for someone else when they need it.
“That never lost my mind. My advice to the young kids out there? Say yes. Say yes to any and all opportunities. It could lead you to your dream path. If you say yes and it doesn’t go the way you wanted it to, at least you found out that you didn’t want to do that.”
I loved this question from Shaq on the @bigpodwithshaq. An answer for all of those young broadcasters and reporters out there: pic.twitter.com/oSvNeJTvjM
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 15, 2025
Additionally, Fanta hammered home a point that he has discussed extensively in the past: the importance of being authentic on the call of games.
“Be as kind and as open off the air as you are on the air,” added Fanta. “It’s even more important than that. If you have to change who you are when the microphone goes on. If you got to change who you are, you’re not doing it right. Be the person that you are all the time. Say yes. Be kind to people. Nobody wants to work with a jerk. You control two things: Who you are to people and how hard you work. Take down that brick wall and flourish.”
Fanta has been doing something right, as he received rave reviews in Awful Announcing’s annual college basketball announcer rankings for the 2024-25 season.
