Johnson's Journal - Barry McKnight Begins 25th Year as "Voice of the Trojans"

Entering his 25th season as play-by-play announcer for Troy University Athletics, Barry McKnight fondly reflects on his early childhood in Palm Bay, Fla., when calling sports first piqued his interest.

"We lived right across the street from the big sportsplex in town," McKnight said. "The baseball field was 40 yards away, and I used to get foul balls in my front yard all the time.

"I played all the sports, but when I wasn't playing, they let me do the public address announcing."

A makeshift press box made from plywood and particle board sat above one of the dugouts, providing the first setting for McKnight to announce games.

"I was always there anyway, and was a pretty responsible kid, so they let me do it," McKnight said. "When I wasn't playing, I was up there."

And though just a pre-teen, McKnight took the duties seriously as he called out names of players his own age.

"I would get the starting lineups; I would get the pronunciations right, though I knew all the kids," McKnight said.

"I thought then, 'This would be a great way to make a living. If I could do anything like that, I'd be the happiest guy in the world.'"

Learning the ropes
McKnight grew up in a "Gator family," rooting for the home-state University of Florida.

"I used to go to all the home games in football," McKnight said. "When I was a kid, I went to the (former football coach) Doug Dickey Football Camp every year."

He followed in the footsteps of other family members by enrolling at Florida, but McKnight's time there was cut short after suffering a severe broken leg during an intramural softball game his sophomore year.

"I had to leave school for a year," McKnight explained of the difficulty of getting around campus and completing schoolwork due to the injury.

Needing a job during the time away from college, McKnight moved to Fort Walton Beach, Fla., to room with a friend and found employment at a local radio station, "because I could sit there and talk with my cast over to the side," he said.

Instead of re-enrolling at Florida once healed, McKnight transferred to Auburn University in 1985, which put him on a solid path to a career in broadcasting.
"One of several reasons why I went to Auburn is that I could get a job at the local commercial radio station there - they had already offered me a job at WAUD in Auburn - and I could do sports," McKnight said. "I got to do Auburn baseball (play-by-play) while I was still a student."

McKnight would also get the opportunity to announce Auburn women's basketball for several years.

"It was a great training ground for a young broadcaster," McKnight said.

After graduating from Auburn, McKnight continued radio work at several stations in town full-time and later landed a position as the primary play-by-play TV broadcaster with the regionally based College Sports Southeast, calling a variety of sports.

The work eventually connected him to Troy, marking the beginning of a longstanding relationship.

"They (CSS) asked me if I would do a Troy State football package for them - all the home games when they were in the Southland Football League," McKnight said. "I did that for two years."

Becoming Voice of the Trojans
When an opening arose after Ralph Black's departure in 2002 following his 26 years as the play-by-play announcer at Troy, McKnight got the call.

"It took me about three seconds to say yes," McKnight said. "That's how it all started."

He didn't have long to get settled in.

"It happened within a month of the start of the football season," McKnight said. "I actually got officially hired two weeks before Troy opened up against Nebraska."

The timing also coincided with a longtime personal goal.

"Someone once told me, 'Man, if you're going to be in radio sports, get you a good local play-by-play job at a school,'" McKnight said. "I said if I don't get it done by the time I'm 40 years old, then it's just not meant to be.

"Troy played at Nebraska on Aug. 31, 2002. On Sept. 1, 2002, I turned 40 years old, so I made it right under the wire."

Following in the footsteps of Black - who is a member of the Troy University Sports Hall of Fame and whose name and photograph are now on the entrance of the radio booth at Veterans Memorial Stadium - wouldn't be easy.

"Troy people are loyal," McKnight said. "Everybody in Alabama broadcasting knew Ralph. He was there to answer any questions; he was there to support me.

"He could not be any more helpful or encouraging than he was to me."

Trademark TD call
Troy fans far and wide now recognize McKnight's trademark, "Touchdown, Men of Troy!," call when a Trojan reaches the end zone.

It wasn't something McKnight initiated - or even put much stock in - during his first couple of years on the job.

"When I started, it was Troy State, and I never had a touchdown call," McKnight said. "I never really believed in a touchdown call. I worked with Jim Fyffe, the voice of Auburn for so many years, who passed way too early, and I had the joy to stand behind him when he was calling an Iron Bowl.

"People always remember him for "Touchdown Auburn!" That's a good thing to be remembered for, but he was really concerned that would be all that people would remember him for."

McKnight toyed with the idea of a touchdown call and eventually tested "Touchdown, Men of Troy!" during a season-opening game.

"I got so much positive response from that, including from the administration, that I thought, 'I better explore that,'" McKnight said.

"It was not like, 'OK, I've got a new touchdown call.' If you don't have a touchdown call, more power to you. Mine just kind of evolved. I tried it and got a positive response. That's the whole story."

Preparation is the key
Being prepared for each game is something McKnight takes pride in.

He gets so locked into the present that he has a hard time recalling key moments of past games that fans can often describe.

"People say, 'Do you remember what happened when Jordan Chunn scored that touchdown?' and I don't remember, because I'm always in the moment," McKnight gave as an example.

"I'm a nut for preparation. I've developed my own spotting charts, my own baseball scorecards and my own basketball spotting charts.

"I love doing the homework. I embrace it; I enjoy it. I love the creativity of it all. My passion for my ability to express myself in the English language is something I've always taken pride in."

McKnight says he doesn't get nervous before going on the air because he feels so prepared.

"Most sportscasters, I would think, probably have this dream where you're at a ballgame, and you don't know who the two teams are, and you weren't ready, and you're wearing jeans and a T-shirt … that's a thing," McKnight said.

"But I know that I'm ready; I know that I'm prepared. There is very little, if anything, that can happen that I will not be able to account for."

While he may get physically worn down at times, McKnight never tires of his work. Besides his Troy duties, McKnight also has a morning YouTube sports broadcast with John Longshore, who he first teamed up with in 1997 in co-hosting a sports call-in radio show in Montgomery.

"I'll be honest, and people don't believe me, I never get tired of it," McKnight said. "I do get tired. You come in at 3 in the morning off a bus trip, and you have to do a 7 o'clock show the next morning; you do get tired.

"But I keep reminding myself of all the people out there who have to get up and do things much harder than I do. I get to talk for a living. I never feel sorry for myself."

The support system
Jerry Miller is the longtime color analyst next to McKnight in the booth. The two have developed tremendous chemistry.

"Even when we are not broadcasting, we do a lot of things together," McKnight expressed of their friendship. "Goodness knows we spend a lot of time together during the year. He's the only analyst and color guy I know in FBS who does football, basketball and baseball.

"It's a comfort with him because we're great friends, but you know he is well prepared. You know he's got ideas on what he wants to present and you know when you set him up he's not going to leave you hanging, or look at you blankly, or anything like that.

"The thing about Jerry is he's a great story teller and has a great sense of humor. He has a great level of trust and knowledge of the coaches. He knows everybody, so he has a good sense of what the team is about. I never have to worry about Jerry."

While Miller is a trusty sidekick in the booth, McKnight's wife, Denise, is who he looks to for the most support.

"She loves the Trojans, loves me and loves the work I do, but it is a sacrifice," McKnight said. "Last year, I did a total of 134 broadcasts for Troy. I don't think anybody else that does what I do in the Sun Belt had more than 100. So, I work a lot, and I'm gone a lot.

"The old saying is that heaven has set aside a warm, soft place for coaches' wives. They also have a warm, soft space set aside for broadcasters' wives."

More than just sports
McKnight, who in 2025 was honored as Alabama Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association, isn't just the voice of Troy athletics. His duties on campus are many.

"If you call the university switchboard and they put you on hold, that's me you're going to hear," McKnight said of a recording. "I work with the communications office on features and stuff. I have a monthly podcast about research at Troy University.

"I've called thousands of names at graduation. I tell students, 'If you finish here, at some point I'm going to say your name.'"

Troy has become home for McKnight after commuting from Auburn during the first 10 years. Now he has no plans of ever leaving, though he's been approached over the years about other job possibilities.

"Number one is my situation," McKnight said of being content where he is. "My wife is a 1993 Troy State graduate, and she's lived here ever since. She is all Troy.

"My mom moved up here five years ago from Jacksonville, Fla., when my dad passed. She loves the Trojans. My son and his wife, and two grandchildren, live in Trussville. My wife's family lives in Headland.

"I always tell people when I have speaking engagements, 'What you're looking at right here is a rarity in our society. You're looking at somebody who's doing exactly what he has always wanted to do his whole life,'" McKnight said.

"I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do, but it's taken me a long time to get it the way I wanted to get it. There's nothing that's going to get me out of Troy now."

A match first put in motion above a dugout at a youth league baseball game.

Troy University Athletics

Johnson's Journal - Barry McKnight Begins 25th Year as "Voice of the Trojans"

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