Faces of Ferris News Article

As part of my role at Ferris State University, I was assigned to find, interview, and write a news article highlighting a student who embodied one of the university’s core values (Opportunity, Collaboration, Diversity, Ethical Community, Excellence, and Learning). After researching and speaking with several students, I connected with Ryan Pillion, a Sports Communication major and sideline reporter for Ferris State Hockey. His story perfectly captured the value of Opportunity, from seizing an unexpected job offer to leveraging classroom knowledge in a real-world role. This article showcases how Ryan’s proactive mindset and Ferris State’s supportive environment helped him turn a chance meeting into a career-shaping experience.

Story: Representing Ferris State's Core Value of Opportunity

When you think of Ferris State Hockey, you may think of a fast-paced and opportunistic team. 

Those words could also describe Ryan Pilion, the rink-side reporter for the Bulldog hockey team.

While Ryan might not play on the ice, he was quick to skate his way toward this unique job opportunity. 

How did Ryan get this prestigious job?

Let’s rewind.

Ryan came to Big Rapids from Brighton for Ferris State’s Sports Communication program. Before his freshman year, Ryan met his advisor to discuss a class schedule and ways to get involved on campus. Ryan was eager to immerse himself into the Sports Communication program and was open to any suggestions his advisor had. His advisor listed a few options but one in particular intrigued Ryan. He got a suggestion to talk to Harrison Watt, who was at the time the hockey team’s play-by-play broadcaster. Watt suggested the broadcast team had a sideline reporter job coming open.

Ryan was interested enough in the job that he borrowed a friend’s suit and met Watt as soon as possible. Ryan said, “I wore his suit and met Harrison at the rink and basically got the job on the spot. Harrison liked my passion for hockey and what I wanted to do at Ferris. He knew the job was a good fit.” Ryan jokingly added, “I was later told that he (Harrison) was impressed that I wore a suit by Dr. A (advisor), which I recall being a tuxedo jacket,” but the rest is history. 

“Since then, I have interviewed players and coaches at every Ferris home game,” Ryan said. It just goes to show you that an opportunistic mindset and a good tuxedo jacket can go a long way. Now a junior with three years of reporting experience, Ryan has developed a work routine that ‘suits’ him. 

Asked about his day-to-day as a reporter, Ryan explained there is prep work involved with reporting. He added that it’s mostly current events. 

“As a reporter, most of the questions you ask should be based on what has happened during the game. Prep work just gets your mind in the game and establishes trends and information you may or may not incorporate into a question.”

During the game, Ryan explained how it is just a lot of internal analysis.

“I am always searching for the perfect thing during the game to ask questions about,” Ryan said. “I get to pick my player in the first intermission, and I always do Coach Mark Kaufman in the second intermission. It helps when a player scores because that is easy to start the conversation with. If not, you must look for an impact player or someone who may correlate and answer your questions well.”

In addition to his in-game routine, he offered some insight on his post-game operations: “After the game is done, I head down for the post-game interview with Coach Daniels and some of the players. The second game is just rinse and repeat, but I have the advantage of knowledge from the last game.”

While Ryan did make some great connections to help land the job, he utilized his knowledge from the classroom to excel in it. “Without most of the courses I have taken, I don’t think I would have matured as both a student and broadcaster to the point that I am today.” 

Ryan added, “Most of the classes I have taken have contributed to the much-needed versatility you need for a career in sports. My journalism classes allow me to have a hand in reporting and writing in sports, and the Television and Digital Media Production classes allow me to know important things in my career from a technical standpoint.” 

Majoring in Sports Communication and minoring in Multimedia Journalism, Ryan said his classes and job complement each other and will help him on his career path, a topic for which he has thoughts.

“If I had the most opportune chance, I would say that I would be great to start at a job doing play-by-play right out of college," he said. "I primarily hope to play hockey, but I have so many interests in many different sports, and I feel like I could do work for any of them.”

Ryan mentioned that it is not 100 percent his decision and it is just going to be who is willing to hire him.

“If I got a job as a side-line reporter that would be great too," he said. "My true interest is doing play-by-play, but I am not here to nitpick exactly what I do.” 

While Ryan's future is still being determined, one thing is for certain, he will take advantage of every opportunity that comes his way. 

Pictured: Ryan Pilion