One of the most storied athletes in the history of the Tennessee Lady Vols softball program, Madison Shipman anchored the shortstop position for four years in Knoxville, earning a number of honors and awards along the way.
The 6’1” California native was named a second-team all-American in 2012 and a first-team all-American in 2013 and 2014, her junior and senior seasons. As a senior, Shipman was named the Honda Sports Award winner for softball and the Senior CLASS Award winner, and was named the SEC Player of the Year that same season.
Shipman hit forty-four home runs during her career in the orange and white, with a .347 career batting average to her credit. After her own playing career ended, she remained on Rocky Top as the volunteer assistant coach on Ralph and Karen Weekly’s staff.
After moving on from her coaching role before the 2018 season, Shipman made her debut in the broadcasting booth last spring, and immediately earned rave reviews.Initially brought on to call Tennessee’s home games, as well as make some studio appearances for the SEC Network, Shipman’s broadcasting career has gone on a meteoric rise, as she served as an on-site studio analyst for this season’s SEC tournament in College Station and earned her first postseason broadcasting berth, as she’ll call the Gainesville regional in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
While in College Station for the SEC tournament, Shipman sat down with us to talk about making the transition from coaching to broadcasting and about her new career’s swift ascent.
Justin’s World of Softball: When did you first have an interest in broadcasting, and think of it as an avenue that you might want to pursue?
Madison Shipman: Well, when I was a player at Tennessee, we always did the interviews at Palm Springs, and I always really enjoyed it. I remember this one time, I was interviewed by Jessica Mendoza and I had so much fun; I’ve always looked up to her. Right after I finished playing, I was like, ‘I want to start coaching. That’s what I want to do.’ I did that for a couple of years, and [ESPN producer Meg Aronowitz] had always joked with Karen Weekly about me, she always said, ‘whenever she’s done coaching, I’m going to scoop her up’ and Karen always would say that I was never going to be done coaching, how I was always going to be there. Finally, when I decided to not coach anymore, Meg gave me a call and she just was like ‘hey, do you want to come on and join us?’ and I told her ABSOLUTELY. It’s just a dream job for me; I get to sit here, watch softball all day, analyze film, and hang out with people like Kayla Braud, Molly McGrath, and Alyssa Lang, so it’s really awesome.
JWOS: When you left coaching, was broadcasting something that was at the back of your mind? Maybe not the main reason you made the change, but was that part of it?
Shipman: It was actually kind of something that had just kind of come about. I was actually working in real estate back in Knoxville, and that was always something that I enjoyed, and I figured since I wasn’t coaching, I might as well try it out. Then this opportunity came about and I just couldn’t pass it up.
JWOS: So you were doing real estate and broadcasting all at once at first, right?
Shipman: Yes, so I was juggling both and it ended up being so time consuming – because when I got on the air, I wanted to make sure it looked like I knew what I was doing – so I ended up just sticking with this. In the fall, I dabble in some local sports talk radio. Dabble in some football, some baseball. It’s just an absolute blast. One of the women who does the morning show was on maternity leave so I was like ‘hey, I’m here, I’ll fill in’, so I got to jump in there and talk some college football.
JWOS: Have you been surprised at how fast your career has gone? To go from being a part-time analyst/real estate agent to now working the SEC tournament?
Shipman: It’s kind of weird, because I sometimes feel like I just put horse blinders on and focus on softball so much and then I just go wherever they send me, so I haven’t really thought about the big picture. But I know the more opportunities that I get, the more thankful I am that I’m here. I’m just really honored to be able to sit out here and be at a field like [Davis Diamond]. SEC tournaments have always been fun, as both a player and a coach, but the field at Davis Diamond, to be able to have a studio set out in the outfield and a whole other set underneath in case of tornadoes or weather, it’s really unreal. I just walk up and think, wow, I get to talk about softball for a living. It’s really amazing.
JWOS: Tell me about your preparation process. When you’re not on set or in the studio and watching, what is your process for keeping up with games and being on top of all of that?
Shipman: I try to find as many screens as I possibly can, and watch every game and any game. My husband likes to joke with me; I’ll have two TVs going in our house, I’ll have an iPad, laptop, my phone… sometimes I’ll grab his phone, if he’s not using it, and I put it up, too. I just enjoy watching the game, and I like to dive in to what makes players so good, or what makes them successful in that game, and I feel like, for me, I get the most out of watching games. You can always look at stats in there and get information out of those, but for me, it’s just watching the games. I don’t know how I watch as many as I do, but I don’t think about it as work, so it’s a lot of fun.
JWOS: I know you’re on Rally Cap now, the baseball/softball highlights show on the SEC Network. Tell me about being on that, since it’s only recently been a show that showcases baseball and softball highlights like that.
Shipman: It’s a lot of fun. I think it’s a great spin on baseball and softball, just because you get to look at the entire week and pick out the things – of course, great plays, great hitting performances, great pitching performances – but also really the nuances of the game. Rally caps, for instance. Or people celebrating behind the coaches when they’re getting interviewed. Little things like that that I think really show the personalities of the players that we have in the SEC, and not just their playing ability. We try to highlight them as people and as players, and I think that’s what really makes Rally Cap unique.
JWOS: So how often do they tap into your baseball knowledge, in addition to softball?
Shipman: I’ve always been a big fan of baseball; one of my favorite things to do is to go to a baseball game and just watch, because I think it’s just amazing. I actually called a game down at Georgia earlier this year, and my brother lives down in Atlanta, so I got in a day early and I called him and I said ‘hey, let’s go to a Braves game’, so even when I’m in my down time, I’m sitting there watching sports! I’ve always had such a respect for the game, and there are always some great performances from across the SEC, even some of the midweek games, too. There was a six-hour, thirty-three minute baseball game, Georgia vs. Clemson, it was unreal. It was one of those games that went so late into the wee hours of the morning, it was like the crowd left and went and took a nap and came back in time for the walk-off for Georgia.
JWOS: There was a game earlier this year, where you were calling Tennessee and your sister [Tennessee freshman catcher Ally Shipman] was batting. You did a good job of just calling the game straight in that instance. What do you tap into to be an analyst and use your knowledge, but not overuse it?
Shipman: The way that I look at it, it’s my job to be an analyst, and not be biased towards Tennessee. So anytime that I have that headset on or I’m in the booth or in the studio, whether it’s good or whether it’s bad, that’s what I need to talk about. With my sister, it’s always kind of funny – when I watched her at the beginning of the season, I was watching her as a fan and I got so nervous when she came up to the plate. I haven’t felt that way… actually, I don’t think I even felt that way when I played. I was more nervous watching her bat than I was playing in the World Series. But I think when I switch over into that analyst role, I don’t feel those nerves anymore, because I’m looking at the play as a whole and I’m looking at her as a player, not just my sister.
JWOS: Booth vs. studio – you do both, so do you prefer one over the other, and how do those two mesh, because they’re different, but they’re also similar.
Shipman: Well, I don’t have a preference; I love doing them both. I think this year, because I’ve gotten to do more games around the SEC inn the booth, it’s helped me in the studio, and doing studio has helped me in the booth. So I think they both kind-of complement each other. When I’m in the studio, I’m looking at more big-picture things. When I’m in the booth, I’m looking at team-specific, player-specific, ‘what are the little things that they need to do to win’, and I think it’s things like that help me out. Because I’ve called so many SEC games this year, when I’m in the studio, maybe I can bring up earlier moments from the season that may be a big catalyst moment for that team. So I think both of them really enhance the other one.
Photo via Emily Merritt/ESPN Images
