Hokie ClubZach Mackey enters his third season as Virginia Tech’s director of broadcasting. He serves as the Hokies’ sideline reporter during football games, calls play-by-play action during Tech men’s basketball games, hosts podcasts and anchors the weekly head coach radio show Tech Talk Live! with analyst Mike Burnop.
Mackey arrived in Blacksburg after a three-year stint in Bozeman, Montana, where he was the radio broadcaster for the Montana State football and men’s basketball programs. There, he called Montana state volleyball matches on ESPN+, hosted Bobcat Insider chronicling the athletic department, also increasing its presence on social media.
During the 2021-22 season, Mackey was fortunate to call Montana State’s FCS national championship game in football and NCAA men’s basketball tournament game. Midway through the athletics calendar, he was honored as the 2021 Montana Sportscaster of the Year from the National Sports Media Association.
A University of Iowa graduate, Mackey took the reins as the voice of the Hawkeyes’ baseball program in 2015. In Iowa City, he also had the opportunity to host pregame and postgame shows for the Iowa football team and filled in to call games for the Hawkeyes’ basketball programs.
Mackey has spent time broadcasting contests for Big Ten Network and has earned several career accolades, including being named three consecutive years to the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America (STAA) Jim Nantz All-America as an undergraduate at Iowa. Additionally, he is a recipient of the Bob Sheppard High School P.A. Announcer of the Year Award and was runner-up for the 2013 Bob Costas High School Play-by-Play Broadcaster of the Year Award in his hometown of Geneseo, Illinois.