Rhode Island TV broadcaster takes new role as URI professor

ABC6 Sports Director teaches broadcasting classes

Coit is teaching Introduction to Broadcasting in his first semester in the role. PHOTO CREDIT: abc6.com

After working at Boston 25 News after graduating from Emerson College in 2011, Nick Coit would find himself in February of 2014 beginning his journey at ABC 6 in Rhode Island. 

“There’s been a lot of memorable moments and it’s tough to pick one because we have been so lucky here. I wasn’t a huge fan of college sports coming into the job,” Coit said. “But as I dove deeper into covering them, the memorable moments I think of have been the Friars winning the Big East Championship at Madison Square Garden and of course the Rams winning the A-10 Championship back in 2017.”

Coit spent his first four years at the station working with legendary sports reporter Ken Bell, covering multiple Super Bowl victories for the Patriots, NCAA tournaments and national championships with the PC Friars and Rhody Rams. Following Bell’s retirement, Coit was promoted to Sports Director in July 2017, teaming up with another Emerson alum, Ian Steele. 

Little did Coit know he would find himself at the University of Rhode Island five years after one of his most memorable moments. However, instead of reporting for the Rams, he now teaches COM 204: Introduction to Sports Broadcasting. 

“When the school reached out about the opportunity to teach, I jumped on it,” Coit said. “I have a very strong passion in this business, a strong passion for passing it down to others who want to learn how to get into it, and I’ve seen for myself the great people who have come out of the Harrington School who have been very successful. If I can be a part of the next wave of students who are willing to learn, I’m more than happy to do it.”

Coit hopes students who are enrolled in COM 204 learn the key messages he learned as a young and aspiring sports journalist.

“I like to tell students to always be persistent and build relationships with people,” Coit said. “The more you talk to people and build these relationships, you never know what doors may open for you or where it will take you but you’ll only find out if you stick with it.”

The hard-working mentality that Coit brings to the table has rubbed off on a plentiful amount of his peers, including his partner-in-crime on the teaching scene, Stone Freeman. 

Freeman, a former Ram who now broadcasts full-time for a majority of Rhody sports, is in his second semester of teaching COM 204. Freeman was also a former intern at ABC 6 in his undergraduate days, working under Coit and traveling with him to cover sports all around New England. 

“My first encounter with Nick came from a tweet my freshman year and I remember just tweeting at people who I thought had cool jobs one day,” Freeman said. “I tweeted at him, and he surprisingly answered, which led to me getting one of my first internships a few years later at ABC 6.”

Keeping in contact with people who are in the field, according to Freeman, was a huge part of him receiving a lot of his internship opportunities. When Coit talks about keeping these relationships with people like himself, Freeman took that to his advantage early on in his career.

“Nick, who was a mentor to me when I was just starting in the business, is now somebody I consider a good friend of mine,” Freeman said. “He’s a person who not only helped me grow as a broadcaster, but as a person as well.”

Throughout the first few weeks of the semester, both Coit and Freeman have nothing but good things to say about the course. The two of them mention a lot about chemistry and how knowing each other for as long as they have has helped them in constructing course material and teaching methods. 

“It’s great to have Nick,” Freeman said. “It’s such a huge asset to URI to have a professional in the business teaching students because his experiences over the years are so deep in terms of traveling, meeting with players, coaches, being on the field or court for game days, and things of that nature.”

Coit is still covering sports in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts for ABC 6 while he teaches. In his new craft, though, influencing and helping his peers is something he is very passionate about and takes pride in.

“Watching these students construct their own work reminds me of when I was their age and I had that fire to get into the sports business, and it’s truly amazing to sit back and think that I am the person providing them with the information to succeed, like a full circle ending,” Coit said.