Mike Keith (’91) had a decision to make that required some contemplation. He didn’t see any bad options among his choices, because they all provided the potential for satisfaction. Keith didn’t rush the process. He asked for opinions from trusted sources and pondered the outcome before he was ready to make the next move.
Once he made up his mind, Keith approached the counter at the UT Creamery and gave his order—one scoop of Rocky Road and one of Midnight at Hodges.
“This is something I would have never done as a student, because I was always busy doing things that would help me advance in the broadcasting industry,” Keith says. “I would have never stopped long enough to enjoy little things like this, but I’m gonna do that now.”
Keith has come full circle in being named the new Voice of the Vols. It’s the job he grew up dreaming about since first sitting in the stands at Neyland Stadium as a little kid listening to the late legendary John Ward, his broadcasting idol, call UT football games on a transistor radio.
The former Alumni Board of Directors member and 2011 Accomplished Alumni award recipient was perfectly happy being the voice of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans for the last 27 seasons and wouldn’t have left the job for any other position. But after Bob Kesling announced he would be retiring this spring as the Voice of the Vols, Keith’s name was at the top of nearly everyone’s list to step into the role.
The timing was right for Keith to make the move and become the lead play-by-play analyst for football and men’s basketball games on the Vol Network. His two children are grown, and his wife, Michelle, was ready to embrace a new chapter at the school where they began life together as newlywed students.
Tennessee Athletics has seen unprecedented success, culminating in the best overall year in its history in 2023–24 with, among other accomplishments, a national championship for baseball and every team seeing postseason play. Academically, enrollment has grown by 34 percent and the first- to second-year retention rate is nearly 92 percent.
“It’s got this buzz around it that it has never had, and for them to say they want you to come back—are you kidding me? Yes, let’s do that.”
A Budding Broadcaster
Keith was born in Knoxville and moved around East Tennessee when he was younger for his father’s job in logistics and transportation. The family settled in Franklin when he was 10 and the midstate area became his permanent home. No matter where he lived, Keith remained a diehard Vols fan and attended as many football and basketball games as he could.
Keith fell in love with broadcasting in the second grade while attending East Brainerd Elementary School in Chattanooga. His teacher, Barbara Scott, made the reading program into a newscast and let Keith sit behind the microphone.
“Between being interested in sports and being fascinated by John Ward already, I just decided that’s what I was going to do,” he says. “It kind of became a big joke, because every school I went to after that, I would do something similar. There is nobody who knew me who is surprised I am a broadcaster. Nobody.”
Even before he enrolled at UT, Keith made an impression on the local broadcast community. He visited campus as a junior in high school and left a demo tape on the desk of Vol Network producer Mike Moore.
“Mike popped the tape in, and we watched it, and our mouths dropped. We just could not believe what we were seeing was from a 16-year-old,” says Barry Rice (’88), the longtime senior video coordinator for UT Athletics. “He was absolutely the pro that we’ve come to know, and he was doing that at 16. It was obvious that he was so talented, and he was going to go on to do exactly what he has done in his career.”
At the time Keith enrolled at UT, Rice was the sports director at WUTK, the university’s award-winning student radio station. Keith visited the station on his third day on campus.
“I had pretty much run through my tenure and was already thinking about leaving,” Rice says. “But when I saw him walk through the door and ask if we had any jobs open, I said, ‘How’d you like to be sports director?’ He enthusiastically accepted.”
Keith considers his five semesters as sports director at WUTK as having had the most profound impact on his career. He regularly donates money to the station in support of its mission.
“That is where I learned to be a broadcaster,” Keith says. “When a Tennessee broadcasting student asks me what they should be doing to prepare for their career, my first question to them is, ‘Are you involved at WUTK?’ It doesn’t matter if you want to work in radio or TV, a great student radio station is where one learns the fundamentals. The best broadcasters that have ever come out of Tennessee will all agree.”
Learning from a Legend
While he was an undergraduate student at UT, Keith lived with John Wilkerson (’88), the current voice of Tennessee baseball on the Vol Network. One day they invited friends over to their apartment to watch a baseball game.
“They turned down the sound, and John and Mike did a radio broadcast for us in that room. It was another one of those moments where I just thought, ‘We’re looking at two greats in the business. The rest of the world just doesn’t know yet,’” Rice says. “I promise you, their broadcast was far better than the one that was actually being broadcast that day.”
Although many assume Keith studied communication at UT, he actually majored in political science. He met his wife when she was a nursing student at UT, and he dropped out of school once they were married. But his mentors and professors encouraged him to go back and finish his degree.
“Those last 13 months when I came back to school were just really amazing,” Keith says. “I will be forever thankful for that portion of it, because so many people took an interest in me—not only as a student but as a human being.”
Keith had made it a career goal at UT to work with Ward, and he was fortunate enough to begin at the age of 19.
“It was a profound education, because he was so phenomenally good at everything he did,” Keith says. “To watch how he handled the people he worked with. It was a masterpiece. We throw GOAT [Greatest of All Time] around a lot. He really was. John Ward was a real pro.”
Keith spent 11 years with Ward at Vol Network working in various roles, including being the voice of the baseball Vols from 1992 to 1998.
“I could talk about John Ward for hours—about just different little things I saw him do. He was on my butt. He was on me. He didn’t spare anything with me, but I needed that,” Keith says. “I was not nearly as smart at 30 as I thought I was at 19. But as the years went on and I was getting close to leaving, the relationship grew because he could see that I was starting to get it.”
Savoring a Happy Homecoming
Keith finished his work with the Titans on a Thursday and was preparing for his new role in Knoxville by the following Monday. He wanted to be immersed in the city and back on campus as much as possible to follow every sport.
Keith has already envisioned his first official broadcast as the new Voice of the Vols at the season opener against Syracuse in Atlanta on August 30. He won’t be trying to play it cool. He wants to savor the moment.
“I’m the Voice of the Vols,” he says. “I could act like that’s not a thing, but that’s not true. That’s real. I want to feel that, because the feeling of it is a big reason why I wanted to come have this opportunity.”
Keith expects to be even more emotional for the home opener in Neyland Stadium on September 6 against East Tennessee State University.
“When the players come running through the T, I’ll have to fight back tears,” he says. “That’s going to be a challenge to keep my poise on the air.”
After Keith finishes his ice cream and prepares to leave the UT Creamery, a family of three enters and recognizes him. They congratulate him on the new role and express their admiration for his career.
“It just gets more humbling,” he says. “I don’t want to say it doesn’t feel real, but it’s just striking how deep it is to people and how kind they are about it. It’s just an honor.”
Before he drives away, the new Voice of the Vols answers one last pressing question. How was the ice cream?
“If the bottom of my cup didn’t make it clear, it’s an A plus,” he says. “I will be back.”
