Stubbs Scores Dream Career

By Blake Lowry

IMC Student

Browning Stubbs knew from a fairly early age what he wanted to do as a career. Now he is actually living it.

An Associate Producer for ESPN, Stubbs works with The Longhorn Network in Austin, Texas. The Longhorn Network is an ESPN network that focuses on athletics at The University of Texas. 

“I’m basically a content creator, which is something I contribute to in a lot of ways,” said Stubbs, an Ole Miss School of Journalism alumnus. 

“I create the features, the vignettes, the storytelling that we do where we will interview players and coaches and find good human interest stories. That’s what I really like to do. I like to edit and manage as well. I also produce graphics in the truck when we are televising a game and supporting what’s happening in the game via graphics.”

Along with being an Associate Producer for The Longhorn Network, Stubbs has many other responsibilities with ESPN. 

“I get to work with other events. I am blessed because I have a really amazing boss and she gives us other opportunities. I have worked on the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship, NCAA Indoor Volleyball Championship, and I’ve also done other college baseball, softball, and basketball events as well. It’s cool to get to branch out, and it’s great covering Texas. They are one of the best brands in college sports, but it’s really awesome to see the rest of the country and travel and honestly live my dream.”

Stubbs, a Memphis, Tenn., native, gained a lot of his experience in media long before ESPN and The Longhorn Network. During his time in high school and at Ole Miss, he worked to learn many different aspects of media and grow himself into the person he is today.

“I’ve always liked sports so I started a high school sports network called the Christian Brothers Sports Network where I was the creator of how we were going to shoot the broadcast and stream it on the internet for thousands of alumni, fans, family members and students to watch,” said the Christian Brothers High School graduate. 

“I was actually the play-by-play commentator in high school, which gave me experience to have a voice in student media at Ole Miss. I also got a chance to work for the Student Media Center where I was a sports reporter with NewsWatch, hosted a sports show on RebelRadio, and was the DM (Daily Mississippian) beat reporter for the Ole Miss Men’s and Women’s basketball.”

After Stubbs had started his media career learning from many different areas, he wanted to learn more and work harder. 

“I wanted to improve my skills so I kept working hard and got a lot of great opportunities. I became sports director of NewsWatch, then I became Station Manager. I am actually the one who rebranded our station from NewsWatch 99 to NewsWatch Ole Miss and started the first weekly sports show at the SMC called RebelWatch. It was my goal to make a forever lasting impact on the future of the SMC, and I’m happy to say we were able to accomplish a lot during my tenure. NewsWatch & RebelWatch took home several awards, and a lot of our alumni are working at amazing places now like ESPN, FOX Sports, Netflix, many professional sports teams, and so much more. It’s very rewarding to see Ole Miss journalism students succeed.”

Stubbs had a strong desire to work for ESPN during his time in college. After applying for numerous internships, one finally came back saying yes. Stubbs had experience with ESPN already in college. He helped the SEC Network with cameras during games and stage managed as well.

“I applied for 10 internships and didn’t get the first nine, but then I got a call on the last one and got it. I worked at our L.A. office with Stan Verrett and Neil Everett so I got to work on that really cool SportsCenter. And then I earned a full-time job as a Production Assistant in Bristol, Conn., where I got to work on college football shows and SportsCenter highlights. I was assigned a game where I had to cut a 30-second to a minute highlight each night which was really fun. So that took my skills to a new level, and then I ended up getting my position at Longhorn Network where I have since been promoted to Associate Producer.” 

Stubbs, now a two-time Emmy nominated producer, said knowing what you want to do and setting goals are keys to one’s future. “My advice when I say have a vision, I mean that to the heart. You really have to know what you want to do and set goals for how you’re going to get there. You also need to have a good school/career/personal work balance where you aren’t overloading yourself so you don’t get burned out. You just need to make sure after each class you take and after each assignment, you walk away with something positive. You should walk away with something that you have to show for yourself once you continue to do that, the first article that you write, that first podcast you produce, that first TV hit that you do. Then you want to improve and improve on that, then you want to create that portfolio to eventually have for yourself so you can get a good job and more importantly graduate.”

Browning Stubbs has many good experiences from his humble beginnings in high school media to where he is now at the Longhorn Network. Any young media professional or someone who is interested in the field of journalism and media can learn a lot from Stubbs’s journey.