STATESBORO - Robbie Ross has been named the next public address announcer for football games at Allen E. Paulson Stadium, as announced Thursday by the Georgia Southern Athletics Department.
Ross, who served as Announcer "B" at the spring game, has 25 years of announcing experience, including his time as a sideline reporter as well as pre-game and post-game host for 20 years with the Furman University Radio Network. He's also a writer for SouthernPigskin.com and does play-by-play for ESPN Coastal in southeast Georgia.
 
The position opened in March after long-time announcer Dr. Todd Deal announced his retirement. Those interested had to complete an online questionnaire and submit an MP3 demo reading sample scripts and play calls. Eight candidates in total were selected among the numerous applications to visit Paulson Stadium for a live demo in front of a judging panel. The panel consisted of Georgia Southern Athletics employees, GS students and donor representatives. The candidates were asked to read sample scripts and call plays via a video from a previous football game. Following the live auditions, the panel selected the top four candidates for the final step of the audition process.
 
The top four candidates were brought back to Paulson Stadium for the Blue-White Spring Football Game on April 14. Each candidate announced a portion of the game and fans were asked to vote for their favorite announcer online. After the game, each announcer released another demo online for fans who couldn't attend to vote for their favorite. These votes from the fans were used as a portion of the final decision, along with the committee's votes.
 
"We had an extensive process for selecting the next Voice of Paulson Stadium," said Gleen Hart, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Fan Experience and Community Relations. "We had numerous quality candidates apply and it was hard to narrow the pool down to four. In the end, we thought Robbie did the best job and look forward to working with him starting this fall. I want to thank all of the candidates who applied, as well as the fans who cast their votes, for making this a successful process."
 
Ross's first official event announcing at Paulson Stadium will be the fan fest in August. The date is to be determined.
 
You can also hear Ross at the six home games this fall by purchasing season tickets, which are on sale now, through GSEagles.com.