B'town grad has dream job

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Beekmantown graduate Jeané Coakley interviews NASCAR driver Tony Stewart at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. As a television sports reporter and anchor, Coakley has covered many big-time events including the Super Bowl, Indy 500, Brickyard 500, Track and Field Nationals, Belmont Stakes and the MLB All-Star Game. She is now SNY's beat reporter for the New York Jets.

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August 24, 2010

Coakley covering New York Jets, others as reporter, anchor for SNY

By NICK ST. DENIS Staff Writer The Press Republican Tue Aug 24, 2010, 03:23 AM EDT

Despite being named to the All-State team in two different sports and making numerous state-tournament trips during her high school career, Beekmantown graduate Jeané Coakley knew playing professional sports was not in her future.

But according to Coakley, she's doing the next best thing.

After spending nine years working in television in four different states and five different cities, Coakley is now situated in the biggest media market in the world as a beat reporter and sports anchor for SportsNet New York (SNY). Her beat is the NFL's New York Jets, but Coakley also covers multiple professional, high school and college sports throughout the year.

"I know it sounds cliché, but sometimes I have to pinch myself," she said. "I can't believe I get paid to watch and talk sports."

As a youthful 31-year-old female in a mostly masculine environment, she feels has to prove herself every day. Second-year Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez called Coakley "Rookie" when she started on the Jets beat.

Little did Sanchez know, Coakley was covering a Super Bowl before the Jet signal-caller was even a starting quarterback in college.

She worked for three and a half years (four football seasons) as a reporter and anchor at WISH, a CBS affiliate in Indianapolis. Coakley covered the Colts for their Super Bowl victory over the Chicago Bears and their Super Bowl loss to the New Orleans Saints in February.

"A lot of people don't realize I've been doing this for nine years," she said. "So I feel like I have to know it even more. I think once people realize I know what I'm talking about, they get it. A lot of the guys take me seriously, but some still don't."

Coakley didn't declare her major — communications with a concentration in broadcast journalism — until she was a junior in college at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She graduated magnum cum-laude in 2001.

Coakley took her first job as a news producer in Billings, Mont. in February of 2002. Not only was she not involved in sports, but she also wasn't getting any air time.

"I learned how the whole TV business works behind the scenes," she said, "It made me appreciate being on camera a lot more."

She had a year stint at WPTZ in Plattsburgh, finally getting on camera to cover news. Coakley said she was never really comfortable doing news, and fortunately she landed her first on-air sports gig a year later at KYMA, an NBC affiliate in Yuma, Ariz.

"That's when I felt like, 'OK, this is it," Coakley said. "This is what I want to be doing."

Coakley started out as a reporter and weekend sports anchor before quickly being promoted to the sports director position. She accepted the promotion under the condition that she could still do some field reporting.

"I love being out on the field," she said. "I didn't want to be stuck behind a desk all day."

Coakley then worked for WISH from August 2006 to March 2010.

During the three and a half years in Indianapolis, Coakley covered the Colts, the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400 and Big-Ten basketball tournaments, among other big-time events.

"That was when I found my style," she said. "When reporting, I started asking questions that I wanted to know instead of the basic stuff."

The SNY job was the first position Coakley held that she was sought out for. She interviewed for the job in September 2009 and got the job the very next day.

Coakley was still under contract through the NFL season, and SNY held the spot for her until she completed her obligations with WISH, which included covering the Colts' 2010 Super Bowl campaign.

Coakley's busy journey that was the first nine years of her career gave her an appreciation for the all-too-common underdog story in sports.

"I always felt like I had to battle all my life," she said. "I feel like I deserve it, but I still don't feel anything is owed to me."

While Coakley was a standout athlete growing up, she said her parents had the biggest impact on her because they supported anything she wanted to do.

"The best thing about them is that while I played sports, they never wanted that to define me," she said "Sports are what I did, not who I was."

Coakley said she loves the pressure of being on camera, but it still doesn't completely fill her competitive void.

She has run marathons in every state she worked in and was Yuma's 10K 2005-06 City Champion during her year there, winning all six 10K events.

"I grew up with two brothers, and I always wanted to compete with them," Coakley said. "I'm a competitor. I still love it."