Shannon Spake interviewed Karl-Anthony Towns often during his one year at UK because of the access coach John Calipari gave her. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky fan favorite Shannon Spake launched “Spake Up Podcast” in June and has had a variety of guests and joining her in a few weeks will be Arkansas coach John Calipari. He will join her Oct. 21 with the podcast posted on Oct. 23. Kansas coach Bill Self will also be a future guest.
Spake has a diverse sports background. She has worked for the Speed Channel (2005-2006), ESPN (2007-2016) FOX Sports (2016-2024), NASCAR Digital Media/TNT Sports (2024-present) and FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (2024-present). She has covered college basketball, NFL, college football, NBA and NASCAR. She even had a role as “Shannon Spokes” in the 2017 Pixar film “Cars 3.”
For several years with ESPN she was a regular at Kentucky when Calipari was coaching.
“I remember watching Karl-Anthony Towns when he was a kid and now he’s an adult and NBA star with some of the same kid tendencies. He still does so many of the same moves he used at Kentucky,” she said. “I sat through so many shoot-arounds and practices.
“Cal was so good to me even during NCAA Tournament time. He would let me come on Tuesday and sit in practice before they would head to the tournament. He did that for the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four. He would let me come in and watch his speeches to the team.
“He made me a better reporter. He showed me so many things and was so awesome to let me in before every game. He would give me his notes. He would let me listen to his radio shows. I can’t say enough about my time in Lexington covering UK. It helped make me the person and professional I am today.”
Spake understood Calipari on and off the court.
“Cal doesn’t do anything unless he knows what he is doing. Even if he tells you the truth you didn’t always know if it was the truth,” she said. “He is a showman. He knows how to play the role. But he is also an authentic human being.
“I texted and asked him to come on the podcast. He doesn’t have to do that for me, but he said he would. He understands loyalty.”
Spake was one of the first sideline reporters in college basketball to do live in-game interviews with coaches.
“Those are common now but when it first started you had to literally grab coaches who were not used to doing those interviews and they would be yelling at a ref or their own team as the half ended,” Spake said. “I learned how to box Cal out. You could not make questions to him real long. He was going to answer what he wanted, so you had to craft the questions for him to get the information you needed. But he was always very gracious and did the interviews with me.”
