University of Nebraska at Kearney alumna Brenda VanLengen has been a sports broadcaster and analyst for more than two decades, working for ESPN, Fox Sports and other national networks. She’s called 12 national championship games – seven at the Division II level and five in NAIA – worked in the production truck at the NCAA Women’s Final Four and WNBA Finals and announced at the 2013 World University Games in Russia.
A three-sport standout athlete at Roseland High School, VanLengen played basketball for the Lopers from 1984-87 and was a two-time Academic All-American. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business education with an athletic training endorsement in 1987, then became a basketball coach at Kearney High School.
She went on to study at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she coached as a graduate assistant. Her career in sports broadcasting began in 1995 when she called Husker games for NET Television, and she was later hired by Fox Sports as an analyst for Big 12, ACC and SEC games, eventually becoming Fox’s top analyst for Big 12 games. In 2001 she began calling tournament games for ESPN’s first-round coverage of the NCAA Tournament and Division II National Championship broadcasts. She lives in Olathe, Kansas, and is an advocate for physical education in schools.
In 2008, she received UNK’s Distinguished Alumna Award.
