Parker Leppien - Sports Producer

ABOUT ME

Since I was a kid I knew I wanted to work in sports. That passion, combined with my schooling, has led me to where I am today as a sports live event producer. My journalism degree provided me the framework to make sound editorial decisions under pressure while my MBA taught me how to approach the business side of the sports industry and be a leader.

Below you will find examples of my work from the last couple of years. In these clips, you will see the editorial decisions I’ve made to not only document a game but humanize the athletes on the field/court.

MUST WIN SOCCER MATCH

On the last day of the regular season both LSU and Missouri needed a win to advance to the following week’s SEC Tournament. Using highlights from the other two games that mattered to LSU & Missouri, we told the story of the battle for the last spot in the SEC Tournament.

TWO RUNNERS OCCUPYING BASE

During the first game of the series, two LSU runners occupied third base, were both tagged and called safe leading to a run. Here is how our crew covered it, including our questions to each coach during the scheduled in-game interview. This won an award amongst SEC control rooms, from ESPN, for best job covering a challenging situation.

JOHN COHEN INTERVIEW

When Mississippi State baseball visited Missouri for a three-game series, it’s women’s basketball team was playing in the Midwest Regional two hours away in Kansas City. We had Cohen on during the game to talk Mississippi State baseball and women’s basketball and the cross promotion the programs were using to get fans to baseball.

SOFTBALL LATE-INNING DRAMA

For the second time in two weeks, Missouri entered the 7th inning down 4-1 to a ranked opponent. Missouri then came back to get a dramatic win to set the Tigers up for their first conference series win of the season.

KELSEY KILLEAN GOAL & PROPOSAL

During pre-match talks with the Georgia coach earlier in the week we found out Killean got engaged after she scored three goals in the previous match. We were able to tie that story into the game when she scored her fourth goal in two matches.

CASEY STANGEL INTERVIEW

Former Missouri and Washington softball pitcher/outfielder Casey Stangel is a current graduate assistant for the Vanderbilt baseball team as she pursues a career in baseball. We talked with her about her time interning with Major League Baseball and how her experience as a player prepared her for her current position.

ALL-ACCESS: NEW STADIUM

During the 2016 season, Missouri softball opened a brand-new stadium. In the days leading up to the home opener the players picked their lockers in the clubhouse. We reached out to the team and were able to mic up a player as she selected her locker. We then played this piece as part of our game coverage.

GAME-WINNING GOAL

Early in the season, Missouri was getting a lot of contributions from freshman Sarah Luebbert. Due to her early success, we decided to ISO Luebbert with one of our cameras when Missouri had a free kick in overtime. It paid off when Luebbert connected for the game-winning goal on a header.

NCAA VOLLEYBALL OPEN

Open prior to Missouri & Purdue’s 2nd Round match in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SEC OPEN

Open prior to SEC game between Missouri and LSU with All-SEC performer Sophie Cunningham missing the game due to a knee injury.

SOCCER OPEN & HALFTIME

This season the Missouri coaches had the goalkeepers split time in goal. The game prior, the coaches switched which half each started. We wanted to highlight this odd situation. At halftime we had a taped interview with Missouri AD Jim Sterk (former San Diego State AD) at halftime.

BREAKING NEWS OPEN

The week leading to this game saw Missouri’s system president and chancellor resign due to handling of racial issues on campus and student protests. The men’s basketball season opener was the first sporting event after the protests. Then, hours before the game, Missouri’s winningest football coach announced he was resigning.

ANALYST HALFTIME SEGMENT

At the start of the SEC season we decided to do predictions for the upcoming season as part of our analyst’s themed segment, Simon Says.

MEN’S BASKETBALL OPEN

In the prior game Missouri had a historically bad shooting performance and we wanted a visual way to show this outside of showing video of missed shots.