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Athens, Ohio is a long way from home for Nick Viland. The Atlanta, Ga. native came to 51���� because he wanted to pursue his dream of being a sports journalist and the school had a great reputation. Gridiron Glory was a natural fit.

“I started working at WOUB on Gridiron right away because I wanted to get the hands-on experience,” said Viland. “And during my junior year, the show was cancelled due to COVID. So that year, I worked as a reporter for the student-created southeast Ohio high school football show, 740 Zone, which was completely outside of WOUB. Then when Gridiron returned my senior year, I was named host.”

While the year off of Gridiron may now seem like a small blip on the radar, at the time, it was a big undertaking to bring the show back.

“I was part of the WOUB Summer Internship program the summer before I was host of Gridiron,” said Viland. “So, it was helpful that I was on campus to help get ready to relaunch Gridiron. But it was not easy. We did as best we could with the cards that we were dealt. There were so many variables with COVID testing for students before each Friday.”

Students who tested positive for COVID were not permitted to go to games, which made the Friday decisions of what games would be covered more difficult.

“We all wore masks when we were inside the building, and we had to make sure all the protocols were followed to stay in the good graces of the University and just keep all of us staying healthy,” said Viland. “We rolled with the punches. The biggest ‘What if?’ each week was whether the high school football games would actually happen because games were being cancelled all the time if a high number of players tested positive.”

But despite all the COVID-related challenges, Viland still loved being the host of the show.

“I enjoyed interacting with the community, and that year we expanded our coverage. We went outside of what was normal with Gridiron and added new teams and different areas where we had never been before. The best part was that we never went somewhere where we felt unwelcome. The community was excited about the coverage.”

During his participation in the WOUB Summer Internship, Viland realized that he enjoyed covering news stories more than sports. So being the Gridiron host was Viland’s last hurrah as a sports broadcaster. After graduation, he was hired as a news multimedia journalist (MMJ) in Augusta, Ga. and was recently hired as an MMJ at WSYXTV in Columbus.

“The show has such a legacy, and during the year off doing the 740 Zone helped us be able to continue when Gridiron was able to come back. It was a much easier transition. We worked hard to get the number of students back to be a part of it,” said Viland. “Being in Columbus now, it’s so cool to see the legacy that Gridiron has. When I go to small town communities in southeast Ohio now to cover a story for WSYX, I can connect with people by talking to them about their high school football team. I am so proud I was a part of Gridiron.”

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