Marshall's Camera Ready For New Role

by Gavin Keefe

ONE RECENT MORNING DURING his commute to work, Donny Marshall detailed his ascent through television broadcasting.

His story is almost as unlikely as his progression from an unpolished freshman basketball player to a six-year stint in the NBA.

"Man, I love it," Marshall said of his future in television. "I'm so fortunate."
Marshall is a busy guy these days.

He works as Fox Sports New England's primary in-studio NBA analyst for Boston Celtics telecasts, piling up the mileage while regularly driving from his Manchester home to the Boston area studio. He also will appear on about 11 college basketball games for ESPN this season.

He also stays connected with his former UConn basketball team by helping out at practice, tutoring a young group of players in everything from teaching foul shooting technique to handling the pressures of playing for Huskies.

In his free time, he focuses his attention on his six-year-old daughter Savannah, who's already volunteering to give out her famous Dad's autograph to her classmates.

*From the day arrived at UConn from Federal Way, Wash., Marshall always had the gift of gab.

Until his basketball skills caught up with his verbal skills, he specialized in the role of antagonist, getting under an opponent's skin and sometimes a referee's, too. Who else but Marshall could receive a technical foul for sarcastically clapping as he once did against Providence?

Media members flocked to him after games because he expressed himself in a smooth, articulate and engaging manner.

"Coach (said) I could sell bibles to an atheist," said Marshall said of UConn's Jim Calhoun.

The same gift serves him well as a television analyst.

On the air, Marshall comes across as polished and knowledgeable, looking as comfortable in the studio as he would be sitting in his living room. Only he's much better dressed. He prefers the studio work because he can show off his personality.

Calhoun marvels at Marshall's storytelling ability.

"He's a natural," Calhoun said. "We used to kiddingly call him Eddie Haskell. He could sit down and he could impress anybody.

"He's probably in my 35 years (of coaching) in the top two or three kids as far as being able to on the cue just talk and talk intelligently and be persuasive. Particularly through the past eight or nine years since he's left us, I've watched incredible growth in all aspects of his life and the great gift that he has to be able to articulate honestly about anything.

"He's one of those people that anybody who has seen him is exceptionally impressed with him, as well they should."

Marshall's broadcast career almost never got off the ground.

As a college freshman, he considered a communications major with an eye on a television broadcasting career. Sure, he had dreams of playing in the NBA, but his mother always told him to have a backup plan.

The class experience, however, soured him. According to Marshall, his professor didn't exactly warm to the idea of having seven UConn basketball players in her class. He wound up with a D after receiving a B-minus on the mid-term and C-plus on the final.

"That was my stint with communications," Marshall said. "I was like, you know what, if this is what it's like I don't want to be a part of it. Then I went on to get my degree in business."

Marshall has always been all business when it comes to preparing for life's challenges. When Calhoun suggested that he transfer to a Pac-10 program closer to his home following his freshman year, Marshall sought to prove the UConn coach wrong.

He worked his way up through the rotation, going from averaging 1.9 points as a freshman reserve to 15.8 points as a senior starter. He played an integral part in UConn's three NCAA Tournament berths during his career and its two Big East Conference regular season titles from 1991-95.

Cleveland drafted Marshall 39th overall in the 1995 NBA Draft. He appeared in 119 games during which he soaked up valuable knowledge to increase his basketball IQ.

"He always had that competitive edge," Calhoun said. "That competitive edge got him to be an NBA player. Without that, Donny wouldn't have made the NBA."

As his playing career dwindled, Marshall received an offer from Joe Tessitore to do some in-studio work for WFSB-TV (Ch. 3), the CBS affiliate in Hartford, during UConn's 1999 NCAA Tournament run. Tessitore, who to this day remains a major influence in his life and now works as an ESPN boxing announcer, encouraged Marshall to pursue a career.

Marshall took off from there.

More television opportunities came his way. He also worked with Joe D'Ambrosio and Wayne Norman on the UConn Radio Network during the 2003-04 season.

"He can see the game and translate it into simple language in a split second," D'Ambrosio said. "In other words, when he sees what's going on, he can talk about it immediately. As an analyst, that's the most important thing. He doesn't overuse his basketball knowledge. You know he knows everything.

"He's a great communicator, that's his biggest talent. ... I wish he'd get more games. I don't think he gets enough games."

Others recognized his talents, too. ESPN signed him up to work regional college basketball games. His first game was back in Gampel Pavilion, joining Bob Picozzi and Bob Wenzel for UConn-Providence.

He nearly left before the game ended.

"I hated it," Marshall said. "I looked up at the clock all game long, (thinking) this stinks, I have to figure out something else to do. ... I don't know when to talk. I was counting down the seconds of the game so I could get out of there. I just absolutely did not like it."

The opportunity came during a tough time in his life. He wasn't mentally ready to move on from a playing career, coming off the 2002-03 season when he played a limited role for the New Jersey Nets who reached the NBA Finals. He was going through a divorce.

After reviewing the TV performance on videotape, he gave himself a passing grade. And the offers kept coming. He did a championship week game. Last season he worked about 25 games. With each experience, he better learned when and how to make his points in a concise, intelligent and hopefully entertaining fashion.

Two summers ago, while playing in a Celebrity Pro Golf Tour event at Fox Hopyard in East Haddam, he received an invitation from a FSN New England representative to come in for an in-studio audition. One half hour after his tryout, he got a job offer, working 60 Celtics games last season.

He signed a two-year contract last summer.

Something else amazing happened along the way. His daughter started getting a kick out of watching her Dad on television. For the first time, Marshall truly realized how much his decisions impacted Savannah. With a blossoming broadcast career, he had found a way to give her a better life.

"It wasn't really about me," Marshall said. "You go through that cycle in your life where college is about you and getting your career going. Now it's about supporting my daughter. ... Now it's my turn to give my daughter things that I didn't have and this was the way to do it."

His future is bright as the midday sun. Someday he'd like to have his own show. Former New Jersey teammate Jason Kidd, who calls every so often to critique Marshall's work, suggested that he host a Celtics magazine.

If the offer eventually comes his way when Celtics analyst Tommy Heinsohn retires, he'd strongly consider taking the job as play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman's sidekick. This season he's getting a test drive filling in for Heinsohn, who had back surgery, for about 12 games.

"It's amazing that's he's as good as he is," Calhoun said. "For every (former player) who really succeeds, for everyone who becomes a Jay Bilas, there's a big trail of guys who never get near that. So therefore I don't have any doubt in my mind that Donny, at minimum, will be with the Celtics. I fully expect he could be with the networks. His future is unlimited."

Calhoun believes the Marshall could be a good college coach if he chose to go that route. Marshall says that job is too much work, leaving little time to golf, cruise around in one of his classic cars or hang out with Savannah.

For now, Marshall's happy doing something he loves. He'd like to branch out into movies, not in a starring role like former UConn teammate Ray Allen who was in "He's Got Game," but playing a much smaller part.

It might be a stretch for Marshall but, then again, he's defied odds before in his playing and broadcast career.

"It's so funny they always tell you your hard work pays off," Marshall said. "Obviously, all this began because of UConn. If I didn't go to UConn I wouldn't have had all these doors open, but also playing in the NBA helped.

"At times I felt I just didn't get an opportunity to really shine in the NBA. ... And I'm finally getting that opportunity. I'm in the right place at the right time. ... I'm just letting it come. With this I'm getting an opportunity to be on television and talk about something that I love and that I know."

g.keefe@theday.com or 701-4393