Lifetime Ram: Adam Nigon's CSU basketball journey from walk-on to starter to broadcaster

LAS VEGAS — Brian Roth has worked with all manner of newbie radio voices.

He knows the early days will be tough. It’s a difficult job, with any error broadcast for everyone to hear.

It’s not the early mistakes Roth is looking for, but the signs of what could be with some seasoning.

He didn’t have to wait long to realize Adam Nigon had a chance to become masterful. Seven years ago, Nigon joined Roth as the color analyst for Colorado State men’s basketball games. Not long after, Roth knew he had found a longtime partner for the radio broadcast.

“That first year, his first few games were a little bit rough, as they would be for any new announcer, but by the time we got to the middle of that first year, I knew he had the ability to be a really good color analyst,” Roth said. “The improvement that he’s shown over the last seven years has been remarkable. He’s a natural for what he does.”

Nigon chuckles when talking about those early days, when he was thrown in the deep end with no prior training to be a radio analyst.

“Thankfully, Brian is as good as he is and worked with me those first two years. I couldn’t go back and listen to myself, probably. I would throw up,” Nigon said with a laugh.

Now he can be considered one of the top radio analysts in the Mountain West, another remarkable part of Nigon’s wild journey that keeps him intertwined with CSU basketball.

Nigon was a student at CSU in 2007 when head men's basketball coach Dale Layer was fired and Tim Miles hired. The roster was cleaned out to the point where the Rams needed bodies just to scrimmage in the summer.

Nigon’s high school coach connected him with the new staff. Nigon was a live body, and that was enough. He spent the summer scrimmaging with the team and was offered a roster spot by Miles.

That was just the beginning of an incredible player arc. He played 32 games as a freshman (in basketball terms) in 2007-08. As the program got better and as Miles and staff (including now head coach Niko Medved) tried to recruit over Nigon, he kept getting better and earning playing time.

“If I was going to shoot a 3 my freshman or sophomore year, I was getting pulled from the game,” Nigon said, so he made sure to change that.

Nigon shot 41% from deep as a senior. He left with 122 games played (fourth all-time at the time), 124 3-pointers made (ninth at the time) and 121 steals (third at the time).

The Rams just missed the 2011 NCAA Tournament his senior year, and Nigon’s career ended before the Mountain West tournament due to an injury.

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That was supposed to be the end of his time with CSU basketball.

Fast-forward several years and there was a need for a color analyst. Dani Belinski, then of Learfield, reached out to legendary commentator Jerry Schemmel, who had called games for a season during Nigon’s playing career.

Out of everyone, he picked out Nigon as someone who could be good at it. And there started a new career. Just like his chance as a walk-on, Nigon took it and ran with it.

Nigon, who helps own and operate The Chateaux at Fox Meadows wedding and event venue, quickly went about learning and growing.

The first few years were with Larry Eustachy as coach. Then Medved was hired as the head coach, bringing former player and coach back together.

The passion for the program bleeds through the broadcast (which can be heard on 99.1 FM or through the Varsity Network app). Nigon and Roth feel the wins and the losses. But as a basketball junkie, Nigon is known for straight-shooting the good and bad about CSU and other programs. His Twitter feed is filled with analysis about not just CSU but the Mountain West.

“I’m a fan of the game. I see a good play from New Mexico or San Jose (State), I’m telling you it’s a good play. I’m a fan of the game and I’m a fan of CSU. I get frustrated as a CSU fan does, too, so I’m not afraid to call that out either,” Nigon said.

“That’s how I try and keep it as real as I can, and the good with a bad is always part of it.”

The 35-year-old has now been part of CSU basketball for 11 years. He has innate knowledge of the program because Medved’s fingerprints were on the teams Nigon played for and now he’s seeing it all from the chair next to the CSU bench.

He knows more than anyone who isn’t in the locker room about how the program operates.

“He has a very good understanding of Coach Medved and the style of play that Coach Medved institutes and the culture that Niko is building here at Colorado State,” Roth said. “He’s got an inside view of all of that stuff, and I think that’s what makes him very unique.”

Nigon just missed the NCAA Tournament as a player but made it last season as a broadcaster. It was a special moment being there to call a CSU game in the Big Dance.

“It was a little mini special moment for me. I looked around a little bit, I was a little starstruck of everything around me because I just missed out on that. It was so cool to just be part of that whole experience and get a taste of it,” Nigon said.

“To be a part of it there a little later in my career, you more appreciate something like that as a broadcaster. It was cool. It was special.”

Year 7 of the Roth and Nigon team likely ends this week at the Mountain West tournament. They hope for many more.

“I hope to do this job for many more years, and I hope Adam’s right there in that seat doing the job with me,” Roth said.

Mountain West bracket:Schedule, how to watch and results

CSU in Mountain West tournament

The CSU men's basketball team opens the Mountain West tournament Wednesday, March 8.

• Who: No. 8 CSU vs. No. 9 Fresno State

• Time: 11 a.m. PT/noon MT

• How to watch: The Mountain West network

• How to listen: 99.1 FM or the Varsity Network app

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Adam Nigon’s lifetime in the Colorado State basketball program