Rachel Baribeau The Changing Narrative

IT STARTED WITH A PHONE CALL. NOW HER PASSION FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAS BECOME A BURGEONING BROADCAST CAREER. 

- Loyd McIntosh

In a media landscape chock full of sports commentators, Rachel Baribeau is breaking through the noise. Currently a cohost on SiriusXM’s College Sports Nation—its first female host—and a contributing writer on Tony Barnhart’s college football website Gridiron Now (gridironnow.com), Baribeau is more than just a knowledgeable college football fan. She is driven by a passion for college football that she says never seems to get old.

“To me, there is just something about the college game that is intoxicating and alluring,” she says. “Even all these ten-plus years later of covering college football, I like to call it the old siren that calls to me.

“There are so many lessons that we can learn from football,” adds Baribeau. “The camaraderie, the sportsmanship, the relationships that come out of it. It’s just beautiful.”

Baribeau’s star began rising about a decade ago when she first broke into the male-dominated world of sports journalism. She is known as an SEC-ologist and is also in demand as an announcer, writer, and sideline reporter covering college football, NFL, and NASCAR. While she may make it look easy, Baribeau’s career was built on making her own breaks.

While studying at Auburn, Baribeau started working as a sideline reporter with Eagle Eye TV but struggled early in her career to make a name for herself as a serious sports journalist. Looking to jumpstart her career, she was hit with a lightning bolt of inspiration. She decided to call into a sports radio show based in Columbus, Georgia, then hosted by former SEC and ACC assistant football coach Max Howell.