Originally published on December 28, 2021.
Mike L’Etoile has a rather enviable job as an editorial graphics production manager at ESPN. Working in Bristol, Connecticut, he recently marked his 20th anniversary with “The Worldwide Leader in Sports.”
Mike supervises or helps supervise nine graphics producers and related graphical content directly across several different shows: Get Up, SportsCenter, NFL Live, Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, to name a few.
He is a 1995 grad of Salt Lake City’s Highland High School. The double-scholarship student intended to become a sports physical therapist, and was assigned to be the video coordinator for the Thunderbird football team.
“I learned a lot about the game of football and video production and fell in love with the process,” he says. He switched his major to communication with an emphasis in broadcast, and later became more involved with SUTV and Power 91 Radio.
“I enjoyed producing, hosting, writing and editing for campus sports programs and was drawn to the convergence of media online,” he says. “That drew me to my minor of management information systems. The exposure to network systems, database creation and management and project management proved vital to my work at ESPN.”
He says that his decision to matriculate at SUU was an easy one.
“I chose it for the quality of the education I knew I would receive given the smaller classes,” he says. “Mostly, I learned who I was and what I wanted to be. The University taught me more than just what I learned through my coursework.”
He is quick to validate the oft-quoted claim that SUU is a prime provider of hands-on experience.
“I had the opportunity to do everything involved in production in front of and behind the camera. Coupled with my sports knowledge, I was well prepared to contribute at ESPN,” he says.
He’s also grateful to the institution for bringing him together with his wife (Virginia Winter L’Etoile, ’02). They are parents to two sons.
