Zach Carlyle serves as the main media contact for women's soccer, women's basketball, and baseball, and provides television and radio broadcasting duties for various sports as well. He is the lead ESPN broadcaster for home ACU football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball games, and is one of the play-by-play voices of the Wildcat teams on the radio. Carlyle came to Abilene in 2018 as an intern in the media relations office, before being promoted to full-time in the summer of 2019.
Carlyle came to Abilene in 2018 after spending seven years at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa. A native of Grimes, Iowa, Carlyle graduated with his bachelor of science degree in sports communication from Upper Iowa in May 2015.
While at ACU, Carlyle has been on-site for many big events. He served as the main contact for the women's soccer team which punched its ticket to the 2018 NCAA Tournament after a Southland Conference Championship season. He also was the main play-by-play broadcaster for women's basketball, which also earned a spot in the Tournament after an impressive run through the conference tournament in Katy, Texas in 2019. He was the analyst for the legendary Grant Boone during the men's run at the tournament as well. Both basketball teams earned its first-ever trips to The Dance. Carlyle has also been on the call for multiple big events on ESPN, and calls almost 100 games each year for the Wildcats.
Carlyle was heavily involved with Peacock athletics in northeast Iowa. He was a work study student in the sports communication department, and became heavily involved in broadcasting for the Peacocks. Carlyle became the full-time broadcaster in 2012, serving as the play-by-play voice of Upper Iowa men's and women's basketball, as well as baseball and softball. He also served as the color commentator for Peacock football, working alongside Joe Stasi, long-time voice of UIU football.
Carlyle helped cover all 15 varsity sports at Upper Iowa, and was the main contact for Peacock men's and women's soccer, men's basketball, softball, and helped with cross country, track and field, tennis, and men's and women's golf. He was also the second contact for football, volleyball, women's basketball, wrestling, and baseball.
Carlyle broadcast many important games at Upper Iowa, including the first-ever NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament first-round game inside Dorman Gymnasium in February of 2013. He called five straight first-round tournament games from 2013-17, as well as four second-round games, two semifinal games, and the 2017 NSIC Tournament Championship Game. He was on the air in March of 2017 for the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament in Maryville, Mo.
Carlyle was a big part of the transition to television for Peacock athletics, beginning in the winter of 2014. He called the first live television game for Upper Iowa Basketball on KCRG TV 9.2, the ABC affiliate out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Carlyle was a part of four winning seasons in five years for UIU football, and broadcast the big sixth win three times (2013-15). From 2011-18, Carlyle was behind the microphone for more than 500 games at Upper Iowa.
Zach graduated from Dallas Center-Grimes High School in Grimes, Iowa in May 2011. He currently resides in Abilene with his wife, Emily (Berry), the Director of Residence Life at ACU.
