Pearl River Community College football will take to the television airways this fall for South Mississippi football fans.

The Coach Tim Hatten Show will appear on Tuesday nights, starting Aug. 28, two days before the 2007 season opener at home against Mississippi Delta Community College. It will air at 10:30 p.m. on WXXV, Fox 25, and at 5:30 p.m. on Comcast Television 11.

“From an interest standpoint, it’s good public relations for junior college football,” Hatten said. “When you think about how bad network TV is these days, I think a lot of people would rather see highlights of Co-Lin or Gulf Coast football than watch ‘The Price Is Right’ five nights in a row.”

Under Hatten, the Wildcats have a 47-7 record, won four consecutive state championships and captured a national title.

Jason Baker, a PRCC graduate who has been the Voice of the Wildcats for the past six years, will be the host for the half-hour program.

“We pretty much came up with it together,” said Baker, who also broadcasts Southern Miss women’s basketball games.

“About two years ago, when he really got it rolling, we were talking not long after the national championship season (in 2004), and it flowed out of that.”

The format will be pretty straightforward. After a brief introduction, Hatten will comment on the first half of the previous week’s game, followed by first-half highlights. After a commercial break, Hatten will comment on the second half, and second-half highlights will follow.

The College Spotlights feature will have PRCC recruiter Lindsey Miller focusing on such aspects of college life as the Spirit of the River Marching Band, cheerleaders and various academic programs.

“Our football program’s success makes this an ideal time to launch a coach’s show,” said Chuck Abadie, PRCC director of public relations. “This will not only give us a chance to showcase our football program, but our growing college as well.”

Ronn Hague, PRCC digital media coordinator, will handle the bulk of the video work, and Craig Adams, Inc. of Hattiesburg will edit the video clips and put the finished product together.

Adams also produces similar shows for USM and Tulane. The segments with Baker and Hatten will be shot at an on-campus studio.

Hatten and Baker sold most of the advertising time themselves, and Hatten said the response has been “overwhelming. People are always willing to put their names on a winner,” Hatten said. “People want to get out there with us. They want to do ads and also community service spots. But they’re not going to come to you. We had to get on the phone and hustle.”

Other junior college programs will be closely watching the groundbreaking show PRCC is producing, and this might well be an idea that quickly spreads.

“It’s good for our program, but it’s also good for junior college football, not just Pearl River,” Hatten said. “I’ve talked to Steve Campbell at Gulf Coast, and they’re talking about doing something similar. I think it would be a big success.”

The Aug. 28 show will be the first real look at what sort of stage presence Hatten has.

“I’m eager to find that out,” Baker said. “He’s said some stuff on the radio that’s been pretty frank.

“But he’s the easiest coach I’ve ever worked with. People don’t realize how relaxed and how confident he is with his team, and that comes through in the way they play and how he deals with the media.”