Jen Daniels Returns to Philly as Comcast SportsNet Anchor
Jen Daniels is back! The talented young woman who scored 1,389 points during her all star basketball career at Holy Spirit – hitting the clutch perimeter jumper, spinning through the defense for a layup or throwing a look-away pass - and who then went on to have a successful career at George Mason University, is an anchor and reporter for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia.
“It sounds like a cliché,” said Daniels, “but it is a dream to be doing this in Philadelphia. These are the teams I watched growing up and to be able to walk onto the ice after a Flyers game or onto the field at a Phillies game was really special. Being at Allen Iverson’s number retirement was great. He was my favorite player growing up. I’m getting used to these things now, because I’m there to do a job, but the first time was really memorable.”
Daniels came to Philadelphia after working on TV in North Carolina and working for a sports agent in Georgia.
Daniels was always curious about sports media growing up.
“My dad and I would watch the Eagles every Sunday,” she remembered, “and you’d be on the beach listening to the Phillies on the radio during the summer. It always interested me.”
Daniels believes that having been an athlete helps in doing her job.
“I don’t want to demean the many fine sports broadcasters who were not athletes in college,” she said, “because they do a great job. But, for me, it has been helpful to have been on the other side of the interview. And I think it helps a bit with my credibility. People know that I know what it takes to compete as an athlete. And my record as an athlete shows that I will work hard.”
At CSN, Daniels anchors a sportscast three nights a week, frequently from 10-11 p.m. She generally becomes a reporter, covering the sports stories that Philly fans want in person, on Sunday and Monday. Sometime in the fall, she will also be seen on NBC-10. That station dissolved its sports department a few months ago and is getting its sports coverage from CSN. Comcast now owns NBC.