Sports director resigns from WVII-TV staff

Dan Hannigan prefers to look to the future rather than dwell on the past.

Hannigan resigned last Friday as the WVII-TV Channel 7 sports director. He will continue doing play-by-play for University of Maine hockey games on WZON-AM. He is in his first season in that position.

“It was a fun three years [at Channel 7], and I look forward to continuing with the hockey on WZON. I enjoy doing the play-by-play. That’s my focus right now,” said Hannigan, a 29-year-old Scarsdale, N.Y., native.

“I’m also looking forward to spending more time with my family,” he said.

Hannigan and his wife, Bonnie, have a 10 1/2-month-old daughter, Abby.

As for his future, Hannigan said it is “wide open” and may or may not include television sportscasting.

The 1988 Dartmouth College (N.H.) graduate had spent five years working for the Travelers Insurance Co. in Boston before coming to Channel 7 as a part-time news photographer in February 1993. He eventually worked his way up to assistant sports director and then to sports director.

Hannigan’s name had surfaced as a finalist for the sports director’s job at WLBZ-TV Channel 2 in Bangor, but he would not confirm nor deny that he was a candidate.

WLBZ-TV News Director Michael O’Neil said Monday he would not comment on Hannigan’s status among the field of finalists.

WVII-TV news director Miles Resnick said Hannigan’s resignation came as a surprise to him.

“It was unexpected and very sad,” said Resnick.

Resnick denied that there was any dissatisfaction with Hannigan when his name surfaced as a possible replacement for Lee Goldberg at WLBZ.

“He left for personal reasons,” said Resnick. “Dan had been talking, on and off, about getting out of the business.”

Resnick had nothing but praise for the job done by Hannigan.

“I was very pleased with the job he did for us,” said Resnick. “He was a class act. He was very supportive of what we were doing in the news department and at the station. He was very accommodating. He was a workaholic. If anybody had commitment, Dan Hannigan had commitment.”

Hannigan and former WVII sports director Eric Frede earned several top-three finishes in balloting for Maine Association of Broadcasters’ awards.

O’Neil said he is not ready to hire anybody to fill Goldberg’s job yet and Resnick said he plans to “go out and find the best person I possibly can” to replace Hannigan.

Mike Schoor, who worked under Hannigan, is handling the sportscasts for WVII.