From his days as a teenager, Lion Wire founder Brian Pate loved reading the news, but He also loved the news with a biting opinion. He loved writers and journalists who could present facts but with a viewpoint attached. A lifelong sports fan, Brian had been following various SBNation websites from other major universities that had huge followings. Having family that graduated from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Houston, Brian would read the hard news but also loved the feedback of the fans and the opinions of the writers. His passion to write along with being a news and opinion aficionado and a college sports junkie created the perfect storm……start one of, if not the first, NCAA Division II College Sports Blog.

In the Spring of 2011, Brian launched a site called Prairie Lion Nation. The name was based on Texas A&M University-Commerce’s location in the Heart of the Texas Blackland Prairies, Lion for the mascot and Nation for hoping to unify East Texas State alums and recent Texas A&M-Commerce students and graduates. The first event He covered was the Lone Star Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships in Allen, Texas. His first major opinion piece was Lion Football’s 2011 Spring Football Game.

In 2012, Texas A&M-Commerce hired a new Athletic Director and a new Head Football Coach. Brian started to cover Lion Athletics with greater intensity and his first big break was His interview with then-TAMUC Athletic Director Ryan Ivey and His vision for Lion Athletics. Among major changes that came to Texas A&M-Commerce and Lion athletics, changes would come to the site.

In late 2014 Brian changed the name of the site to Blogging The Blacklands and it became a more regional news blog that covered more than just sports, but the changes coming to Hunt County and rural Northeast Texas. In 2016 with more and more news coming, Brian had one more idea. Looking at the models of the old news wires and sports wires, Brian renamed the site to it’s current incarnation, The Lion Wire. Brian covered 3 Lone Star Conference Championships in Football, the resurrection of the Women’s Basketball program, Men’s Basketball’s 2015 LSC Tournament Championship, in addition to others.

In 2017, with the site covering a historic season, Brian brought in a friend and new associate, Russell McLean. “Russ” as he is known by most in Lion Nation, attended East Texas State from 1979-1981 and was a member of the 1979 and 1980 Lion football teams under the legendary Lion Head Coach, Ernest Hawkins. Russ was also an aspiring sports writer having read great sports writers such as Blackie Sherrod and emulating other great writers. Russ’s first write up was an offensive analysis of the Lion’s National Quarterfinal Matchup with Minnesota State-Mankato. Since then, Russ has been covering game week matchups, football recruiting, and the annual spring football game. Russ covered the 2017 National Championship game quarter by quarter as the Lions rolled to their second national championship over West Florida, 37-27.

The Wire added a third member in Billy Minor. Minor played football at East Texas State from 1988-1992 where he was a two-time all LSC selection, LSC Champion, two time national quarterfinalist, and a top ten receiver statistically when he left Commerce in addition to spending some time in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Texans in the Arena Football League. Minor had his own column called “Minor Thoughts” for almost 2 years, providing insight into what student athletes go through before leaving The Wire in 2020 after almost 3 years of helpful insights.

In late 2022 in light of Texas A&M-Commerce leaving NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference and transferring to NCAA Division I and The Southland Conference, The Lion Wire launched a Podcast, naming it The Call The Roll Podcast, which is now a weekly podcast covering all things Lion Athletics which can be heard on Spotify.

The Lion Wire continues to strive to be the top place for the fan’s perspective for Texas A&M-Commerce Lion athletics.