Wayne Nix coached at Laurens and Gilbert High Schools in the 1980s and his daughter Wendi was right with him most of the time.

These days, Nix still is heading out to practices and games. But now it’s her job. The Socastee High graduate just began her fifth season working for ESPN.

Nix hosts a college football studio show on ESPN2 every Saturday, reports on NFL teams and tapes pieces for College Gameday during the week.

“My first memories were being at a football field. Football and stadiums are where I feel the most comfortable,” said Nix, who also reports on golf during football’s offseason. “It seemed natural at the time when I was figuring out what I wanted to cover or do was to go into sports because I spent most of my time following it.”

Nix tried the athlete route, running track at Socastee, and was a member of the first women’s golf team at Wofford in the mid-90s.

“I was a terrible and wasn’t a good college golfer but I did have the opportunity to play on the first team,” Nix said.

After Wofford, Nix went to the University of Massachusetts to get her master’s in sports management, but slowly started straying into broadcasting and ended up as an intern at New England Sports Network.

Nix landed back in the Palmetto State in 1999 and worked at WPDE in Florence as a general assignment reporter. She also helped out with the station’s high school sports and did some NASCAR.

“I was pretty terrible. I don’t know what they were thinking hiring me,” Nix joked. “It was a great first job. I knew the area and was close to home. It helped shape me. You are just working out the kinks in that first job and I had a great experience there.”

Nix’s time in Florence ended in 2001 when she got a job back at NESN, covering the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. And after a two-year stop with Fox Sports Net, she got a job at WHDH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Boston.

Nix, who still lives in Boston, spent three years there as a sports anchor and reporter before landing at ESPN.

“I just kept moving forward,” said Nix, who is married to Red Sox vice president of player development Ben Cherington. “I work with some of the best in business and it is a great spot. I was pretty excited when I got the job.”

Nix’s first responsibilities at ESPN were primarily reporting on the Boston-area teams, but she branched out into other reporting. She hosts the college football studio show every week with analysts Robert Smith and Todd McShay.

The show goes on air just before the first game of the day on ESPN2. Nix is in the studio for the remainder of the day, following about 40 games and providing updates until the final game is over, which is usually around midnight.

“If you leave by 1 a.m., it’s a good day,” Nix said. “But it’s not bad. I feel like I got the best-kept secret at ESPN because there aren’t a ton of us who get to do both. I love the fact I can switch it up. I am really thrilled I get to do both.”

Nix has been busy lately getting ready for the college football season, which she expects to be one of the more unpredictable ones in the last few years.

“I am in the minority … but I think we are going to see some sleeper teams out there to shake things up,” she said. “It’s going to be a year of surprises.”