The Coverboys

Welcome to…The Coverboys! It’s not just a name, it’s what we do!

With a combined 60+ years of experience in sports wagering and 36+ years in broadcasting, Mark Atnip and John Hodge, aka Hodgey, The Sheik and The "Parlay King", bring a unique style to their sports betting show, which launched when it was taboo to discuss point spreads outside of Las Vegas. 

Mark Atnip, aka “Statnip/Stats” is the number crunching trend follower and "The Sheik” is the nonsensical cerebral and "emotional edge finder". Together they are The Coverboys: Winners vs the Spread. The Coverboys have been handing out sports betting advice, to anybody who will listen, for a combined 60+ years. They share seven years working together in the broadcasting business and click on-air, feeding off of each other’s dry and sarcastic personalities. Most importantly they deliver consistently entertaining programming, jam-packed with insightful, relevant, and valuable content. Each one-hour episode is loaded with analysis of up to 15 (mostly) college and a sprinkle of NFL games each week. In their most recent documented season on live radio, The Coverboys were just over 62% on their consensus picks and a stellar 40-19 (68%) on their official “Right Sides” picks. 

Mark’s voice over clients include XM/Sirius, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, The Hugh Hewitt Show, and T.A.P.S. Regionally, his clients included ESPN Radio affiliates in Denver CO, Columbus GA, Knoxville TN, Huntsville AL, Winston-Salem and Fayetteville NC, Richmond VA, Pensacola FL, Biloxi MS, and Lafayette, LA. Live event clients include The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the NFL Alumni Banquet. He is the play-by-play voice of the Knoxville Ice Bears. As a sophomore in high school, for an Economics project, Mark ran a "bookkeeping" service for classmates and made four figures taking $1-$5 wagers. Brilliant! Teacher didn't see it that way and rejected the project and failed him for his efforts. Gambling advice: "Never chase a bad line" and "Don't bet on bad teams favored over other bad teams".

While Program Director for ESPN 1180 in Knoxville, TN, John Hodge created and hosted Free Golf, the city's first weekly golf radio show; The Breakfast Team, later changed to Out of Bounds with Spanky Brown (vaulting Spanky into social media and stand-up comedy spotlights); and most importantly, The Coverboys radio show, debuting in four southern markets. John additionally sold sponsor packages and directed marketing and promotions for the above. As for sports gambling... Wagering on golf and putting contests started pretty early and he started running ball boards in his early 20s and the gambling "blaze" was lit. Hodgey's wagering advice: "If it doesn't make sense, it must make dollars" and "Forget what you saw last week". He appears regularly as the "Golf and Gambling Guru" on Fanrun Radio's The Drive with Russell Smith. His biggest accomplishment and blessing is being Daddy to 13-y.o. Paxton.