Meet the FIP Team

Phil Houk - Founder & Executive Editor

Phil Houk, Founder and Executive Editor of Fighting Irish Preview heading to work, September 2023. (Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire)

Fighting Irish Preview had its inception in 1997 as the dream of Phil Houk.  Phil has covered sports in Fort Wayne, Indiana since 1993 and is a native of South Bend.  He grew up three doors down from Knute Rockne’s house in South Bend, and three blocks from Ara Parseghian’s home. Phil came up with an idea for a weekly radio program and suggested it to long time acquaintance Tim Prister, and Fighting Irish Preview was born. Since its humble beginning as a 15 minute local radio show in Fort Wayne Indiana, Fighting Irish Preview has grown into a multimedia organization. The FIP Podcast, FightingIrishPreview.com, X, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube; wherever you want to find outstanding, FREE coverage of Notre Dame football.

Tim Prister - "America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football"

Phil Houk and Tim Prister: October, 2023. (Photo by Chad Ryan)

Tim Prister is a lifelong resident of South Bend and graduate of Notre Dame. He was a varsity baseball player at ND and started covering Notre Dame football on a daily basis upon graduation in 1982. Today he serves as the Senior Editor of Irishillustrated.com on the 24/7 Sports network.   On the Fighting Irish Preview podcast, Tim is billed as “America’s Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football”, quite simply, because he is. 

Chad Ryan - Photo Journalist & Executive Editor of Multimedia

Chad Ryan in action on a Saturday

Providing photos and other multimedia content for Fighting Irish Preview is noted photojournalist, Chad Ryan. Chad is an award winning photographer who has shot everything from youth football to the Super Bowl and many events in between including Notre Dame football . Based in Fort Wayne, his work is known far and wide. His photos have appeared in many national publications including Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, ESPN the Magazine, USA Today and the New York Times. Some of Chad’s work can be seen here.

AJ Houk - Photo Journalist & Director of Brand Strategy

AJ Houk (center) with Chad Ryan (left) and Phil Houk (right) at the 2025 National Championship Game in Atlanta Georgia

Based in New York City, AJ Houk, is a former college football player with a lifelong love of Notre Dame football. AJ has been a Fighting Irish consultant for many years. He brings to Fighting Irish Preview years of experience in social media and has won several national awards in the industry. AJ also is a talented photographer with great instincts for what makes for a good football picture.

Adam Schenkel - Podcast Engineer, Producer & Senior Editor

Adam Schenkel

With over 20 years of experience in the digital media industry and in academia (that’s right he TEACHES this stuff), Adam Schenkel has been a part of the Fighting Irish Preview team since 2014. He also is an occasional contributor of game stories

Jesse Craig - Webmaster, Producer & Host of "Taking 5 With Phil"

Jesse Craig hiking South Mountain in Phoenix, AZ (2020)

In 2021 Fighting Irish Preview greatly expanded its web presence by partnering with Jesse Craig (another lifelong Notre Dame fan) the proprietor of 1st & Goal Web Solutions, a Fort Wayne/Las Vegas based web development company, with the mission to take an old Wix site and turn fightingirishpreview.com into something special that is always able to evolve and grow. In 2025 Jesse and Phil started the weekly podcast/Youtube show called Taking 5 with Phil

Connor Fitzharris - Staff Writer

Connor Fitzharris with his father Kevin (right) at a recent game.

Connor Fitzharris has been a lifelong Notre Dame fan in all sports since he could walk. In high school (where he was one of Adam Schenkel’s prize students), he spent four years broadcasting basketball games and writing sports articles, developing an early passion for sports media. While in college, he hosted a weekly sports podcast and radio show while studying sports writing. After college he went to law school and during that time he served as a compliance intern for Notre Dame athletics. Today, Connor is a licensed attorney practicing in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a writer for Fighting Irish Preview. You can find his articles in the First and Fitzharris tab.

Caleb Conrad - Staff Writer

Coming Soon

Frank Pomarico - Contributor

Frank Pomarico (#56) with QB Tommy Clements going over the top.

In 2022 Frank Pomarico, Captain of the 1973 National Champion Irish and author of Ara’s Knight’s: Ara Parseghian and the Golden Era of Notre Dame Football, joined Fighting Irish Preview as a correspondent to write about the lessons learned during his life as a Notre Dame Football player. Frank’s series is known as the Captain’s Corner with Frank Pomarico