GRETNA — The buzz in the Memorial Stadium press box Saturday night had little to do with Nebraska’s 56-0 pounding of Troy on the football field.

With an occasional “What’s the deal with Cody Glenn?” mixed in, much of the chitchat was about a change in the Husker broadcasting lineup and the return of Kent Pavelka.

Pavelka, who left as the primary voice of Husker athletics in 1996 when the Pinnacle Sports Network took over NU’s broadcasting rights, has been hired by Host Communications and the Husker Sports Network (formerly Pinnacle) to replace Randy Lee as the play-by-play voice for Husker men’s basketball.

Is a return to football next for Pavelka?

Pavelka, current play-by-play man Jim Rose and Kevin Moore, the vice president and general manager of the Husker Sports Network, said  there’s too much speculation about something that is not an issue.

There were reports of a feud between Rose and Pavelka when Rose took over the football broadcasts, replacing Warren Swain (Pavelka’s replacement) in 2002.

Rose and Pavelka worked together in 1993-95 when Rose was a sideline reporter for Husker football, and the two said Wednesday there is no bad blood between them — aside, perhaps, from the fact Rose is a Lincoln Southeast graduate and Pavelka is a Northeast alum.

Rose, Pavelka and Moore sat down for a visit Wednesday at the offices of the Husker Sports Network. Following are highlights of the discussion.

On rumors that Pavelka eventually will replace Rose as the play-by-play voice of Husker football:

Moore: “We’re thrilled to get Kent back, because he’s just a great announcer. Jim’s a great announcer as well, and Jim’s completely secure in his position as the football play-by-play announcer. When Kent and I got together to talk about that, that’s the first thing I put on the table, because I didn’t want rumors.”

Pavelka: “It is what it is — basketball — and I just couldn’t be more excited about it. Jim’s the football guy, and he’s probably going to be here until he doesn’t want to be, which will probably be forever.”

Rose: “I feel great about the team we have here, and I feel great about my position. You’re never, ever going to please everyone, and usually your popularity rises with death more than anything else.”

On reports of a rift between Rose and Pavelka:

Pavelka: “Not an issue. It just isn’t. It’s 2006. He’s doing football, and I’m going to get to go do basketball, and we’re fine with each other. Water under the bridge. I don’t know. It’s not worth even talking about.”

Rose: “I was an ambitious guy. Kent and Gary (Sadlemyer) helped with that (sideline) position. They helped me with that. Those guys were very generous on the air.”

On Pavelka getting back into the mix now that Pinnacle — and General Manager Paul Aaron — are out of the mix:

Moore: “I think it had a lot to do with it, not because Paul had a problem with Kent, because, as you recall, Kent’s done games under Paul’s leadership here. But the company clearly is changing directions.”

On athletic director Steve Pederson’s role in the decision:

Rose: “Both Steve and Marc (Boehm, executive associate athletic director) were very generous to me. They said, ‘You’re our guy (for football).’ They asked me what I thought about (Pavelka doing basketball). Objectively speaking, this will be an extremely popular move with basketball fans.”

On who would handle football play-by-play if Rose had to miss a game:

Moore: “I don’t think he’d ever get sick. It could be Kent, I suppose. I don’t know why not. We had something similar to that with basketball, when Randy was unavailable to do basketball. We asked Kent to step in. He graciously did it, and he did a great job.”

Rose: “I better be in pretty bad shape. We never even actually talked about that. I would suspect it would be Kent.”

Pavelka: “I want to be real clear. There’s no part of me that is angling toward anything like that. That’s just not part of this equation. I don’t  want anybody to think that that’s where I’m coming from. The first thing I did was basketball in 1974. I didn’t do (football) play-by-play for 10 years. I took ownership of basketball in 1974, and it was my baby. Just personally, there’s a beautiful piece of symmetry, if you will. …

“I feel as pumped up about doing these games this fall, this winter, as I did before that first season. It’s all about basketball. It really is.”

On Randy Lee:

Moore: “Randy Lee is still here and a very valuable guy to our organization, and he will continue to do football with Jim and Adrian (Fiala) and Matt (Davison), and he will continue to be Jim’s (color) guy in baseball. I’m sure you’ve listened to his call on basketball. It’s pretty dog-gone good. Kent’s great, as well. …

“I think (Lee) was disappointed, because that’s a key position in the company here, but he’s also glad he’s still on football and still on baseball. Randy has other opportunities within Host, as well, with other things that they do. It’s not like this is the end of his broadcasting career. It may, in fact, be a springboard to other really good opportunities.”

Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.