Rachel Klein has what she calls her “dream job’’ just not her “last job.’’

Klein, who has been a University of Maryland sports fan from the time her father took her to her first basketball game when she was three years old, is the publisher and reporter for TurtleSportsReport.com and Fox Sports.

“I was definitely a huge tomboy growing up,’’ Klein, a native of Baltimore, said. “My dad would take me to games and I just went crazy for Maryland basketball.’’

Klein played a variety of sports growing up, but her best turned out to be lacrosse. She earned a scholarship to Boston University where she eventually became the Terriers’ captain and starting goalie. At BU she helped the team to four straight America East Conference championships and four straight NCAA appearances. She still holds the school record for saves in a season with 181. 

 So after her time in New England, away from the Terps, she returned home and the next thing, well maybe not the next, she had the job she always wanted.

“Actually, I was obsessed with Johnny Holiday (the voice of Maryland basketball),’’ Klein said. “That’s what I always wanted to do.

“In school, I got involved in politics and history and I wasn’t 100 percent sure. And then I thought maybe I wanted to coach.’’

 Then a little talk with her brother got her back on track.

“He knew what I really wanted to do,’’ she said. “He told me this is America, you can do what you want.’’

A psychology major in school, Klein picked up her communication skills on the job. She jokes that with her psychology background, “I can make people think I know what I’m doing.’’

Back home in Maryland, she started to pursue her dream of getting into the sports field.

“The best advice I received was to get business cards made and hand them out like candy,’’ she said.

The cards landed her some part-time jobs at different places and ultimately led to her becoming the radio voice for Loyola’s women’s basketball team.

During one of the Greyhounds games she interviewed Loyola’s men’s basketball coach Jimmy Patsos, now the head coach at Siena. Her love of Maryland basketball helped her, and led to her doing some Loyola men’s basketball games as well.

“I knew so much about (Jimmy), because he used to be an assistant coach at Maryland,’’ Klein said. ‘I think he was impressed.’’

Klein eventually landed at Total College Sports, a digital sports network as an associate producer and reporter. At TCS, she created daily original content for college basketball and football segments across numerous national platforms. She also produced sponsored segments for campaigns with big-name brands, Dove, Jimmy John’s and John Deere.

After two years there, she began her job with Fox in March of this year.   

“I’ve gotten past the being a girl in an industry that’s mostly men,’’ Klein said. “I knew the position I was putting myself in when I decided to do this. I know that maybe some people helped me out because I was a girl. But my thing has always been to just be professional. You can’t expect people to treat you professionally and take you seriously if you don’t act the right way.’’

Klein seems to be doing everything the right way so far. And at 26 years old, she’s a long way from completing her journey.

 “I want to be good at what I do, really good,’’ she said. “I had a lot of learning to do and I still do. For right now this is a dream. But I don’t think this is going to be my last job.’’