The 2023 NCAA Tournament will be the final one for CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz, and that fact means its time of several emotions for CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus.
During the March Madness media preview conference call, McManus shared that Nantz has been instrumental in the network’s coverage of the event.
“It’s a bittersweet tournament for us,” McManus said. “This is Jim’s 32nd — if you can believe it — Final Four and Championship Game as lead play-by-play announcer. His first was in 1991 with Billy Packer. Jim, as everyone on this call knows, has meant so much to the game of college basketball, to CBS Sports, and to the growth in popularity of this great event. Fitting another good storyline, he’ll be able to sign off from Houston, and on CBS. And he can’t root because he’s an objective broadcaster, but if the Houston Cougars happen to be in Houston that weekend, that would be a pretty cool storyline for Jim also.”
Nantz is a University of Houston alumnus, and mentioned the school holds a special place in his heart as his broadcast career began there.
“A lot of people don’t know that the basketball program really was my entrance into the business,” Nantz reminisced. “I was completely tied to the Houston basketball program, more than anything else, to get me launched. Back as a kid, I was the public address announcer, I was the host of The Guy Lewis Show — our Hall of Fame coach — his television show that ran on the NBC affiliate. I was just a kid living in the dorms.”
The 2023 Final Four is scheduled for Houston, with the Cougars ranked as the #1 team in the country. Nantz said it’s too early to discuss the team making that run, but it would mean a lot to the venerable broadcaster.
“Houston, if they made it to the Final Four, if they won the national championship, then this would be right up there as one of the top two moments of my career.”
