After spending a year away battling cancer, Alabama Crimson Tide radio play-by-play announcer Eli Gold is making his return to the broadcast booth. The team will seek to win its first college football national championship since 2020 under head coach Nick Saban, who recently conveyed his excitement about Gold taking the air again. Gold, however, will be doing it with a new partner on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, he shared during an interview with WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile, Ala.
“It’s a former quarterback,” Gold said. “I don’t want to take my boss’ thunder away because he needs to make the announcement.”
A report from AL.com shared that it has learned that Tyler Watts, a current analyst across the network, is going to be stepping into the role. Watts played for the Crimson Tide during his four years at the University of Alabama as a quarterback, backing up Andrew Zow when the team won the Southeastern Conference championship in 1999. As his time at the university progressed, Watts was given more time on the field and garnered a completion percentage of 61.9%, the best in his college career.
Watts enters the role after it was held by John Parker Wilson, who has been on the broadcast as its analyst since 2018. Wilson is going to be taking a weekend game day job on behalf of Saban, which is believed to be a role with Yea Alabama, the school’s name, image and likeness (NIL) entity.
“John Parker Wilson wanted to stay with us on the broadcast,” Gold said. “It just wasn’t going to work out. He said, ‘How the heck do I tell Coach Saban no?’ I said, ‘You really don’t tell coach Saban no.’”
Gold and Watts are expected to work together on a closed-circuit radio broadcast this Saturday, the first of the Alabama Crimson Tide’s scrimmage games as it prepares for its Week 1 matchup against Middle Tennessee. The team is aiming to win its seventh SEC championship in the last decade as the team searches for a new starting quarterback after Bryce Young was drafted first overall by the Carolina Panthers.
“It will give me a chance to get the rust off and be ready to go for the start of the regular season,” Gold expressed.
