The man best known for his friendly hello gave a warm and thoughtful goodbye. Legendary sportscaster and NCAA tournament mainstay Jim Nantz called his final game Monday the Voice of March Madness, ending a 37-year run of 355 broadcasts and 32 Final Fours. Nantz, who has served as an NCAA tournament regular with CBS Sports, made his final call as Houston’s college basketball congenial storyteller when UConn defeated San Diego State in the national championship.
“To you, to everyone in the college game, to the CBS family, to my family, to all viewers: thank you for being my friend,” Nantz said.
Nantz, 63, is handing over the reins to Ian Eagle as the voice of the Final Four, but he’s not stepping down from his post entirely. He will continue to serve as the lead play-by-play voice of the NFL for CBS, as well as a chronicler of The Masters and other major golf events for the network.
The end of Nantz’s career as the main voice for CBS’s college basketball coverage was a fitting moment to come full circle in Houston — the city where he attended college, played golf, and studied broadcasting — when he one last time the NCAA tournament and the final moments of the 2022-23 season. UConn put on a stunning performance to send him into the sunset, overcoming an early deficit to dominate with a 17-point win, his sixth victory by 13 or more points in one of the most emphatic runs in March Madness history.
CBS Radio Network was Nantz’s first official launchpad as a young professional in broadcasting when he streamed interviews into the airwaves. But it wasn’t until 1985, a few years after his first experience in Houston, Texas, as a presenter and sportscaster for KHOU, that he joined CBS Sports.
When Nantz joined CBS Sports in 1985, he was a studio presenter, covering basketball, soccer and golf and his upbeat intro to shows – “Hello, friends!” — Viewers and listeners felt connected to the environment from which he was broadcasting.
Even as Nantz’s final departure as the voice of college basketball floated on CBS as a major storyline in Monday night’s season finale, Nantz humbly turned attention back to the sport he’s so dutifully treated and loved over the decades. Alongside his longtime partner Bill Raftery and the broadcast team alongside Tracy Wolfson and Grant Hill, he thanked and imparted wisdom to everyone who rode with him.
“One thing I’ve learned through all of this is that everyone has a dream, everyone has a story to tell,” Nantz said. “Just try to find this story.
“You told it better than most,” Raftery quipped. “Let me tell you.”