Gary Danielson’s second year calling Big Ten games on CBS will also be his last.
While his roots are firmly planted in the SEC thanks to nearly two decades of calling Southeastern Conference games on the network he’s been with since 2006, Danielson always worked to avoid the stereotype of being just an SEC guy. He focused on calling the game, not leaning on past allegiances or conference biases.
He announced his retirement last week, clarifying that he’ll step aside after the 2025 season to make way for Charles Davis. Davis will take over the role alongside the great Brad Nessler. Danielson explained that he wanted to leave on his own terms rather than stay too long and lose his edge.
But despite being with CBS for a significant part of his 36-year announcing career, Danielson worked hard to avoid being pigeonholed as just an “SEC guy” because he didn’t want to pretend to be one.
“One of the things that I tried to do is not to pretend to be an SEC guy. I thought that was an insult to the SEC fans,” Danielson said, reflecting on his approach during an appearance on David Pollack’s See Ball Get Ball podcast. “That I just joined in and go, ‘I’m one of you guys.’ I didn’t earn that. You (Pollack) earned that by playing in this league; you grew up. I tried to call balls and strikes and stay in the middle.
“Did it work perfect? Maybe not. You know, the social media kind of ran with it. But it worked good for me. That was what I liked doing… I damn respected everything about the whole league and what I was doing every week, I’ll tell you that.”
He’ll also tell you it was time to step away, even if he feels like he was still at the top of his game.
“I’ve been nominated for Emmys six times — and never won, but that’s still an honor for a college announcer to get that,” he told Puck’s John Ourand on The Varsity podcast. “So, it’s been seamless to the Big Ten; the Big Ten treated us royally. It was fantastic. When I was playing, I missed a lot of what my kids were doing. When I was working at ESPN and ABC, I missed every one of my son’s football games in high school, most of my daughter’s volleyball games back at that time. And now my grandkids were starting into high school; they’re all here locally.
“And I go, ‘This might be the perfect time.’ I really felt that I would rather leave a couple of years early than one year late, where people are starting to say, ‘He doesn’t have it. He should’ve retired.’ And I have the ability to do that, to walk away. Everything seems fine. Thrilled with Charles Davis sitting in that seat. Honestly, there might’ve been some people that I would’ve been queasy about, but not Charles. It just seemed right. It really did — two years with the Big Ten. I didn’t want a going away year. I’m not in the Verne category or the Al Michaels category, where you’re going to leave, and everybody’s talking about how great you’re.”
As Danielson gets ready to call it a career, he leaves behind a legacy not just as a voice of college football but as someone who always called it like he saw it — staying true to his principles and never pretending to be something he wasn’t.
