The steady drumbeat of college football broadcast news continues. On Tuesday, NBC announced that Tony Dungy would be working alongside Mike Tirico in the broadcast booth for Notre Dame games this season, replacing Doug Flutie. Kathryn Tappen returns as sideline reporter for the game coverage.
Flutie is shifting to a studio role on what seems like a part-time basis (the release mentions he’ll be in the studio “for select weeks”), and will work alongside host Jac Collinsworth, who left ESPN for NBC earlier this year.
Tirico took over as NBC’s Notre Dame play by play announcer on a full-time basis in 2017, replacing Dan Hicks. However, he did call three games in 2016 for NBC while Hicks was calling golf for the network. Flutie called games with Hicks starting in 2015 (though he did have a one game audition of sorts in 2014), replacing Mike Mayock.
In the studio, this represents a significant shift for NBC. Liam McHugh had been the studio host for the network’s Notre Dame coverage since 2013, working with a variety of analysts, including Hines Ward, Jonathan Vilma, Dhani Jones, and most recently, Chris Simms.
This is a significant step for Dungy, who has worked in the booth with Tirico (and Rodney Harrison) during NBC’s Thanksgiving Night NFL game in each of the last two years. He’s been a stalwart in the studio on NBC’s Football Night in America each week, and the transition to the booth for six games this year will be quite a shift for him.
NBC also announced their Notre Dame schedule for the 2020 season, which includes six games. One of the six will air on USA, thanks to NBC’s coverage of the US Open in September.
- September 12th, 2:30 PM vs Duke (NBC)
- September 19th, 2:30 PM vs South Florida (USA)
- October 10th, 7:30 PM vs Florida State (NBC)
- October 17th, 2:30 PM vs Louisville (NBC)
- November 7th, 7 PM vs Clemson (NBC)
- December 5th, TBA vs Syracuse (NBC)
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.