Dick Vitale targeting November of 2024 to return to ESPN broadcasts

The 2023-24 college basketball season has been entertaining, for sure. But it hasn’t quite been the same without legendary college basketball analyst Dick Vitale.

Vitale was diagnosed with vocal cord cancer over the summer, and he has been unable to call games this season.

Vitale underwent treatments, which wiped out the cancer, but getting his voice back to a point where it can call games has been a process.

The good news is that Vitale is at the point where he can target a return to sportscasting. He recently provided an update on where things stand with his health.

“Today we had a very eventful day starting at 7:30 in the morning with an examination and a scoping of my vocal cords,” Dick Vitale posted on Facebook on Wednesday. “I had a 4 hour major surgery on my vocal cords about 6 weeks ago. Today was to see how I am recovering from the surgery after dealing with cancer on my vocal cords plus the 35 radiation treatments.

“In all, the news was very positive and Dr Zeitals said the healing process is much better than he anticipated. He now has granted me permission to resume talking but I must be in control & be careful to not overdue it. His goal is that I should be ready to do games on ESPN at the start of the new season in November, 2024.”

That is obviously excellent news. Even though Dick Vitale can’t call games and serve as a commentator at the moment, it sounds as if he will be able to in about eight months when the 2024-25 season gets underway.

Dick Vitale has served as a college basketball analyst and ambassador at ESPN since the 1979-80 season. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

The 84-year-old got into broadcasting after previously being a coach. He spent time coaching at the high school level, college level and the NBA.

In addition to contributing to the sport of basketball, he is also on the Board of Directors for the V Foundation. It is described by ESPN as “a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer and founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano.”

Vitale is also on the selection committee for the Naismith Award and Wooden Award.

The hope is that he can continue to make progress over the next several months, before returning to announcing college basketball games in November.