Report: Dan Hicks to replace Jac Collinsworth for Notre Dame football broadcasts
Longtime NBC broadcaster Dan Hicks will be back at Notre Dame Stadium soon. Per a report from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Hicks is replacing Jac Collinsworth as the play-by-play voice of Fighting Irish football games on NBC starting in 2024.
Hicks, a graduate of the University of Arizona’s journalism school, has been with NBC since 1992. Only a sliver of that time has been spent calling Notre Dame games. He was the Irish’s play-by-play voice on NBC a decade ago but has largely spent his time with the company covering golf and the Olympics.
Hicks has been NBC Sport’s lead play-by-play host for the PGA Tour since 2000. He’s a veteran of 11 Olympic broadcasts. When you watch back some of your favorite Olympic highlights of the last few decades, odds are Hicks was on the call.
When Michael Phelps and his Team USA teammates pulled off an improbable 4×100 freestyle relay win for a gold medal at the 2008 games in Beijing, Hicks had a memorable call of, “Here comes Lezak! Unbelievable at the end! He’s done it!” And if you’re a golf fan, who can forget when Tiger Woods made birdie on the 72nd hole of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Hicks’ call when the 14-foot birdie putt went down was, “Expect anything different?!” Hicks brings a natural enthusiasm to the booth.
Collinsworth, meanwhile, was the play-by-play man alongside former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett for the last two seasons. Garrett will remain in the booth with Hicks, according to The Athletic’s report. Collinsworth, a Notre Dame graduate and the son of NBC Sunday Night Football color analyst Cris Collinsworth, was a studio host and sideline reporter for Notre Dame on NBC starting in 2020. His future endeavors were not included in Marchand’s article.
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Marchand did report that Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will remain NBC’s No. 1 broadcast team outside of Notre Dame games.
“NBC wanted to reward them, so while they will continue to primarily focus on the Big Ten prime-time matchups if the network deems a Notre Dame game the most attractive on its schedule for a given week, then the duo will call the game,” Marchand wrote.
Notre Dame’s home slate begins with a game against Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. The Irish also have home games against Miami (Ohio), Louisville, Stanford, Florida State and Virginia. The Shamrock Series game against Army at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 23 will be broadcasted on NBC.
