Tag: Jac Collinsworth

NBC sacks Jac Collinsworth in favor of Dan Hicks on Notre Dame football

NBC is officially taking Jac Collinsworth off Notre Dame play-by-play in favor of Dan Hicks

The changes are in the wind for NBC broadcast booths. On the same day, Leigh Diffey was officially revealed as the NASCAR announcer displacing Rick Allen, the network announced Dan Hicks will take over in the Notre Dame football booth for Jac Collinsworth.

The news on Jac Collinsworth, son of Cris Collinsworth NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” analyst, is unsurprising.

His performance was underwhelming, to be kind. His once shining star at NBC is no more as evidenced by his limited role in the recently completed Paris Summer Olympic Games.

Hicks brings a solid broadcasting tone to the Notre Dame games as will Diffey to NASCAR. Replacing Jac Collinsworth and Allen are steps in the right direction for a network muscling up on sports media rights deals.

 

 

 

Notre Dame Football: Shakeup Coming to NBC Broadcast Booth This Fall

Big News Regarding the Notre Dame on NBC TV Booth

The last two seasons have seen Notre Dame home football games on NBC announced by play-by-play voice Jac Collinsworth.

Collinsworth is a Notre Dame graduate and was an up-and-comer when named to succeed Mike Tirico, who left the booth to take over NBC’s Sunday Night Football call when legendary Al Michaels left for Amazon

According to Dan Marchand of The Athletic, Collinsworth is out for this fall and replacing him will be longtime NBC Sports voice Dan Hicks, who happens to be married to Notre Dame graduate and veteran sports reporter/anchor Hannah Storm.

According to the report Jason Garrett will remain as the color commentator for Notre Dame on NBC.

No offense to Collinsworth but going from Tirico to him felt like getting spit in the face.  Collinsworth didn’t scream “big time” in any capacity, something that is done by more flight miles and experience – not by having a known last name.

Jac Collinsworth named one of top sports broadcasting flops of past decade

Who thought it would have turned out this badly?

Now that Jac Collinsworth is out as Notre Dame play-by-play announcer for NBC, the postmortem on his tenure can begin. In two seasons calling the Irish, Collinsworth was widely panned by viewers both within and outside the fan base. It was almost like NBC had planned him to fail in this role.

In any case, Awful Announcing has pulled no punches regarding Collinsworth. With his dismissal from Irish broadcasts, the sports media site has named his time doing them one of the biggest sports broadcasting flops of the past decade. The list also includes Drew Brees, who lasted only one season as the Notre Dame color commentator before leaving NBC and sports broadcasting altogether.

The good news for Irish fans is that a familiar voice in Dan Hicks will be back on the broadcasts, and he at least has plenty of experience on his resume. Maybe with a little more seasoning, Collinsworth can work his way back into his now-former role in the distant future. For now though, Irish home broadcasts can be enjoyable again.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Collinsworth/Garrett named worst college football announcing team

Woof.

The relationship between Notre Dame and NBC recently was renewed through the end of the decade. However, the network probably needs to make some serious decisions regarding its announcing team for Irish broadcasts. It should be for no other reason than to appease the viewers.

Awful Announcing recently selected 20 college football broadcast teams and asked its readers to vote on them. Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett, the team that has announced Irish games for NBC over the past two years, was one of the teams up for voting.

The results were less than flattering as Collinsworth and Garrett were ranked dead last with the team ranked directly above them not even coming close.

Here’s the website’s interpretation of the team’s ranking:

“The only broadcast team we’ve seen get a score this low is the infamous Joe Tessitore/Booger McFarland/Jason Witten Monday Night Football crew back in 2018. That in and of itself is damning. But overall, there weren’t even many positive vibes for this team. Their percentage of A and B grades was less than half of the team ranked directly ahead of them, and their percentage of F grades was nearly four times higher than the second-highest percentage. This is the second season that Collinsworth and Garrett have called Notre Dame games together, and there will need to be a major step up in year three (if it even gets to that point).”

It’s no secret fans were constantly complaining about Collinsworth and Garrett both seasons they have been on the call, and now, we know exactly how low everyone’s opinion about them is. This is a level of bad that you almost have to try to attain.

Clearly, NBC missed the mark when it brought these two together to call games it had been broadcasting for over 30 years. The only thing to do is shake things up for 2024 because there’s no way it can stick with the status quo without coming off as ignorant, tone-deaf or both.

The network owes it to college football viewers to provide them with a better experience, especially since this relationship with Notre Dame will continue for the foreseeable future.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Awful Announcing documents criticism of Jason Garrett

What did you think of Garrett’s season-opening broadcast?

As the Week 0 game with the highest profile, Notre Dame-Navy drew a large audience hungry for college football. That meant extended exposure for fill-in play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle and color commentator Jason Garrett on NBC.

Garrett and regular play-by-play announcer Jac Collinsworth, who missed Saturday’s broadcast, both have become frequent targets for Irish fans for the quality of their announcing. Without Collinsworth, Garrett received the brunt of criticism for the season opener, and sports media website Awful Announcing kept track of some of the tweets containing that criticism.

One series of tweets Awful Announcing chose to focus on were those saying Sam Hartman hasn’t worked with a running back like Audric Estime when the Seattle Seahawks’ Kenneth Walker III had played with Hartman at Wake Forest. Awful Announcing also highlighted tweets criticizing Garrett’s repeated mentions of the Midshipmen’s “mental toughness.” Still other tweets didn’t like what was perceived as Garrett’s lack of enthusiasm or energy.

We’ve had only one NBC broadcast in 2023, but social media already is in midseason form. There’s no place for critiques of Garrett to go but up. Who knows what’s in store for Collinsworth when he presumably returns for the Irish’s home opener this coming weekend?

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Jac Collinsworth main subject of Awful Announcing story on nepotism

Good discussion to have?

For the past two years, Notre Dame’s NBC broadcasts have come under heavy criticism. Never was it on display more than during and after the Irish’s stunning dominance of USC. Social media bashed the broadcast early and often. People seem to have had enough of what they’ve been exposed to on coverage of Irish home games.

To that end, Jesse Pantuosco of Awful Announcing saw it fit to pen an article about nepotism in sports with Notre Dame play-by-play announcer Jac Collinsworth being the story’s primary subject. Jac, of course, is the son of NBC Sunday Night Football color analyst Cris Collinsworth. He also is a Notre Dame alumnus. But he hasn’t won many fans calling Irish games, and this article in particular says he didn’t rise to the big moment of the Irish walloping the Trojans.

Here’s the main argument against Collinsworth in the story:

“The elder Collinsworth is one of the best in the business, and maybe Jac will get there someday, but Saturday proved the 28-year-old is still very much a work in progress, failing to meet the moment in his biggest assignment to date.

Naturally, Collinsworth’s relative lack of polish has sparked a larger discussion about nepotism in sports media, with many questioning his credentials while wondering if Collinsworth is qualified for his current role, leapfrogging more deserving broadcasters on the strength of his last name. Not only was Collinsworth ill-equipped for primetime, but his rapid ascent presents problematic optics that NBC will now have to answer for, fast-tracking a novice announcer in desperate need of seasoning.”

The story goes to cite similar situations in Noah Eagle, Chris Simms and former Irish offensive lineman [autotag]Mike Golic Jr.[/autotag] None of those broadcasters have come under as much scrutiny as Collinsworth though. Whether it’s merited or not, it’s unfortunate that the situation has necessitated this discussion. Here’s hoping Collinsworth has a better end to the season.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

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Social media heavily criticizes NBC broadcast of Notre Dame-USC

Do you share these criticisms?

Notre Dame playing USC always draws a big audience no matter who’s broadcasting it. It’s one of the great rivalries in college football, so even people who don’t have a rooting interest will tune in. That means more eyes than usual are exposed to how NBC covers Irish games. It turns out that might not have been the best thing.

As has been custom for the past couple of years now, the broadcast team of Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett was subject to heavy criticism. But there also were noticeable sound issues as the broadcast’s audio kept cutting out at times. Most egregiously, at least for me, NBC’s feed completely cut out for an extended period in the fourth quarter, so I only heard [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag]’s kick return touchdown on the radio broadcast. Not a good look for the network.

NBC Sports executives need to take a good look at their Notre Dame broadcasts and correct a lot of things. Irish fans will watch regardless because they don’t have any other way to see home games short of making the trip to Notre Dame Stadium. But that doesn’t entitle NBC to put in half an effort into these games.Viewers deserve a lot better.

Here are only a few complaints from viewers on social media:

Social media reacts to Notre Dame walk-on scoring game-tying touchdown

Bet you didn’t have him scoring.

As far as Notre Dame walk-ons go, it’s gonna be tough to top [autotag]Rudy Ruettiger[/autotag] in terms of notoriety. But it’s a lot easier to pass Ruettiger in on-field performance if you have a chance to play. [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] got that chance in the second quarter against Louisville, and he came up at a big time. Two plays after making his first collegiate catch, he caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] to tie the game:

Whatever happens the rest of this game, Faison will have this moment forever. Not everyone in his position has this particular opportunity, and he made the most of his. If he has a few more plays like this, he’ll be listed on the depth chart every week. Not bad for someone whose main sport is lacrosse.

While Faison is waiting, he can read these and other reactions that were posted to social media after his touchdown:

Social media reacts to Notre Dame’s Holden Staes’ touchdown

Nice score by the tight end.

Notre Dame definitely has had a tougher time with NC State than it did against Navy or Tennessee State. Much of that has been self-inflicted with an uncharacteristic amount of penalties that have aid the Wolfpack’s scoring. But [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] has shown capable of fending off whatever adversity that comes the Irish’s win. Fresh off a Wolfpack field goal, Hartman completed a pass to [autotag]Holden Staes[/autotag], who was off to the races with a 40-yard touchdown:

This is the second touchdown for Staes in as many games and the second of his career. The fact that he’s starting to show what he can do after barely getting that opportunity a year ago shows how many players are benefiting from Hartman’s presence. It was hyped up a lot before the season, but now, we’re getting to see it for ourselves. That includes folks on social media as evidenced by these tweets:

Paul Burmeister to do play-by-play for Notre Dame home opener on NBC

Jac’s not back yet.

When Jac Collinsworth became too ill to travel to Ireland for Notre Dame’s season opener, many figured he would be back for the home opener. Instead, he will be replaced in the NBC booth once again when the Irish play their first 2023 game at Notre Dame Stadium against Tennessee State. Pete Sampson of The Athletic has tweeted the following:

Burmeister already is employed by NBC Sports, so this decision had to have been an easy one. Irish fans used to watching games on TV but not listening to them on the radio will get a taste of what it’s like to experience the Irish when you can’t see the action. As great as Noah Eagle is, NBC needs him for its Big Ten Saturday Night coverage.

It’s not known as of this writing who will fill in for Burmeister on the radio. Still, the Notre Dame Radio Network has employed some great broadcasters over the years. Someone worthy surely will be chosen, even if for one day only.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89