Longtime Nets broadcast Ian Eagle has been tapped to take over as lead play-by-player for the NCAA Final Four after Jim Nantz calls his final one this season, according to the New York Post.
Eagle is already quite well known and well respected around the industry, and has the resume to back it up to boot. Eagle has been calling Nets games since 1995 as well as NCAA March Madness games on CBS since 1998. He also calls NBA contests for Turner, is part of CBS’s No.2 NFL broadcast team and has called football games on Westwood One Radio.
“It’s his time,” Nantz said about Eagle in a phone interview with the Post. “I will support him 1,000 percent. He doesn’t need my support. But I’m absolutely thrilled for him. He’s a great teammate. He’s been right in the middle of this NCAA Tournament for a long, long time. So he’s not dropping in from outside, I mean he’s going to be working an extra weekend. It happens to be the big one. And he is definitely capable and ready and will excel and he’ll take it to all new heights.”
Eagle, who calls Essex Fells, N.J. home, also has continued the tradition of having sons that have followed in their father’s broadcasting footsteps. Noah Eagle, Ian’s 25-year-old-son, is also a play-by-play broadcaster and made his FOX debut earlier this month calling the 49ers-Falcons game.
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Nantz will call his last Final Four next spring in Houston after deciding to spend more time with his family. “‘Daddy needs to be home,” the broadcasting great told the New York Post.
He will remain as one of the leads on CBS’s NFL coverage and the network’s golf coverage, which includes the Masters. Nantz took over Final Four broadcasts for CBS in 1991 after he replaced Brent Musburger.
