Clark Kellogg Replaces Billy Packer on CBS's NCAA Hoops Team
Clark Kellogg and Billy Packer by John Paul Filo/CBS
Jim Nantz will have a new partner on CBS's NCAA basketball coverage. The network confirmed Monday that longtime studio and game analyst
Clark Kellogg will replace
Billy Packer alongside Nantz on the lead college hoops announcing team this coming season. In a statement, CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus said, "With his unquestioned popularity and performance over the years, Clark Kellogg earned all rights to this top spot. Like Billy Packer, Al McGuire or any of the most highly regarded broadcasters, Clark is an original voice with his own style and perspective. We have been proud to have him lead our studio presence for many years and look forward to his fresh impact on CBS Sports' coverage of college basketball for years to come."
Kellogg has worked for CBS for 16 years, covering regular season games and working as a studio analyst during March Madness.
Regarding Packer, McManus said he "has set the standard of excellence for over 30 years. I can't express how important he has been, not only to CBS Sports and it's coverage of college basketball, but also to the growth of this great sport. It is almost impossible to over-estimate his passion, knowledge and commitment to the game."
As
first reported in
The Miami Herald, Packer is leaving CBS after 27 seasons. He is, according to the paper, "pursuing other projects in basketball." Packer was often a lightning rod for criticism, thanks to his old-school views on college players leaving early for the NBA, and his comments in recent years about mid-major conferences being over-represented in the NCAA championship. "I'm often wrong but never in doubt," he said with trademark smugness in 2006 after several mid-major schools played well in the tournament.
Packer joined CBS in 1981, after working the previous six years for NBC.
