Veteran college football commentator and longtime SEC television analyst Gary Danielson announced last week that the 2025 college football season would be his final year in the broadcast booth.
By the time he wraps his run at the end of the 2025 season, Danielson will have spent 20 seasons on CBS Sports' broadcasts of college football games, all but two of them with the network's "SEC on CBS" package. He made the announcement after one season of calling Big Ten football games for the network.
In a statement addressing his decision to step down after 2025, Danielson said:
"I have had the greatest seat in the house for 36 years and have loved every minute of it. I have discussed the timing of this moment with CBS Sports leadership over the past few years and we felt it was important I remained with the team during our transition to the Big Ten. As we enter our second full season of Big Ten football and my 20th at CBS Sports, the timing just feels right ... I have been blessed to work with incredible teammates throughout my career and I look forward to one more memorable season with Brad, Jenny, Craig Silver, Steve Milton and the crew."
The SEC moved its broadcasts off CBS following the 2023 season after reaching a 10-year rights broadcast agreement with ESPN and ABC back in December 2020. CBS announced in 2019 that it was dropping out of the running for a rights extension with the SEC, which had been on the network since 1996.
But are SEC football games better without CBS -- and Danielson?
I'm not sure how many in SEC country are likely to pour one out for Danielson. But for me, last year's games on ABC/ESPN lacked something that CBS (and Danielson) brought to the conference every fall Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
The graphic work, crowd shots, all-around presentation and big-game feel that CBS provided the SEC simply outperformed last year's conference slate on ABC/ESPN. So did the commentary.
"SEC on CBS" broadcasts felt different. Special. On ABC/ESPN last year, they at times felt like, well, just another college football broadcast -- only with the late Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream" instead of CBS' unmistakable intro and theme song.
Danielson, both fairly and unfairly an all-too-frequent target of Alabama football fans, joined "SEC on CBS" broadcasts in 2006. It was at a time when the conference, particularly Alabama, was on the eve of an unprecedented reign over the sport. Seven straight SEC national championship seasons, three of them won by Nick Saban's Crimson Tide, were soon to follow.
Danielson's recurring "Garyisms," like his unabashed love and repeated references to Florida Gators legend Tim Tebow through the years, became stale and tiresome to many. I get that.
That wasn't the only recurring theme. How many times did Alabama fans hear Danielson exclaim during a broadcast: "Gotta have a HOT quarterback if you're gonna beat Alabama! Remember, TEBOW was the first to do it! Stephen Garcia and South Carolina did it two years later. Nick Marshall did it for Auburn in 2013. Does (fill-in-the-blank) have a Stephen Garcia game in ...
