Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reported earlier today that effusive play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson has ended his 16 year association with CBS. Johnson, possibly the greatest thing to happen to YouTube since Wally Backman Keyboard Cat, won’t be out of work long, as the Los Angeles Times’ Diane Pucin explains.
Johnson is discussing “a significant role” in Fox’s college football coverage, which has recently been expanded with the Pac-12 and Big 12.
On Wednesday, Fox and ESPN announced a new 12-year contract with the soon-to-be Pacific 12 Conference. It includes an expanded number of football games and carries the expectation that the Pac-12 will have its own network similar to what the Big Ten has.
Johnson has worked extensively calling the games for the Big Ten network. He also was mentioned as a candidate for the NFL Network job that went officially to ESPN’s Brad Nessler on Thursday.
It appears very unlikely Johnson will be working another Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament in the very near future, which is very bad news for hoops fans and glass replacement companies alike.