ESPN Hires New College Football, Basketball Announcer
A popular broadcaster is making the jump from FOX Sports to ESPN this summer. Brian Custer, who has become a very popular figure, especially among Big East basketball fans, will call games and host SportsCenter for the Worldwide Leader.
Custer joined FOX Sports in 2014, after a 10-year stint at SNY, where he was one of the original hires. He won a pair of Emmy awards for his work at the New York-centered network. He worked his way up the ranks, beginning in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio for ABC affiliate WSYX-TV, and also spent time in Dallas covering the Cowboys and Mavericks. He also serves as host for Showtime Championship Boxing, which he will continue through his move to ESPN.
“It’s exciting, getting the opportunity to anchor an iconic brand like SportsCenter and call games at ESPN,” Custer told the Asbury Park Press Tuesday. “It doesn’t get any bigger than that.”
“When I was a teen, I was like, ‘Man, I want to be on SportsCenter.’ When I started my broadcasting career it was without question on my vision board.”
Brian Custer will join SportsCenter in July, before kicking off his new play-by-play duties in the fall. He’ll call both college football and basketball games for the family of networks.
As he leaves FS1 and the Big East, one fan base will miss him in particular: Seton Hall. The Pirates men’s hoops team went 28-1 with Custer as a broadcaster for their games, including an incredible 26-game winning streak that was finally snapped by Providence in December.
“Fox Sports was great for me professionally, and I learned so much from working with so many good people there,” Custer said. “I am going to miss them, and I will miss the Seton Hall Pirates because they made it special when it came to college basketball season. I thoroughly looked forward to college basketball season because of Seton Hall.”
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“If there was one request I made with ESPN, it was can you please get me a Seton Hall game if the opportunity arises?” Custer said, noting that management seemed amenable. “It may take me a little bit longer to build up a new streak now, because I may only get one game a year.”
With ESPN, however, he says the “opportunities are endless.” Landing SportsCenter and play-by-play duties off the bat certainly shows the level of confidence his new employer has in him.
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