The 2025 season will be Gary Danielson's last as a college football television analyst, Paramount, CBS's parent company, announced Wednesday.
This upcoming season will be Danielson's 36th in the booth, making him the longest-running active college football TV analyst.
An undrafted quarterback out of Purdue, Danielson played professionally in Canada and in the World Football League before getting a shot with the Detroit Lions in 1976. He spent nine seasons there, going in and out of the starting lineup, then spent four seasons as a backup to Bernie Kosar with the Cleveland Browns.
After his playing career ended in 1988, Danielson joined ESPN in 1990. He worked for years alongside Brent Musburger at ABC before moving to CBS's No. 1 booth in 2006, where he will now call it a career after 20 seasons there.
“I have had the greatest seat in the house for 36 years and have loved every minute of it,” Danielson said in CBS's statement. “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."
As an analyst, Danielson felt driven to make his mark in a way he did not as a player.
"For me, it's tough to go through my game tapes," he told USA Today in 2012. "I don't know, maybe it's because I wasn't a big star in football, but I take it personal. When I don't point out something I should have, it can grind on me for days."
At CBS, Danielson attracted a reputation as being in the tank for the conference he covered -- imagine that, an analyst impressed by a conference that wins the title nearly every year and produces more draft picks than any other league -- but I was always impressed by his passion for the game and his ability to meet the moment, which is the most important skill in sports television. Three calls come to mind.
First, I was impressed by his real-time appreciation for Cam Newton's other-worldly 49-yard touchdown run against LSU in 2010, particularly the way Newton didn't hit top speed until he was already 35 yards and several broken tackles into his scamper.
Second, his analysis of the Kick Six in 2013. While the world lost its mind, Danielson noted, "There's no athletes on the field for Alabama. They've got all fat guys."
Finally, Danielson was astute in his analysis of Justin Zwick's game-losing fumble in a 2005 showdown of Texas at Ohio State. "I know that I'm in the minority," Danielson said as ABC cameras showed the scrambling Zwick switch the ball from his right to his non-passing left hand, "but I like quarterbacks to hold the ball in their passing hand because they never have it, they're not used to holding it in their left hand. I know a lot of people think they should switch, I don't."