mike tirico, who recently called his first Super Bowl and is currently in Milan-Cortina hosting the Winter Olympics, said the late-career lessons he learned from Marv Albert will shape how he returns to calling NBA games. “We are all disciples of Marv, ” Tirico said, tying Albert’s influence directly to his work and to fellow voices such as Mike Breen and Ian Eagle.
Mike Tirico credits Marv Albert for guiding him
Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Tirico grouped himself with Mike Breen and Ian Eagle and traced a line of technique and tone back to Albert. “You have Mike Breen, Ian Eagle, myself… There’s so many other good people who do the NBA at, ” Tirico said, and added that “there are pieces of the style of how Marv called the game in our own personality that in all three of us, you can hear. ”
Albert’s career details and the lessons Tirico highlighted
Tirico pointed to concrete traits he borrowed from Albert’s broadcasts, calling out a command of the “30, 000-foot approach” and an ability to “make a big moment of big moments” without overreaching. Marv Albert, Tirico noted, worked as the voice of the New York Knicks from 1967 to 2004 and served as lead announcer for the NBA on multiple national networks; Albert was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2015. “Steal what you think is great, but do it in your personality, ” Tirico said, advising younger broadcasters to adapt rather than imitate.
How Tirico plans to bring those lessons back to the sidelines
mike tirico said he has absorbed Albert’s structure while also evolving his own voice after years covering a range of events. He likened Albert’s influence to a coaching tree, invoking Bill Walsh as an analogy for how philosophies spread and change over time. “You can’t be a clone of someone because there’s only one Chris Berman, there’s only one Dan Patrick, ” Tirico said, emphasizing individuality even as he credits a shared lineage.
Tirico’s recent run — calling his first Super Bowl and hosting the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina — frames a near-term return to the hardwood: once those assignments conclude, he will return to the sidelines to call NBA games, bringing the techniques he described back to live broadcasts. “All of that came from all of us for years growing up in about a 50-mile radius and listening to Marv, ” Tirico said, underscoring the regional and personal roots of the influence.
Alongside his comments about Albert, Tirico was recognized in the awards cycle for his play-by-play work, winning a 2025 Awfulies award for best play-by-play announcer, a distinction he mentioned while laying out how he balances preparation and personality on-air. “That’s a little bit of the amalgamation of the people who I’ve loved covering and watch and hopefully bring to the set every day, ” he added.
Next on Tirico’s schedule, as he described it, is the transition from Olympic host duties back to NBA broadcasts; he said he will return to calling NBA games after his current international assignment concludes.
