CBS shares tribute video for Jim Nantz, who will call final tourney game Monday

To be honest, CBS Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz expects to cry Monday night.

Nantz, 63, will call his final NCAA Tournament game when UConn faces San Diego State in men’s championship game. Next year Ian Eagle will take over as Nantz looks to cut back on his broadcast obligations.

“When that one shining moment farewell piece plays on that Monday night, I think it’s the lock of the year that I’ll have tears streaming down my face,” Nantz told CBS Sports. “But they’ll be tears of gratitude for being able to be entrusted with it for so long and have had a front-row seat to so many special moments.”

Nantz worked as host of CBS Sports’ tournament coverage from 1986-90, then moved to play-by-play in 1991.

CBS Sports enlisted legendary director and actor Ron Howard to narrate a video tribute about Nantz as he prepares for his final game.

Nantz will continue to work the Masters and NFL games, but fans won’t hear him again during the NCAA Tournament after Monday night.

“So from one storyteller to another,” Howard says in the video, “on behalf of all your friends, thank you Jim for a lifetime of moments and memories.”