Kevin Kugler (Born August 1972) is an American sportscaster who works in both radio and television. Kugler is currently employed on television by

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

for

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

(including on

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of College athletics, collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and UFL games. On radio, Kugler is employed by

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

as its lead college basketball voice as well as a part of its NFL coverage. Kugler is based out of

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, where he hosted a daily sports talk show on KOZN until 2012 when he left to focus on his other duties. He won the Nebraska Sportscaster of the Year award nine times.

Westwood One

Kugler has worked for Westwood One's sports broadcasting arm since 2004. That year, he began covering the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

for Westwood One and continues to do so to this day. He also was the network's lead voice for NCAA football broadcasts until 2009. Upon the death of

Harry Kalas Harold Norbert Kalas (March 26, 1936 – April 13, 2009) was an American Sports commentator, sportscaster, best known for his Ford C. Frick Award, Ford C. Frick Award-winning role as lead Sports commentator, play-by-play announcer for the Phila ...

, Kugler was promoted to Westwood One's NFL broadcasts to take his place alongside color analyst and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback

Mark Malone Mark M. Malone (born November 22, 1958) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils football, A ...

. The two have worked together since the 2009 season. Beginning in 2012, Kugler is the primary substitute announcer for Dial Global's Sunday night coverage, replacing

Howard David Howard David is an American sportscaster. Biography Over the years, David has been the radio play-by-play man for several pro sports teams including the NBA's New Jersey Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics and the NFL's New York Jets ...

as Dave Sims' substitute when Sims'

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

broadcasting duties keep him away from the booth. Kugler and Sims switched assignments in 2013, with Kugler taking over Sunday Night Football alongside analyst

James Lofton James David Lofton (born July 5, 1956) is an American former professional football player and coach. He played in the National Football League (NFL) as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers (1978–1986), Los Angeles Raiders (1987&nda ...

. In 2016, Kugler substituted for

Kevin Harlan Kevin Robert Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer, and a 3 time National Sportscaster of Year as voted by his peers. The son of former Green Bay Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NF ...

on two ''

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

'' games during that year's season. In 2008, Kugler replaced Harlan as Westwood One's lead play-by-play voice for the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

and has called the games ever since alongside John Thompson and

Bill Raftery William Joseph Raftery (born April 19, 1943) is an American basketball analyst and former college basketball coach. Early life and playing years Born William Joseph Raftery in Orange, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Kearny, Raftery grew up i ...

Other duties

In 2011, Kugler joined the Big Ten Network as a commentator for football and basketball, among other sports. He also joined former

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

offensive lineman (and Dial Global colleague)

Tony Boselli Don Bosco Anthony Boselli Jr. (born April 17, 1972) is an American professional football executive and former player who is the executive vice president of football operations for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). ...

as the preseason television broadcast team for the Jaguars. He also calls

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major golf championships, men's major championships in Professional golf tours, professional golf. Schedul ...

golf for Dial Global. He served as an anchor and called play-by-play for

Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics was the eighteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an Basketball at the Summer Olympics, official Olympic medal event. It was held from 28 July to 12 August 2012. The preliminary matches and the w ...

for

Dial Global Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The c ...

. In addition to the Big Ten Network, Kugler will also do play-by-play for Fox College Hoops. For the 2013-14 college basketball season, Kugler served as the number two play-by-play man for the Big Ten Network and called first round games for the 2014 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament for the BTN alongside Stephen Bardo. Kugler was joined by

Matt Millen Matthew George Millen (born March 12, 1958) is an American former professional football player and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Millen played as a linebacker for 12 years for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders, San Franci ...

on college football Saturdays in the fall of 2015 as part of BTN's lead team covering college football. On June 5, 2018, Kugler served as the play-by-play man for an

MLB on Fox The ''MLB on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox MLB'') is an American presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), since June 1, 1996. Fo ...

game between the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

. He would later fill in on Fox's coverage of a Week 8 NFL game between the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

for

Thom Brennaman Thomas Wade Brennaman (born September 12, 1963) is an American television sportscaster, currently the lead announcer for CW Sports college football games. He is the son of former Cincinnati Reds radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman. He served as ...

, who took the place of

Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster for ESPN. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for Fox's Nati ...

while the latter called the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

. Kugler’s role with Fox expanded just before the 2020 season, as he was promoted to regular play-by-play announcer after Brennaman resigned when he made homophobic comments on air during a

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

game. Kugler continued to make appearances on college basketball broadcasts, and fill-in on select MLB games. In December 2022, he got the assignment as the play-by-play announcer at the

game between the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

and the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

on NFL Network.

Personal life

Kugler is a 1994 graduate of the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

College of Journalism."Journalism college to honor alumni, leaders during J Days," University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Tuesday, April 14, 2009.
Retrieved December 28, 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kugler, Kevin American people of German descent American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers College baseball announcers in the United States College basketball announcers in the United States Women's college basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers NFL announcers People from Omaha, Nebraska Living people American golf commentators Houston Texans announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Olympic Games broadcasters University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Year of birth missing (living people)