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No emotional farewell for stubborn Packer

Neil Best

July 15, 2008

Billy Packer worked his first Final Four when seniors still starred in them and John Wooden still coached UCLA.

So when Packer's extraordinary run officially ended yesterday, surely he was philosophical, or wistful, or angry, or ... something?

That would not be Packer, though.

Sticking stubbornly to his famed stubbornness, the former NBC and now former CBS analyst would not acknowledge it was an emotional moment for him.

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"It just isn't," he said from his home in North Carolina. "I've never looked upon stuff like that."

Um, how about a favorite game or other memory? No dice. And there will be no book, either.

"I have things I want to do that are more productive than writing books, " he said.

Packer, 68, would not say what those things are, but he is working on "some business projects involving basketball" and he hopes to announce one in September.

The circumstances of his departure were as unconventional as his reaction.

Although he said he remains enthusiastic and engaged on the job, he had not anticipated filling it through the end of CBS' deal with the NCAA in 2014.

Thus there was an understanding that when CBS was ready to move on, Packer would be, too. About a year ago, the network told him it wanted to give studio analyst Clark Kellogg, 47, a shot.

Packer had only one condition before his final season: that no announcement be made so he could avoid a "go-away" tour.

The plan was to reveal the news this summer, but not this week. Then the Miami Herald reported it, and that was that.

"It's about the guys that play the game, the coaches that coach it," Packer said. "I didn't want anything to take away from that in any way, shape or form."

True to his controversial, bluntly honest form, though, Packer created a stir in the national semifinals when he declared the Kansas-North Carolina game "over" in the first half.

Kansas did win, but it had to hang on during a furious second-half rally by the Tar Heels.

Packer was not at his best in the title game, lapsing into tangential historical references and failing to offer detailed analysis of Memphis' failure to foul late in regulation before Kansas' tying three-pointer. (Kellogg animatedly discussed that subject in the studio.)

Given the decision a year ago that this would be his 34th and final Final Four, Packer's performance apparently did not lead to his departure. But it did illustrate that perhaps it was time for a change.

Packer didn't necessarily agree, or disagree. As usual, he was pragmatic.

"It's a good move for CBS and a good move for me," he said.

Packer, a star guard at Wake Forest, joined NBC's Final Four coverage team in 1975 and later famously worked at that network with Dick Enberg and Al McGuire. He joined CBS in 1982. His trademark was his ability to anticipate and explain strategy.

He did express emotion in recalling people he has worked with over the years. And he did admit to one regret: failing to get the powers-that-be to protect a game whose quality of play he thinks has deteriorated over the decades.

But he also believes the entertainment value of college hoops and the environment surrounding it never has been better.

Jim Nantz, his partner since 1991, made a plea at a pre-NCAA Tournament media event for Packer to be elected to the Hall of Fame, as his contemporary and temperamental opposite Dick Vitale later was.

"He is the ultimate curator protecting the integrity of the sport," Nantz said in a news release. "Fans don't realize they owe Billy a thank-you."