Is legendary sportscaster Jim Nantz retiring? Looking back at words which wrapped up his final March Madness game

As March Madness reached its conclusion, there were some extra tugs on the heartstrings. Legendary announcer Jim Nantz said his goodbyes on the airways as he called his final college basketball game on Monday night.

"One thing I learned from all of this is everybody has a dream and everybody has a story to tell," Jim Nantz said. "Just try to find that story. Be kind. ... Thank you for being my friend."

Nantz is one of the best announcers to ever do it and is responsible for a number of famous calls. He has been CBS's lead play-by-play broadcaster since 1991 and has called every title game since that point.

Is Jim Nantz retiring?

While he is stepping away from the college basketball scene, Nantz is not fully retiring. The 63-year-old will continue to be active in calling NFL games and will officially be on the call for the 2023 Masters.

The CBS star acknowledged that he recently signed a long-term extension to continue calling NFL games and does not intend to step away from this anytime soon. However, the hectic March Madness schedule, which involves calling 15 NCAA Tournament games in the span of 23 days, is too much for him at this stage in his career.

Nantz elected to prioritize spending time with his family rather than continuing to be absorbed in the college basketball scene. CBS has labeled Ian Eagle as the person who will fill his legendary shoes and become the main play-by-play figure. Eagle is a familiar face as he has been calling games since 1998 and has been the No. 2 play-by-play guy for the past few years.

Even still, it will be difficult to capture the moment the way Nantz has throughout his broadcasting career, and Eagle will be further under the microscope. Nantz's voice has nearly become synonymous with college basketball, as he has called 355 broadcasts and 32 Final Fours during his career.

The heartfelt goodbye is as perfect of an exit as Nantz could have had, with the emotions shown on the broadcast were much more than are typically seen from an announcer. This endearing quality is part of what made his persona grow and people look forward to hearing him.

There will never be another Jim Nantz, and college basketball will be transitioning to a new voice. It is great that he will still be active in announcing, but there will surely be a different tune to next year's final calls.