NBC is turning to a familiar face for its Notre Dame football sideline work this fall.
Caroline Pineda will take over those duties for four Notre Dame games on NBC, beginning with the Sept. 6 opener against Wisconsin at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. She steps into the role after Zora Stephenson held it for the previous three seasons.
The NBC broadcast team for that Wisconsin matchup will feature Dan Hicks and Jason Garrett in the booth, while NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night crew will handle the prime-time games against Michigan State, Miami and SMU.
Pineda, a 2022 Notre Dame graduate, said the assignment carries special meaning. “Everyone who knows me knows how much I love college football,” Pineda told the South Bend Tribune in a phone interview.
“I’m so honored and thrilled to get to do more games for NBC. Watching Notre Dame on NBC made me want to be a reporter, and then while I was a student, Notre Dame on NBC taught me how to be a reporter.”
She has already been part of NBC’s and Peacock’s South Bend coverage, including Pro Day and the Blue-Gold Game in recent years. Pineda also said she recently spoke with Mike Tirico about the challenge of covering a school you attended.
“It was really helpful to get Mike’s perspective on that as someone who has covered his own alma mater with Syracuse,” Pineda said. “I’ve worked with him when he’s covered Notre Dame vs.
Syracuse (in 2020). There’s certainly a lot of nuance and it’s something that I’m very intentional about.
“I also think it’s neat when (ESPN’s) Scott Van Pelt talks about Maryland, for example. He says, ‘Everyone’s from somewhere, and I’m from here.’ My team now is NBC, and that’s who I represent in this job as well.”
Growing up in Albuquerque, NM, Pineda watched NBC’s Notre Dame broadcasts with her mother, who also graduated from Notre Dame. She said Alex Flanagan’s work as NBC’s sideline reporter from 2007-13 left a lasting impression.
“I have a lot of memories of watching her and wanting to be just like her.”
Pineda’s path to this point included a summer internship with the Washington Post sports department, where she developed her writing, along with multiple seasons as a sideline assistant to Melissa Stark on NBC’s Sunday Night NFL package.
She also said the people she worked with at Notre Dame helped shape her career.
“I was so fortunate to work as Kathryn Tappen’s sideline assistant (on Notre Dame games) when I was a student,” Pineda said. “She taught me so much about the job and everything that goes into it. And then I also got to work with and become friends with Zora Stephenson, who I’ve learned so much from as well.
“It’s such an honor to follow in all of their footsteps, but really so many of my early memories of Notre Dame on NBC were narrated by Alex Flanagan. Watching her is what made me want to pursue this. It feels like a very full-circle moment for me.”
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