SOUTH BEND —The next logical step in Caroline Pineda’s broadcast career will take place this fall.
Already a veteran sideline reporter with experience in Big Ten football and basketball, she will handle those duties on four Notre Dame football games on NBC, including the Sept. 6 opener against Wisconsin at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.
She replaces Zora Stephenson, who was in the role for three seasons.
Dan Hicks and Jason Garrett return in the broadcast booth for the Wisconsin game and the afternoon slate at Notre Dame, with NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night crew handling prime-time kickoffs against Michigan State, Miami, and SMU.
“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.”
A 2022 graduate of Notre Dame, Pineda has been part of Peacock’s coverage of Pro Day and the Blue-Gold Game in recent years in South Bend. She considers Mike Tirico one of her mentors and spoke recently with the veteran sportscaster about calling games involving one’s alma mater.
“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 has fond memories of watching NBC’s coverage of Notre Dame football with her mother, also a Notre Dame graduate. Alex Flanagan was NBC’s sideline reporter on its Notre Dame coverage from 2007-13, and Pineda said she has “a lot of memories of watching her and wanting to be just like her.”
Pineda’s post-graduate training includes a summer internship with the Washington Post sports department, where she honed her writing skills, and multiple seasons as a sideline assistant to Melissa Stark on NBC’s Sunday Night NFL package.
“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.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: NBC adds Caroline Pineda as sideline reporter for Notre Dame football
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
