SOUTH BEND —In nearly four decades at ESPN, Tim Corrigan has worked hundreds of major events as a sports television producer.
The former Notre Dame lacrosse midfielder (and younger brother of Irish lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan) recently returned to Indiana for Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Since graduating from Notre Dame in 1986 with an economics degree, Corrigan, 62, has worked behind the scenes on everything from NFL and college football telecasts to NBA, WNBA and college basketball; America’s Cup sailing, World Cup soccer, French Open tennis, Major League Lacrosse, the Olympic trials and the Winter/Summer X Games.
Best known for his work on the NBA, Corrigan is producing his 18th consecutive NBA Finals for the network. He is a two-time Emmy winner and a four-time Cable Ace Award winner.
Set to move into an oversight role once the Finals end, ESPN’s senior vice president of sports production covered a wide range of topics in a recent phone interview with the South Bend Tribune:
On Kevin Corrigan’s sideline demeanor
“Kev is an entertaining guy on the sidelines, man. You see the competitive nature of him by the passion of what he wears on his sleeve, which is great. He’s there to do a job and to win. And then if you look deeper around what he’s doing and what he’s done, you have to have nothing but admiration for his teams, the way they play, the way they carry themselves, the level they compete at, all his success, which we’re so thrilled he’s won a couple championships. But if he never won a championship, what he’s built and what he’s done, just incredible. And it speaks to who he is.”
On how far Notre Dame lacrosse has come since Tim Corrigan played (1984-86)
“We played actually in the same area. That used to be a turf field out there. It was a passionate group of people who played it and would come watch us. It’s certainly nothing like what they did at Arlotta now. The whole sport was in a different place. Kevin came in right after our group and he brought a whole different passion and energy. Even the guys that I played with, Kevin knows them all and they all freaking love and respect him. I don’t think he’d put any of us on his team, that’s for sure. (laughs) We’re all just so proud to be associated with it.”
On what’s most impressive about Notre Dame lacrosse today
“How he carries that program. Character, culture, community are the things that they stand for besides what they do on the field. They’re a handful on the field with just how they play and how difficult they make the game for their opponent. What he’s built over time, it’s one of the premier places without question to go and play, and it’s because of what he and everyone that’s been part of his team – because again, it comes back to team. He’s just been the leader of that. Everybody preaches it, everybody believes it, and then it’s an amazing thing that he came in and built to what they are four decades later. It’s really incredible.”
On if there’s an NBA coach comparison for Kevin Corrigan
“He has a lot of the traits that great coaches have. He has a vision for what he’s doing, he cares deeply about the players and the coaches and everyone around the program. He has this thought about how they’re going to play and how they’re going to carry themselves and what they’re going to do. He’s smart as hell. He just gets great joy out of doing it. … He’s gone to a bunch of different practices over the years for all sorts of different sports, either at Notre Dame or other places in the United States with great successful coaches to just see what they do and how they do it and how to learn from them.”
On meeting with NBA coaches before every game
“That’s been one of the things, to be honest with you, doing this job, that I’ve enjoyed the most. … Seeing these coaches in these moments, whether it’s a preseason game or an NBA Finals game, the poise and the preparation and how they manage whatever situation they’re in is incredible. Having been around leaders like that and learning from leaders like that, it’s something I take great stock in and I know Kevin (Corrigan) has done the same thing. That’s something I’ve absolutely taken from just being around leaders like that and what they do and how they manage things. You can learn a lot by listening.”
On former NBA analyst and NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy
“Jeff is a basketball savant. I’m just telling you. The things he sees and knows and recognizes, he reminds me of Kevin (Corrigan) in a lot of ways. They’re both smart as whips and are very humble in what they do and really go about things in an amazing way of impacting people and making things better.”
On showing courtside celebrities during the telecast
“How cool was that? Reggie (Miller) and the Big O (Oscar Robertson) sitting right together (for Game 3)? … If you’re in LA or New York or places like that, it’s big-time industry celebrities who are there who are kings of whatever they do. Having the former Pacers around the court, who all came back to be part of this moment, you see that in Boston, when all the Celtic greats come back. That’s really fun to see. Each environment that you’re in, what does that environment mean to that town and that team and everything else is really cool. The most enjoyable part too is when they all are courtside, at the end of the day they’re fans. As the building is going nuts about what just happened, they are too. What’s better than getting lost in a game for a couple hours with something that you really care about? I love it because I think it makes our coverage more memorable and interesting and fun. We’re in the entertainment business too, so I think that’s part of it.”
On ESPN’s updated mobile production unit
“In the course of time of doing this, it’s changed so much. A lot of the technology and the production trucks we’re using now are ones that were just built. The truck we have here (in Indianapolis) is called Flagship. It was built for things like the Super Bowl in (2027) and the NBA Finals and major events like the College Football Playoff championship, things that we’re going to do at ESPN. The space from what it was when I started producing games 35 years ago in these super-tight, no-room-to-breathe mobile units to where we are now, it’s amazing. There is plenty of space. We’ve come a long way with that. Just the monitoring of what we can do and all the technology that goes with the entire event is so different than when I started. It has improved so dramatically. I’ve got plenty of shelf space now.”
On bucket-list events he has yet to work or attend
“It’s funny. I’m curious to see where it goes with potentially being involved in some other things. For the last almost quarter century it’s been the NBA and the WNBA, but before that I’ve done all the sports and was excited about launching things like the X-Games and being part of that team, bringing the World Cup the first time (in 1994). Events like that are a little different. The fun thing for me the last couple years is I got to go to Augusta two years ago, just as a fan, which was great, and I’m going to Wimbledon this year as a fan, which for me were a couple bucket-list things that maybe I wasn’t going to get to do. I can maybe go and start enjoying a few more things not producing them but being a fan a little bit. At the end of this, all of us on the inside, it’s about our love of all these sports and these incredible places where these events take place.”
On working with longtime NBA play-by-play voice Mike Breen
“Mike and I, it’s been incredible. We can complete each other’s sentences. And so many things that happen with anybody who you become attached with like that in pretty intense moments sometimes. And all the time we spent away from actually doing this job has brought us closer together as well, just as friends and far more than colleagues.”
On the short list of lead analysts on ESPN’s NBA telecasts
“Mark (Jackson) and Jeff (Van Gundy) are two guys who I will always admire, and the relationship we have and all the things I learned from them about leadership. Mark is a point guard, man, in every sense of the word. He walks in a room and sees everything and feels that and he’s used to having the ball in his hands and making decisions. We really hit it off from the beginning about that.
“Doris (Burke), a Hall of Famer. No one has kicked down more doors and earned — and I mean earned — everything she’s gotten. To be doing this with Doris now is an absolute thrill for me, for Mike, for all of us because we’re just so proud of her and so thrilled with how good she is at her job.
“Whether it was Doc (Rivers) coming through or JJ (Redick), who was a blast to work with, and now Richard (Jefferson), who is an emerging star in this television space in ways beyond just calling games, you ultimately get close because you work with people in really interesting, intense, highs/lows moments. But then you spend a lot of time in between that together. We’ve all really enjoyed each other. It’s just been a real pleasure.”
On working with just two directors in two decades of NBA Finals
“Jimmy (Moore) and I did 15 Finals together before he retired. I could not have possibly asked for a better partner to do this with. Jimmy had started his career as a technical director, so he always was on top of all technology and all those things, in addition to being such a perfectionist with everything. That’s what you want with you. We would do a game and we’d do what we would consider a pretty good job on the game. And by the next time we both met to talk about it, we’d both have a couple pages on a pad, full of things we could do better. I always loved that about Jimmy. We’re all kind of chasing that perfect event, perfect show that we’re never going to get to. Even the ones that you felt really good about, there was always, ‘We could do this better; we could do this better.’ I think we shared that real intense approach to trying to make things better all the time.”
On working with current ESPN NBA director Mike Schwab
“When Jimmy left, Mike came in, and my first thing to Mike was, ‘Here’s the good news for you: Nothing’s broke. We’re not trying to fix anything that Jimmy wasn’t doing to make it better.’ Like anything, when you bring in somebody, they’re going to have ideas and they’re going to have things they see and ways they see things. Mike has been a great breath of fresh air to come in and sit in that chair. We have 46 cameras here and over 100 channels of replay. The decision-making and the timing and the pace, all those things, to find a rhythm together… Funny enough, Mike and I did Thursday Night Football 30 years ago together with Mike Tirico, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso. So, we had a history. To reconnect and do this together now all these years later, we found our pace pretty quickly. It’s just been great. Mike has done an amazing job.”
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: Q&A: Longtime ESPN/ABC sports producer Tim Corrigan played lacrosse at Notre Dame
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
