When NBC’s 2018 Winter Olympics primetime coverage began Thursday evening, many longtime viewers noticed a familiar face missing: sportscaster Bob Costas, who has hosted every Olympic Games since 1992.

In his place was Mike Tirico, who joined NBC in 2017 after a long career at ESPN. Tirico previously helped out on Olympic coverage during the 2016 Olympics in Rio, when he had daytime duties and hosted the closing ceremonies.

The move to replace Costas with this specific successor is fitting, since Tirico was the first student to receive the Bob Costas Scholarship at Syracuse University — Costas’s alma mater — back in 1987.

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