Liam McHugh

Despite his frequent and popular presence on screen, sports commentator and analyst Liam McHugh hadn't always enjoyed being in front of crowds. In fact, the young McHugh dropped out of a college public speaking class just to avoid the experience. The Long Island native played soccer and baseball in high school. After enrolling at the University of Buffalo as a communications major, McHugh began writing for the school's publication The Spectrum. He would go on to write for Newsday and ESPN Magazine, in addition to picking up a masters in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University. By 2004, McHugh had changed his tune about public speaking, and began covering sports for WTHI in Terre Haute, Indiana. This led to greater and greater exposure for the broadcaster, who eventually found himself joining the four person panel on the sports analysis show "The Daily Line" (Versus Network, 2010). The following year, McHugh began appearing as an analyst for the NHL, hosting every game of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012. He was soon noticed by NBC Sports, where he took on several prestigious duties, including covering the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Following this, he continued to cover college football for NBC, and in November 2012, he hosted NBC Sports Network's Carrier Classic Countdown live on the deck of the USS Bataan. For the 2015-2016 season, McHugh served as Lead Studio Host for Monday afternoon Premier League games. He continued this coverage for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 Premier League seasons whenever he was not providing NHL coverage. In November 2017, it was announced that McHugh would once again take on Olympic Games reporting for NBC, and would oversee primetime and late night coverage on NBCSN for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.