Bud Nameck out as voice of the WSU Cougars

Bud Nameck appears to have been fired as the voice of the WSU Cougars, as Cougar IMG Sports Marketing -- the multimedia rights partner of the school -- announced today that Matt Chazanow will take over as the lead broadcaster for football, men's basketball and baseball.

Nameck had been the lead voice WSU men's basketball games for more than 20 years before replacing WSU broadcasting icon Bob Robertson as the lead voice of the football team two seasons ago. Robertson remained in the booth, and will continue to do so with Chazanow. Former WSU QB Jason Gesser, who joined the team last season, also will remain part of the broadcast.

"I have had the best seat in the house for more than 30 years being able to broadcast WSU sports," Nameck said in the release. "I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of Cougar nation. I am grateful to have created Cougar friendships over the years that will last a lifetime."

No other reason was given for Nameck's removal. Chazanow already works for IMG, which likely explains why he was brought in from across the country instead of replacing Nameck with someone with Cougar ties. It's hard to imagine that a guy with such deep ties to the program as Nameck was simply unceremoniously dumped, but that's how it appears at the moment, according to Spokane broadcaster Dennis Patchin:

I talked with Nameck last week and was getting ready for another year. He was #pushedout. #WSU #gocougs. #cantspinthis -Patchin-

— Patchin Lukens Osso (@700espn) July 8, 2015

Here's more on Chazanow, via IMG:

"Matt has tremendous broadcast credentials, including having called hundreds of games on the IMG Network the past seven years," said Chris Ferris, VP of Broadcasting for IMG College. "We're very excited to have a single personality unifying WSU's major sports and contributing to world-class broadcasts. Matt will be a great addition to the Cougar's broadcasting teams."

Chazanow has extensive experience in broadcasting at the highest level of collegiate football, including calling national play-by-play broadcasts for ACC football, Big East and ACC postseason basketball, along with SEC and ACC postseason baseball. As a senior network manager at IMG College in Winston-Salem, N.C., Chazanow has spent the past seven years managing eight IMG college network broadcasts (Washington State, Arizona, Cal, Gonzaga, Oregon, Texas, UCLA and Washington).

Additionally, IMG said that Spokane television broadcaster Derek Deis "will see an expanded role in hosting 'Cougar Calls with Bill Moos' and the Cougar football postgame call-in show while continuing to host the Cougar football pregame road show. He will also now fill-in to call men's basketball and baseball as needed when those seasons overlap."

Here's a sampling of what you'll be getting with Chazanow:

This story was updated at 11:26 a.m. PDT and will continue to be updated as information becomes available.