Who Is Dianna Russini?

Like Vrabel, Russini is a major player in the world of sports. All-State in basketball, softball, soccer and track at New Jersey’s Northern Valley Regional High School, she spent four years on the pitch at George Mason University. (Though, as she noted in a 2017 interview with USA Today High School Sports, soccer wasn’t her “best sport in high school; track was.”)

Following reporting gigs in Westchester, New York City and Seattle, Russini, 43, was drafted to work as a sports anchor for NBC News, in West Hartford, Conn. and Washington, D.C. 

Starting in 2015, she began suiting up as a SportsCenter anchor.

Asked her best advice for young reporters, she told SportsCenter’s Madelyn Burke in a February chat, “I would say to just be relentless. I think, when I look at the times that I really took a step forward, I always was uncomfortable. I was always uncomfortable and just kept going. I didn’t let anyone stop me.” 

By making big plays, like the time she “cold called” NFL coach Bill Parcells, Russini continued, “If you just keep believing in yourself, people around you start believing and sometimes that can really help take you to the next place that you want to be.”