Report: Ridgewood Native Willie Geist the New Co-Host of NBC's 'Today' Show

Native Ridgewood son Willie Geist has been selected as the new co-host on the Today Show, according to a report in Tuesday's New York Times.

Citing an anonymous source, the Times's Media Decoder blog reports Geist will be handling co-hosting duties with Matt Lauer at 9 a.m. but still retaining a role on Morning Joe during the 6 a.m. hour. Geist will be Lauer's primary backup

He will cease hosting his 30-minute program, Way Too Early Show on MSNBC, according to the report.

Geist, a co-host on Morning Joe since 2007, grew up in the village and was a star athlete in football and basketball during his time at Ridgewood High School, where he graduated in 1993.

The son of CBS News correspondent Bill Geist, Willie married Christina Sharkey in 2003, the girl he'd met in Ms. Kaplan's George Washington Middle School homeroom on the first day of sixth grade.

"He noticed her right away," a New York Times report from their 2003 wedding notes. "She, however, had eyes for the dimpled hottie named [Mark] Kossick, who would later be the best man at her wedding."

During his youth, he was a pizza delivery boy for Renato's Pizza, and also worked as a landscaper, he previously told Patch. His sister Libby is a documentary film producer for ESPN.

Willie was in Ridgewood last fall as the MC of the Ridgewood Library Foundation's Stetson Gala Ball. He lives in New York City and has two children.

NBC is expected to announce the move this week, according to the Times.