Last month’s news of Dan Wetzel joining ESPN was one of the most surprising media stories of the year. Wetzel had worked at Yahoo Sports as a national columnist since 2003, covering a variety of sports. Wetzel is best known for his coverage of college sports and scandals worldwide. He is also a New York Times best-selling author, screenwriter, executive producer, and podcast host.
In May, he will release his latest children’s book: Epic Athletes: Caitlin Clark. It’s available now for preorder. We recently caught up with Wetzel to chat about his new job, his old job, and why he writes kids’ books about athletes, such as LeBron James, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Steph Curry, Serena Williams, and Simone Biles.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: Why make the move to ESPN?
Dan Wetzel: “I think that with ESPN, the resources they have, the options they have, the platforms, the enormity of the whole thing, I think they are well-positioned going forward in the way media is changing. The more conversations I had with people at ESPN, the more obvious that became. I competed against ESPN for my whole career, so I certainly knew how formidable that is. All that led me to say, ‘OK, now’s a great time to take this terrific opportunity to work at ESPN.”
What kind of work do you hope to do?
“It could be anything from an investigative piece to a column to trend pieces to whatever. It’s an open book. There are just a lot of options to do stuff. You can do pretty much anything there. They’re involved in everything. They do everything well and have talented people doing it. So the ambition, the aggressiveness of which they want to do things was appealing journalistically.”
Any particular areas you want to focus on?
“Good compelling stories, controversy, it could be anything. It could be a feature story. It could be crime reporting. That’s how I’ve done my whole career. I’ve spent weeks in courtrooms covering murder trials. I’ve done investigative reporting. I’ve written long features. I’ve done event coverage. I’ve done instant columns or a beat during the Olympics. I like the variety of doing different stuff. As long as it’s interesting, and it’s interesting to the reader and serves the audience, that’s really what matters.”
You had a popular podcast. Will you have a new one at ESPN?
“I’m looking forward to having an announcement at some point, but nothing I can say right now about it, other than I hear all the people asking. Very devoted fan base. That was hard to discontinue because of the audience we built up at a place that isn’t known for podcasts. That was one of the more fun things we were able to do at Yahoo. I love our audience, and I hear you.”
Was it hard to leave Yahoo Sports?
“I was the first sports writer hired there. A small group of us built the place up: the concept, the brand, the culture. The focus of what Yahoo was didn’t exist before we got there. I think we built a great organization. Leaving, working side by side with people who aren’t just co-workers but lifelong friends, was tough. That was it, the people.”
Is there a story you’re most proud of from your time there?
“It’s not so much one story. It was that we found a way to matter. There’s no earthly reason Yahoo Sports should ever be anything—(no) league rights, not associated with a television network, legacy magazine, or newspaper. It was a search engine and email place. For a long time, we were known for aggressive, independent, creative content that attracted readers, and people understood what we were. At our best, when we were unique and aggressive, I thought we were really good. And we had great staff, and we built that all up.”
What will college sports look like in 10 years?
“It depends on what the leadership decides to listen to. I don’t think anybody could accurately predict that because you don’t know how entrenched things will be. Eventually, I would think they have to make the players employees, but it’s very complicated. Will that happen in the next 10 years? I don’t know. It’s a fascinating thing to chronicle. I certainly have opinions that I often voice on what they should be doing.”
What should the NCAA be doing?
“Well, until they make the players employees, have contracts, and negotiate with them, they’re going to have a lot of things that they don’t like. That’s probably where it leads to. I’m a believer in free markets. I’m fine with how it is right now, with no rules. It doesn’t bother me, but it bothers them. I would do nothing, which they can’t do because these are rule-makers. They like making rules.”
What do you think of the landscape right now?
“There’s change, and that can be hard for fans. Constantly shifting rosters and stuff like that can be a little unnerving, but for the most part, the viewership, the interest (is there), and the competitive balance. Five years ago, there’d be like three teams that could win the football championship.
“The flow of talent in basketball was heavily influenced by two shoe companies for 30 years. Now it isn’t, and you see different teams winning. The University of Houston could not be this good back in the day. A lot of it is how it’s marketed, but when virtually every athletic director, coach, and commissioner is telling the customers how horrible it is, it tends to get in there that this is a problem. I’ve never seen a business that trashes itself more than college basketball. It’s unbelievable.”
How did you become involved in writing children’s books?
“Adults don’t read books. If you want to write a sports book and you’re trying to get your average 45-year-old to buy it, good luck. It’s not easy. The average person reading this has not been in a bookstore in a year. They might buy two or three books, but they’ll buy them for their kids. So that was part of it, the entrepreneurial aspect of going where the audience is.”
Why should someone buy your books?
“They can read about their favorite athletes. The books are focused on the years when they were young. There are a lot of universal themes. (The athletes) may have turned out to be these huge stars, but Serena Williams was once the younger sister who wasn’t as good. Steph Curry was too small. He’ll never be that great. Alex Morgan was cut from her first travel team…
“I don’t know how many fifth or sixth graders you’re around, but there are kids who read tons of books, and then there are kids who don’t read any. I worked on creating books for the kids who generally aren’t necessarily fired up (about) books. They’re good stories. They’re very positive, and we try to make them as exciting as possible.”