This year saw a lot of change for ESPN College GameDay, particularly with the addition of Pat McAfee. McAfee’s presence on the show drew a lot of criticism from many of its ongoing fans, and that led to him saying at times he wasn’t sure if he would return. But on Friday’s show, he indicated he’ll be back for 2024:
Here are more comments from McAfee, via that Athlon Sports piece from Joe Vitale:
“I pride myself on being a good locker room guy, good vibes guy, good energy guy, which is why it is becoming something where it’s like, every single Saturday, do I want to read — because I’m on the internet a lot. We’re an internet show. So I’m like on there. People are like, ‘Don’t read your mentions.’ It’s like, ‘I have to.’ It’s part of our job,” McAfee said. “It’s like, these college fans are awesome, they’re phenomenal, they’re incredibly passionate. But man, that negativity — normally when I get dropped into a new show like the WWE, that negativity is like three months. They hate my life, they hate my — they hate everything about me. And then they’re like, ‘You know what? This guy, not that bad.’
“How about this? I’m back. I don’t love it. I don’t love that my life is just going to continue to have people telling me to run into oncoming traffic, swallow a barrel.”
As per Vitale’s piece, which also came after Kirk Herbstreit told McAfee “If you dare even think of leaving College GameDay, I’m leaving with you. I am. I am. I’m dead serious,” and McAfee responded with a Talladega Nights reference of “Don’t you put that on me!” It’s interesting to see Herbstreit be that adamant about McAfee staying, but that fits with the way McAfee’s GameDay coworkers have defended him so far. And this even brought up thoughts of the 1991 movie Backdraft for some:
But what’s maybe more interesting still is to see McAfee say he’ll return to GameDay despite that crowd reaction, which he’s previously admitted has bothered him at times. He doesn’t sound entirely thrilled about that, but it is notable to hear him discuss that he thinks he wins critics over with time. We’ll see if that happens with GameDay.