During its heyday, ESPN was not only home to the biggest stars in sports media but also a fertile ground for the development of great young broadcasters.
The Worldwide Leader plucked local sports anchors, newspaper reporters, radio hosts, and, of course, retired athletes, from their jobs in cities around the country and gave them the resources and platform to level up. That is how a young jabberer from Portland named Colin Cowherd became the biggest radio host in America and how college coaches like Lee Corso and Dick Vitale became household names.
As more Americans cut the cord and ESPN (and other media companies) shrink, this pipeline has weakened. Since the departure of the former president, John Skipper, known for his passion for journalism and creative content, the drop-off has been even more noticeable. Under Jimm Pitaro this decade, it has been more common to see ESPN poach or license the best content from rival networks or independent shops than to see a new voice come into its own through the Bristol system.
And so, mainly by its own doing, ESPN has developed a reputation for no longer incubating broadcasting stars. The headline-makers on its airwaves today come from Barstool, Omaha, TNT, or the Thunderdome. In many cases, this is true.
Yet each time ESPN has had a critical opening this year — building up Monday Night Football, replacing Elle Duncan on women’s basketball, or replacing Molly Qerim on First Take — it has quickly promoted a strong candidate from within. The network is smaller overall, but between its second-tier networks, its digital shows, and its variety of SportsCenters, it is still going strong; there is still quite a strong crop of homegrown talent on the come-up.
Laura Rutledge
Look no further than the fact that Rutledge has continued to host SEC Network’s Saturday-morning pregame show to see how important the place was to her growth. Coming up down south, Rutledge has developed into one of ESPN’s most reliable hosts and reporters, whether in game coverage on Monday Night Football and the College Football Playoff or the NFL Live studio. After a period in which the network gave most of its most prominent NFL hosting roles to veterans like Mike Greenberg and Scott Van Pelt, it seems like a no-brainer that Rutledge will be up next.
Malika Andrews
Opposite Rutledge on the NBA side is Andrews, who moved quickly from a regional NBA print reporter to ESPN’s signature basketball host. Using the opportunity afforded by traveling to the NBA Bubble in 2020, Andrews broke news around the league, scored news-making interviews, and proved adept at running point during the network’s notoriously fast-moving NBA broadcasts. Next, she looks set to take over for Elle Duncan as the top host on WNBA coverage.
Shae Peppler Cornette
It was quite a year for Cornette, who began her breakout with nimble coverage of the blockbuster Luka Doncic trade late at night during an early-February SportsCenter and finished it with a promotion to ESPN’s signature daytime show in First Take. That New York City desk opposite Stephen A. Smith has proven to be a remarkable career booster for all those who have sat in it, and Cornette appears to have the talent to continue that trend.
Richard Jefferson
Soon after retiring from the NBA, Jefferson — who had already launched his own popular podcast — became a fixture in ESPN’s NBA coverage, both in the studio and on the call. Before long, the goofy journeyman rose to the network’s No. 3 broadcast booth alongside his buddy JJ Redick. And now, Jefferson is set to call his second NBA Finals next spring (and the podcast, an independent project, isn’t doing too badly either).
Dan Orlovsky
When he isn’t calling games from Monstropolis, Orlovsky is probably ESPN’s highest-volume NFL analyst. If you were to sit at a bar all day with both ESPN networks on the TV screens above, you might see Orlovsky more than any other person. The former journeyman quarterback took advantage of his proximity to Bristol as a UConn alum and rode viral social media breakdowns to a full-time role on NFL Live and the No. 2 broadcast booth.
Matt Barrie
More than just a SportsCenter host, Barrie has patiently risen to become one of the top anchors on ESPN’s college football coverage. Hosting the gameday studio as well as his own podcast (and its viral weekly episodes with Paul Finebaum) and other odds and ends, Barrie has put himself in a prime position to level up once again when Rutledge, Finebaum, Rece Davis, or any number of other ESPN vets move onward or upward.
Field Yates
For Yates, opportunity has come through a willingness to try new things. Few other reporters can match the scope of Yates’s resume, which includes time in two NFL front offices, blogging, beat reporting, fantasy analysis, podcast hosting, and anchoring at the NFL Draft. Yates clearly lives and breathes football and has worked hard enough to earn a top perch on the network’s increasingly crowded NFL broadcast roster.
Jess Sims
Sure, Sims brought name recognition and significant media experience to Bristol when she came over from Peloton. But the history of hosts and reporters who transition from other walks of life has just as many misses as hits. Sims has seized her opportunity on College GameDay and beyond, even graduating to at-bats on Good Morning America in recent years.
Marcus Spears
Another SEC Network product, Spears is far more than just another LSU and Cowboys product on-air. Blending his big personality with sharp NFL analysis, Spears has become one of the more recognizable faces of ESPN’s football coverage across MNF and nearly all of the network’s studio shows.
Chiney Ogwumike
Like Orlovsky, Ogwumike took full advantage of her proximity to Bristol during her playing career to launch a promising tenure at ESPN. Then she proved to be more than just a women’s basketball analyst, seamlessly joining the network’s radio lineup and NBA roster. Capable as either a host or an analyst, Ogwumike brings a unique energy and flair on-air that cuts through.
Andraya Carter
Ogwumike’s tag-team partner is yet another product of SEC Network who quickly graduated beyond niche college coverage to many of ESPN’s biggest basketball broadcasts of the year. A former Tennessee basketball player, Carter is a fixture on the WNBA and NCAA women’s studio shows. She has also hosted the WNBA Draft, served as an analyst on the NBA Draft desk, and gone to blows with Smith and Co. on First Take.
Greg McElroy
Sticking in the South, we arrive at McElroy. And while former Alabama stars are fixtures across sports and media, McElroy is one of the most prominent. McElroy previously paired with Spears on a daytime SEC Network show before joining Sean McDonough to form one of ESPN’s top college football broadcast tandems. Now, McElroy hosts a growing college football podcast for ESPN and Omaha and appears to be a sort of Kirk-Herbstreit-in-waiting for the network — unless he gets stolen by a different network.
Gary Striewski
In a different age, Striewski would have been known by every sports fan in America. The dwindling footprint of SportsCenter means Striewski doesn’t occupy quite that perch at ESPN, but he clearly is someone the network is invested in. Striewski co-helms the morning SC as well as a condensed version on Disney+. Previously, he also cohosted Elle Duncan’s podcast, where he got to let loose and be more opinionated. Perhaps more importantly than all of that, Striewski boasts more than 400,000 combined followers across Instagram and TikTok, where he shares behind-the-scenes content and humorous sports videos.
Emily Kaplan
Finally, an opportunity to shout out Around the Horn. The panel show may have outlived its relevance or structure, but it used to be one of the primary engines for talent development at ESPN. Without it, the network risks not having a place for someone like Kaplan to grow. The NHL reporter has gradually taken on more work over time and now serves as one of the only female insiders in sports media on ESPN’s NHL coverage.
Monica McNutt
While many sports fans might link McNutt with her WNBA debates on First Take, the former college hooper keeps busy at ESPN. An ACC Network product, McNutt calls games, reports from the NBA Draft, and works as a studio analyst across men’s, women’s, pro, and college basketball. Now, she is also the primary New York Knicks game analyst on the radio — a sign she is just getting started.
Andrew Hawkins
Another place where ESPN has developed new talent lately is SportsCenter on Snapchat, where Hawkins got his start. The former NFL wideout is a busy man with an approachable aura on-air, giving him a perspective unlike many former athletes who seek to lead with storytelling or strategy. Hawkins has quietly become a mainstay on Get Up and NFL Live, and the future is bright.
Many other homegrown ESPN stars have also left to build up competing networks, including Duncan, Dianna Russini, and Udonis Haslem. Mainstream sports media still goes through ESPN, even when it comes to rising, young talent. The pipeline may not be overflowing as it once was, when everyone from Greg Gumbel to Robin Roberts to Craig Kilborn to Rich Eisen passed through SportsCenter. But ESPN continues to identify and reward promising young talent, delivering strong reporting, commentary, and hosting, even to younger sports fans.
The biggest knock on the Worldwide Leader when it comes to its pipeline is, as former ESPNer Bomani Jones pointed out this week, that it has so few opportunities for talent to get reps and improve. The company has made radio almost an afterthought while still refusing to embrace the brand and revenue potential of podcasting fully. After the cancellation of ATH and the replacement of many shows with sport-specific fare or licensed retreads, ESPN simply does not produce many shows these days.
Of course, this is expensive. But given how successful relatively cheap SEC Network content or Snapchat videos have been for ESPN, it is hard not to see ditching original programming as a missed opportunity, even if the goal is purely to maximize viewership for a few marquee daytime shows and live sports during the evenings and weekends.
The sterling roster listed above ensures ESPN is in a great place for years to come. But it also serves as a reminder to think creatively about how to keep nurturing early-career broadcasters, talented people who are not yet on ESPN’s radar, who will continue to replenish that roster in the future.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.