James Laurinaitis is done with radio, at least for now. He will exit 97.1 The Fan in Columbus at the end of the week to enter the college football coaching ranks.
Laurinaitis is set to join Marcus Freeman’s staff at Notre Dame. The two were teammates at Ohio State from 2005 until 2009. A source told Adam Rittenberg that Laurinaitis will likely serve as an analyst.
“With your best friend getting the head-coaching job, it’s a pretty unique situation and a pretty awesome opportunity to get up there and get started in the profession,” James Laurinaitis said.
While at Ohio State, both the broadcaster and the Notre Dame coach were linebackers. When their college days were over, Laurinaitis went onto the NFL and then eventually into sports talk radio, while Marcus Freeman went into coaching, serving as an assistant at Ohio State, Kent State, Purdue, and Cincinnati before joining Brian Kelly’s staff at Notre Dame and eventually being tapped to replace Kelly as the head coach when his boss left South Bend for Baton Rouge.
James Laurinaitis began his broadcasting career in 2017. He joined the Big Ten Network that year as an analyst. The next year, he joined the staff at 97.1 The Fan.
He and Beau Bishop have enjoyed tremendous ratings success together. That includes the summer book of 2021, where the pair posted a 12.5 rating in the 9-noon slot with the target demo.
Listeners and colleagues lined up on social media with well-wishes. Todd Markiewicz joked that everyone at 97.1 The Fan is rooting for James Laurinaitis to find success, just not right away.
Notre Dame and Ohio State meet in Columbus to open the 2022 college football season on September 3.
