Instead of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, as it’s been known for so long, there was a time where it could’ve been The Dan Le Batard Show with Greg Cote.
On Tuesday’s edition of South Beach Sessions, Le Batard revealed that the Miami Herald sports columnist was originally his top pick for a co-host.
“I wanted to do this show with you,” Le Batard said. “I went to you and asked you to do this show – and they were going to pay you a good amount of money to do this show – and you were going to be Stugotz before Stugotz. You were choice number one.”
But Cote at that time felt like it was more important to be available for his son Christopher, who was playing high school baseball.
“The timing was just wrong,” Cote said. “When I look back at it, I should be thinking I made a bad choice. But I’m not. In some ways, I did make a bad choice professionally. Being here and making all that money and having Stugotz’s fame, versus being in a little press box as big as this studio broadcasting my kid’s high school games. Seemed like a good idea at the time. But I don’t regret that. I just don’t, because the kids grow up so fast.”
“It flies by so fast that I just wanted to be a part of that,” he added.
Le Batard understood Cote’s decision, but noted that in hindsight, Greg missed out on a golden opportunity.
“You wanted to be on the dugout for his high school games, introducing the hitters,” Le Batard said. “That’s the choice you made. Instead of international fame and glory – the microphone that would serve you for 20 years in Stugotz’s role – with me doing none of the ad reads so he could get all the money. All of that could’ve been yours, and instead you chose a microphone over a dugout for a 7-9 plantation team.”
Cote joked that looking back, his son’s team wasn’t all that good.
“And they weren’t even a great team! What was I doing?” he said. “But I enjoyed it.”
