The recent end of SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett’s run at ESPN didn’t mean his career was finished.
A week removed from his final broadcast alongside longtime co-anchor Stan Verrett, Everett told Dan Patrick it was time for him to go. He added Dan’s level of success on TV and in radio since leaving the network in 2007 was reassuring.
“I didn’t want ESPN to be my last chapter,” he said. “Once again you showed all of us that you could leave ESPN and still not only survive but thrive doing something else. But it is tough jumping off that cliff.”
“Because those four letters are so powerful, and you could hide behind them,” Patrick responded. “And you had ESPN muscles there.”
Neil was asked about Everett and Verrett being the last-known anchor teams on SportsCenter. Dan wondered if it was being discouraged by network higher ups.
“Those are decisions that are made with guys who had offices in Bristol. Not guys who had cubes in Los Angeles,” Everett said.
But Neil added that it was Patrick and former co-anchor Keith Olbermann who were a source of inspiration for how he and Verrett did their show.
“Stan and I looked up to you and Keith and we tried to emulate you in the ways that we could and have a camaraderie and bring entertainment,” he said. “And do the highlights the way that we grew up watching them. And hopefully we succeeded in that.”
