Kirk Herbstreit is one of the most recognizable college football analysts in the game. Herbstreit is the game analyst for ABC Saturday Night Football, he’s been there since its debut in 2006.
Currently, Herbstreit is paired with announcer Chris Fowler, but at the beginning, he shared the booth with the legendary Brent Musburger. Herbstreit has been a mainstay on the College GameDay show on ESPN since 1996 as well.
But a year or so ago, Kirk Herbstreit became even more visible in NFL circles. Even after he and Fowler added some NFL games to their resumes for ABC/ESPN, Herbstreit’s role in the NFL recently increased in a big way last year when he was tabbed to analyze Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video.
Kirk Herbstreit built up his credibility in the college football world, by actually playing it at a high level. He was a four-year letterman at Ohio State and the first signee of former coach John Cooper. He was a quarterback on the Buckeyes team from 1989-1992. Herbstreit had to wait his turn, but when it finally came, he took advantage.
During his senior season in 1992, he served as a starter and team captain, and was recognized as team MVP and most motivational player. Herbstreit passed for nearly 2,000 yards that season and led the Buckeyes to a bowl game. They would lose the Citrus Bowl to Georgia.
ROAD TO SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL/THURSDAY NIGHT NFL
Kirk Herbstreit initially broke into the sports media field by hosting local sports talk radio shows in the Columbus area. In 1995, Herbstreit joined ESPN as a college football sideline analyst. Then just a year later he started appearing on College GameDay. Receiving many accolades for his work on the show, he got a chance to get into the booth in 1999. That’s when he joined the network’s Thursday night college football broadcast, calling games with Mike Tirico.
Then in 2006, Herbstreit started working Saturday Night Football on ABC. He called eight Rose Bowl Games and seven BCS National Championships alongside legendary play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger. He now works the Saturday games with Chris Fowler where the two have teamed up to work a College Football Playoff Semifinal game and the College Football National Championship. They both added NFL duties to their resumes during the 2020 season.
Last March, Herbstreit became a very busy guy. He was announced as the new color commentator for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video with Al Michaels. Also last year, Herbstreit agreed to an extension of his contract with ESPN to allow him to continue on GameDay, Saturday Night Football, and the NFL Draft, to go along with his new NFL duties for Amazon.
That double duty had to take a bit of a toll on him. That is three high-level positions that each require attention to detail and lots and lots of preparation. Herbstreit promises this year he’s going to take it a little easier. He’s had a year to get to know the ins and outs of the NFL and has created a nice chemistry with Michaels and the crew on TNF.
Before this season started, Kirk Herbstreit was asked about how he’ll approach this year as opposed to last. His comments appeared in the New York Post in August.
“I’m gonna chill,” Herbstreit said. “Last year, I know I was taking on something that was kind of unprecedented, really, doing an NFL game on a Thursday and then doing a three-hour ‘College GameDay’ studio show at a national level, and then calling a Saturday night game. There’s a lot of preparation.”
A year of doing the “tripleheader”, Herbstreit realized the importance of time management and taking some “me” time too.
“The execution of the actual job and those three gigs for me is fun, if I’ve done my prep, and I’ve built my entire career on being prepared, and having all the answers, and what I learned is I didn’t get to go to dinner with Al, Kaylee [Hartung] and our entire crew enough,” Herbstreit told The Post. “Or just go get a workout. I cannot tell you how much I prepared, because I didn’t want to let anyone down, including myself.”
HERBSTREIT/CONTROVERSY
Just Google, “Herbstreit, controversial comments” and get ready to spend some time looking at articles. It seems to me that most of the time he’s saying something controversial, it is because he loves the game of football so much. That passion makes him passionate and sometimes emotional. It’s raw commentary, coming from the heart, but it’s unfiltered which opens him up to criticism from time to time.
This passion comes out in every broadcast, whether it’s on the set of GameDay or in a booth as a game analyst. Make no mistake, Kirk Herbstreit will tell you what he thinks. His words can stir up emotions in others, like coaches and fan bases. He delivers his commentary without worrying about how they may or may not be taken.
One example of such commentary, on New Year’s Day in 2022, Herbstreit made some strong statements on players who don’t compete in their team’s bowl game, because they don’t mean anything.
“What’s the difference as a player when saying these games are ‘meaningless’ when, Des (Desmond Howard), we played in ‘meaningless’ games,” Herbstreit said. “I mean, I know you guys were here a lot. I just don’t understand. If you don’t make it to the playoff, how is it meaningless to play football and compete? Isn’t that what we do as football players? We compete?” Herbstreit said. “I don’t know if changing it or expanding it is going to change anything. I really don’t. I just think this era of player just doesn’t love football.”
Of course, that sparked a heated debate on social media. Some fans agree and think players need to be thankful they can play another game. Others think players having agency over their own futures is a good thing. It prompted Herbstreit to clarify his position on social media that same day.
“Just wanted to clarify some of my comments from earlier today. Of course, some players love the game the same today as ever,” he wrote on then Twitter. “But some don’t. I’ll always love the players of this game and sorry if people thought I generalized or lumped them all into one category.”
Polarizing, or controversial thoughts aren’t always a bad thing in sports. They certainly grab headlines, get attention, and get people talking on both sides of the issue. But, if you’re going to make the statements, you have to own them and at times walk them back. Herbstreit does.
WHY IS HE SO GOOD
I’ve already mentioned one of Herbstreit’s best qualities and that’s his passion for the sport. Any play-by-play announcer will tell you that an analyst who loves the sport he’s calling makes for a great broadcast. Herbstreit combines a knowledge of the teams he’s calling and an ability to make sense of things that take place during the game. Not every former player has that ability.
Kirk Herbstreit is a guy that fans either seem to like or really do not like. While he may come across as a little cocky at times, I don’t think he really acts like the all-knowing analyst he’s accused of being by some. I’m a fan of the way he teaches the game and goes in-depth on plays that happened. There is nothing ‘routine’ about the way Herbstreit calls a game. If you’re expecting the same ‘run of the mill’ commentary or answers, you’ll be disappointed. Viewers aren’t though, because Herbstreit deals in reality and if it’s a bad play, he’s going to tell you and explain why.
He and Chris Fowler are a great team, each gets the best out of the other. I’ve enjoyed watching Herbstreit with Michaels as well. It can be intimidating for an analyst to work with a long-time, big-name play-by-play guy, but he elevates to the occasion. You can hear the enjoyment, even when he’s being critical, from Herbstreit during a game broadcast. A play-by-play announcer can feed off of that energy in trying to match it. When the analyst takes it to the next level, the PBP announcer will as well. That makes for a great partnership and broadcast.
DID YOU KNOW
Herbstreit met his wife Alison at Ohio State, where she was a cheerleader. They were married in 1998 and have four sons.
Herbstreit was featured prominently in How We Lookin’?, a documentary about the life and career of longtime Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman.
He will be inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame this winter for his broadcasting of the game. Kirk Herbstreit never got a chance to play in the game, he will be calling his 16th Rose Bowl Game, which is the most ever, coming up on January 1st, 2024.
