Pat McAfee’s True Character Shines With Kirk Herbstreit Story originally appeared on The Spun.
Pat McAfee is one of the most beloved figures in sports media in 2025.
The former NFL punter turned sports media personality is among the most popular at ESPN. McAfee’s show airs daily on ESPN and he’s become a massive part of the network’s college football coverage, starring on ESPN’s “College GameDay.” Kirk Herbstreit, who has been with the ESPN college football pregame show for some 30 years, credits McAfee with keeping him around.
Advertisement
Herbstreit’s commitment to the show had been waning as his schedule got busier – he’s doing the NFL for Amazon Prime , too – but McAfee’s addition helped reinvigorate him.
“Everyone I started with on the show except Lee Corso is gone – behind the scenes, on the camera, behind the camera. Other than Lee, a lot of people are gone. So when I was at Year 25, Year 26, doing now Amazon, doing the Saturday night game, I love GameDay but do I really want to keep doing it? I love Rece and Dez and Coach. I love everybody, but it’s tiring. And then Pat’s energy has really changed my view on that. Then you bring Saban in, you couldn’t pull me off College GameDay right now. A lot of that has to do with the overall vibe of that show,” he admitted before the 2024 season.
Feb 7, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Pat McAfee on the Pat McAfee Show set on Radio Row at the Super Bowl LIX media center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Herbstreit doesn’t shy away from praising McAfee, who played in the NFL from 2009-16.
Advertisement
This week, Herbstreit shared a cool story about McAfee that proved what kind of person he is. He shared a story about McAfee on Next Man Up, a YouTube show with comedian John Crist.
“Budget is always a big thing in our industry, and they were trying to cut back on certain things, they made an announcement that they were gonna cut back on this, cut back on that,” Herbstreit said in a clip surfaced by Michael Dixon of Awful Announcing on Saturday. “Pat decided to say, ‘If you’re gonna cut back on that, I’ll cover that… because the crew, the people on the show, they need to have that.'”
ESPN ended up coming through, but McAfee’s gesture spoke volumes.
“Upper management heard that and they said, ‘Woah, woah, woah, woah,'” Herbstreit recalled. “‘We don’t need Pat to cover that. We’ll take care of that.'”
Advertisement
McAfee and Co. will return to ESPN’s “College GameDay” this fall, beginning with Ohio State vs. Texas on Aug. 30.
Pat McAfee’s True Character Shines With Kirk Herbstreit Story first appeared on The Spun on Jul 7, 2025
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.