Kirk Herbstreit

Commentator

College Football Analyst

Widely recognized as one of the best college football minds of his generation, Kirk Herbstreit has served as an analyst for ESPN’s College GameDay remote college football studio show since August 1996, when he joined host Chris Fowler and co-analyst Lee Corso. For his efforts there, he has earned back-to-back Sports Emmy Awards for Best Studio Analyst. In addition, Herbstreit is the game analyst for the Saturday Night Football series on ABC, broadcast television’s first weekly prime-time college football game, since the series debut in 2006.

Respected for his no-nonsense analysis and insightful perspective, he is also a frequent contributor to ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Previously, Herbstreit was a game analyst on the popular ESPN Thursday night college football series from 1999-2006. He joined ESPN in September 1995 as a college football sideline analyst after working  as a radio sideline reporter for the Ohio State University Football Radio Network during the 1993 and ’94 seasons.

Herbstreit’s experience as a former standout Ohio State quarterback has made him a trusted and entertaining voice in college football.  His talents were quickly noticed, as after just two seasons, he was nominated for a 1997 Sports Emmy Award as television’s top studio analyst.  In January 2004, Sporting News magazine ranked Herbstreit and fellow GameDay personalities Lee Corso and Chris Fowler as 2003’s “Most Powerful Media Personalities in Sports.”

He earned a degree in business administration in 1993 from the Ohio State University, where he was a four-year letterman with the Buckeyes as a quarterback (1989-92).  As the starter and team captain during his senior season of 1992, he passed for nearly 2,000 yards in an option-oriented offense, guiding OSU to an 8-3-1 mark, second place in the Big Ten, a Florida Citrus Bowl appearance and a No. 18 final Associated Press ranking.  For his efforts, he was named team MVP and most motivational player.  Known for his quickness and scrambling skills, he had TD runs of 32 yards (Wisconsin) and 72 yards (Minnesota) as a junior.  He was former Ohio State coach John Cooper’s first signee.

A Centerville, Ohio, native, Herbstreit was the Ohio Player of the Year as a senior for Centerville HS (10-0 as a junior), as well as a standout baseball player.  His father, Jim, a former player and captain at Ohio State (1958-60) went on to serve as an assistant coach (1960-61 — national champs in 1961) under the legendary Woody Hayes and also coached with Bo Schembechler at Miami (Ohio).  Jim and Kirk are one of only two father-son tandems to each serve as captain of their Ohio State teams in the history of the program.

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