ESPN has a new member of the SportsCenter rotation: Baltimore news and sports anchor Max McGee.

From ESPN’s release:

McGee comes to ESPN from WJZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, Md., where he was a news and sports anchor for the past three years. McGee covered Baltimore’s professional sports teams, University of Maryland sports and breaking news.

“I’m so fired up to be with the best in the business,” said McGee. “Every stop in my career has helped prepare me for this, so I’m eager to get started.”

Prior to moving to Baltimore, McGee was a sports and news anchor at WMBF-TV, the NBC affiliate in Myrtle Beach/Florence, S.C. He began his television career as a reporter and producer at KPLC-TV in Lake Charles, La., where he shared an AP Award for best sportscast.

A native of Cherry Hill, N.J., McGee is a graduate of Temple University.

The Baltimore Sun reported the news this morning, with a profile of McGee by Ryan McFadden. (It’s also the best advertisement for the utility of LinkedIn you’re likely to read any time soon.)

McGee said his path to ESPN was years in the making, as he always aspired to work for the network. In late October, McGee sent a LinkedIn message to Rob King, the senior vice president and editor-at-large for ESPN content, asking for an audition.

As McGee was preparing for an audition with CBS in New York, he received the “call of a lifetime” from ESPN.

“We quickly scheduled that audition and things kind of just took off from there,” he said. “I went up to audition I think on Dec. 8 and then a few days later I got the job.”

McGee has received plenty of praise on social media in the wake of the news, too:

Congratulations to Max, and we look forward to seeing him start in the new gig when he starts at ESPN on January 31st.

[Baltimore Sun/ESPN PR]

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.