Kirk Herbstreit ‘begged’ Pat McAfee to join ‘College GameDay’: ‘I just recognized his talent’

If you love watching Pat McAfee on College GameDay every Saturday morning, you can thank Kirk Herbstreit for helping to bring him there.

McAfee has been a full-time analyst on ESPN’s College GameDay since 2022, and Herbstreit has been there since 1996. And while the old guard of any sports show might typically be reluctant to change, Herbstreit was so willing to welcome a bigger star on College GameDay that he helped to recruit McAfee there.

Joining Will Compton and Taylor Lewan on a recent episode of their podcast, Bussin’ With the Boys, Herbstreit admitted he even begged McAfee to join College GameDay as a full-time analyst.

“When Pat was like, ‘I might do it, I might not,’ And he would come on for a little bit, I remember going to Indianapolis and sitting down with him and an ESPN executive with Pat,” Herbstreit recalled. “And just like basically saying ‘Lee Corso who’s the man, we don’t know how much longer he has. And boy, you would be so good on this show.’

“I was basically begging him to be on the show. Because you guys know, whether it’s Barkley or Lee Corso or now Pat, you have to have a guy that is incredibly entertaining and natural and authentically funny. And those are very hard people to find. You can find people to talk football, but it’s hard to find people who can just give you some juice. Before Pat became Pat, I just recognized his talent. I used to go on his podcast when it was on YouTube and I just really appreciated his timing and his humor…so I basically begged him to come on the show.”

Herbstreit previously revealed he was prepared to walk away from GameDay after the 2023 season if McAfee didn’t agree to stick around. He also credited McAfee with reenergizing the show, and his own commitment to college football.

“I’ve never been more excited,” Herbstreit continued. “Think about all the stories that are out there, the chaos that makes no sense. But Saturdays, marching bands come out, the pageantry is there, I just shoot it in my veins. I absolutely love it.”

They’re polar opposites on TV, with Herbstreit being more of the dry analyst who sticks to football, while McAfee commands attention and naturally takes over any stage he’s on. But opposites attract, and Herbstreit’s continued love for McAfee is an example of that.

Who knows what McAfee’s relationship with ESPN would look like today if he never joined GameDay full-time back in 2022. Maybe he’s not negotiating a contract extension worth upwards of $65 million with ESPN; maybe he’s not joining Monday Night Countdown; maybe he’s not creating a Monday Night Football alt-cast; maybe he never even brings his weekday show to the network. Herbstreit probably wasn’t the sole reason McAfee landed at ESPN or on GameDay. But McAfee likes to feel loved and appreciated. And if he wasn’t getting that love and appreciation from Herbstreit, their relationship with GameDay probably wouldn’t last.