It’s been a rough year for Kirk Herbstreit.
The longtime ESPN college football analyst acknowledged as much with his emotional reaction to Ohio State’s National Championship victory, revealing in the process that his wife is battling breast cancer. That news came on top of losing his beloved dog, Ben, making for an incredibly difficult stretch.
That context may help explain his bizarre social media saga, which took another strange turn on Tuesday. Earlier this year, Herbstreit claimed he had deleted social media, saying his sons would handle his posts during the college football season. He seemed to have reached a breaking point with the toxicity, particularly from Florida State fans, and with how he and ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoff were perceived.
But when one of his tweets got hit with a Community Note for pushing back on “false narratives,” the story took an even weirder turn. Herbstreit insisted he wasn’t the one posting — but as Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder astutely pointed out, “Herbstreit doesn’t have to engage with the trolls. He doesn’t have to engage with the outside noise. He doesn’t have to try to fight every battle in college football like he’s done the past year.”
Which makes his latest admission even more confusing. Responding to fans on social media, Herbstreit admitted that, no, it wasn’t actually his son’s currently doing the tweeting. In reality, he had just taken a break from social media during the season. He added that he still enjoys Twitter, loves engaging with fans and apologized for any confusion.
Not at all. Just took a break from it during the season. I think Twitter is great and enjoy the back and forth with fans. Sorry for any confusion. https://t.co/QC00cWfcUP
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) February 4, 2025
So after all that, the grand reveal is… he just stepped away for a while? Given everything he’s been through, it’s understandable if he needed a break. But how he framed it — suggesting his sons were running the account — turned a social media hiatus into an unnecessary mess.
He tried to clean up that mess on Tuesday, as it was pointed out that he indicated differently in a recent interview with Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples at On3.
Herbstreit attempted to clarify things, saying he had a lot going on with his family and stepped away from social media for his own mental health. His son posted occasionally, but for the most part, he avoided the noise. He did the On3 interview while on that break in December and now pops in occasionally, though he’s still not a fan of the negativity.
Had a lot going on with my family and found it best for my own mental health to avoid the trolls and people with bad intentions. So just decided to avoid the noise during that period. My son posted a few things for me once in awhile. Did that interview with Andy and Ari when I… https://t.co/NL0v1nsQVk
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) February 4, 2025
Given everything going on in Herbstreit’s life, it makes sense that he’d need a break, and he should be applauded for prioritizing his mental health. But the way he framed his absence, as he tried to clear things up to a degree, seems to only reaffirm that he struggles in how to handle online criticism.
And we get that. We’ve all been there.
But at the end of the day, maybe it’s not the best use of our time and mental health to push back against every perceived slight. For all his experience and success in the industry, Herbstreit still finds it hard to log off when the discourse turns negative, which he’s obviously not alone with.
And perhaps in 2025, Herbstreit will find the right balance and strategy for engaging online while avoiding the pitfalls of feeling the need to fight every battle.
