“Stanford” Steve Coughlin has agreed to a multi-year contract extension with ESPN, according to Pete Thamel.
Coughlin will continue his work across multiple ESPN platforms, including The Pat McAfee Show, College Football Live, and SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. The extension keeps one of the network’s most recognizable college football voices in place as ESPN builds out its coverage for the expanded College Football Playoff era.
The great “Stanford” Steve Coughlin has agreed to a multi-year contract extension with ESPN. pic.twitter.com/pbuqzDGjtE
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 14, 2025
Coughlin joined ESPN in 2004 as a production assistant in radio and spent 11 years working his way up through ESPN Radio before transitioning to television in 2015. He started working with Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo on their radio show in 2009, then followed Van Pelt to the midnight SportsCenter as a segment producer and on-air personality when that show launched in September 2015.
His role at ESPN has expanded considerably since then. Coughlin became a staple of Van Pelt’s SportsCenter with the “Bad Beats” segment, co-hosts the weekly SVPod with Van Pelt, joined College GameDay as a betting analyst in 2023, and makes regular appearances on College Football Live and ESPN BET Live. He also recently teamed up with Pat McAfee for Anudder College Ball Convo with Stanford Steve, a college football podcast that launched in September.
Coughlin replaced Chris Fallica on College GameDay after Fallica left for Fox following the 2022 season. His “Stanford Steve’s Board” segment has become a fixture on the show. And with sports betting becoming a bigger part of college football coverage, keeping someone like Coughlin around matters more than it did five years ago.
Before ESPN, Coughlin played tight end at Stanford from 1996 to 2000, where the nickname originated.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.