The key word for Trey Wingo in his post-ESPN career?
Freedom.
Wingo said as much during a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast with host Brandon Contes.
You may remember Wingo from SportsCenter, NFL Live, ESPN’s golf coverage, or even his voiceover credits from NFL 2K5. But that’s no longer him anymore, as Wingo left ESPN in 2020 and has done a variety of things since, most recently hosting an all-access show at the Open Championship on Peacock.
He’s also ventured into the podcast space, including his Chasin It podcast with Chase Daniel and a Wondery exclusive titled Makin’ Waves, which focuses on alternate history in sports and features guests meaningful to the history-changing events featured.
“We do what we want, when we want, with who we want,” Wingo said when asked by Contes how he was enjoying the freedom of the podcast space. “And that’s the most fun. I mean, that’s the most fun for me. And with the way things are right now, thank God technology has sort of created this ability…That’s the beauty of it. That’s the fun part for me. It doesn’t matter where I am, it just matters, can I connect with somebody and get the stuff out there? And that’s a lot of fun.”
Wingo doesn’t miss being at ESPN. When he says that, he doesn’t mean it as a knock.
“I was there for 24 years and I loved almost every second of it, but that was something that I enjoyed doing and I loved it at the time, but it’s not part of what I do anymore,” he said. “So, I wouldn’t say I miss it. I have a lot of great friends still there, and I have lot of people that I keep up with and we text all the time. But I very much enjoy what I’m doing now.”
Being at ESPN for nearly a quarter century certainly helped Wingo make a name for himself, but in the modern age of sports media, he made it pretty clear that he controls his own platform. He thought at one point that he’d never leave ESPN, that he’d be there forever. But things change, especially with the rampant movement we’ve seen going in and out of Bristol over the past few years.
“Things were wonderful and I loved doing most of what I did,” said Wingo. “But for me now, this is just where I am in my life. This is much more the way I want to go about things.”
How Wingo went about things in the final years of his tenure at ESPN, is quite notable. He joined Mike Golic on the Golic and Wingo show, which succeeded Mike & Mike with Golic’s previous co-host Mike Greenberg, leaving after an 18-year run together, to start a new morning show called, Get Up.
The Golic and Wingo show was effectively a de facto requirement for all ESPN Radio stations, as all affiliates of the network were required to carry the premier morning show on the Worldwide Leader.
“It was great for me, because Mike and I did NFL Live together for years, so there was a pre-sort of relationship history, if you will, that we were able to build off of,” Wingo said. “It was never a problem for me and I’m hoping that Mike would say the same thing. I think he does. We talk still. I was happy to be there with him.”
For Wingo, the most difficult switch was having to wake up at 3:15 in the morning to host the show, while also battling to stay up for games they were going to converse about the following morning. He felt like a zombie, as he adjusted to something that wasn’t part of his schedule for 21 of the 24 years he was at ESPN.
Wingo said he still doesn’t understand why ESPN thought breaking up Mike and Mike was a “good thing.” And when that appeared like it was going to happen, Wingo was approached about his interest in radio.
“I was hesitant because I loved my gig. I loved NFL Live…This was a really good thing,” he said. “So I was like, I’m not sure I want to do this. And someone who was a good friend of mine at ESPN said, ‘Just so you know, if you don’t take this gig they’re offering you, they’ll hold it against you.'”
They twisted Wingo’s arm and he said, “Fine, I’ll do the gig.” However, he learned pretty quickly that this was something he wasn’t going to do long term (the show lasted from 2018-20).
“The best way to put it, I think I took the job for the right reasons and I walked away from it for the right reasons,” Wingo added.
Wingo thought he was doing the gracious thing by telling his employers that he didn’t see this as a long-term fixture, but they didn’t see it that way. He wanted to try something else, which explains why he’s entered the podcast fray.
“No matter what happens in my career, I think at ESPN I’ll be remembered for two things, starting NFL Live—we started that show in 2003 and I was with it up until 2017—and then obviously, the COVID Draft of 2020,” Wingo said. “I think that’s what most people would say and I love both of those things. I really loved doing the draft, and I really, really loved NFL Live.”
Wingo is unsure if he’d still be at ESPN today if he had re-upped his contract, but the landscape has changed so dramatically that we can leave that answer up for interpretation.
“I don’t know the answer to that, but I would imagine given all the changes and the way things have been, probably not.”
The full episode of The Awful Announcing Podcast with Trey Wingo will be released Friday morning. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.
