Erin Andrews became a television star during her eight-year run at ESPN from 2004 to ’12, when she left the Worldwide Leader for rival Fox Sports. In an appearance on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, she shared that she ultimately left, because ESPN never offered her a role on Monday Night Football.
As she weighed the decision to leave ESPN, she spoke to a number of influential people, including former Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and former Oregon football coach Chip Kelly, both of whom she developed relationships with during her time as a college sports sideline reporter. Both helped her settle on the decision.
“I knew I was never going to get Monday Night Football. That role was just never offered to me,” Andrews told Andrew Marchand and John Ourand. “I remember Coach K saying to me, ‘How many Alabama-LSU games are you going to do? When is it time for you to move on?’ And I remember calling Chip Kelly the night that it was announced that I was leaving ESPN. … I was just bawling, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’ve made the right decision; I hope I don’t regret this,’ and he’s like, ‘Don’t look back; just look forward.’”
