Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ESPN in 2003, where he hosted a radio show on the ESPN Radio network and also became one of the original hosts of ESPN's television program SportsNation, as well as Colin's New Football Show. Cowherd is currently the host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio and Fox Sports 1.
After Cowherd made a controversial statement about Dominican Republic baseball players in July 2015, he was suspended by ESPN. In August 2015, it was officially announced that Cowherd would be joining Fox Sports on a then four-year deal. The Herd is FS1's top-rated studio program. He was also a host of Speak For Yourself on FS1. In 2021, Cowherd founded and launched his own podcast network, The Volume.
Early life and education
Cowherd was born in Aberdeen, Washington.[4] His father, Charles, was an optometrist and his British-born mother Patricia (d. 2014)[5] was a housewife who emigrated to the United States at age 14.[6] He has an older sister named Marlene. Cowherd grew up in Grayland, Washington, a small fishing town about 130 miles away from Seattle. His parents divorced while he was young due to his father's alcoholism, and he and his sister were raised mainly by their mother.[7] Cowherd described himself as a loner during his childhood, spending much time sitting on his roof, listening to baseball games on the radio. He graduated from Ocosta High School in Westport in 1982.[8] In high school, Cowherd played quarterback for the football team[9] and was an All-Far West Conference guard for the basketball team.[10] Cowherd was roommates with football player and coach Jim McElwain at Eastern Washington University.
Career
Early career
Cowherd began his career as the play-by-play voice for the San Diego PadresTriple-A affiliate Las Vegas Stars. He eventually became a sports director at KVBC in Las Vegas, where he was named Nevada's Sportscaster of the Year five times.[11] He served as weekend sports anchor at WTVT in Tampa, Florida from 1993 to 1995.[12] In 1996, he moved to Portland, Oregon where he worked as a sports anchorman for KGW-TV.[13][failed verification] In 2001, The Herd moved from an afternoon time slot on all-sports radio KFXX to the morning drive time.[14]
ESPN
ESPN Radio
Colin Cowherd during a live broadcast of his radio program on the campus of The University of Iowa in 2010
In 2003, Cowherd was selected to replace Tony Kornheiser for the late-morning time slot (10 AM – 1 PM ET) on ESPN Radio.
Cowherd's show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, is a syndicated talk radio show broadcast on Fox Sports Radio. From 2004 to 2015, it was transmitted to ESPN Radio affiliates throughout the United States and online at ESPNRadio.com. In 2008, the Herd added a simulcast on ESPNU. The show features commentary on sports news, perspective on other news stories, and interviews with popular analysts and sports figures. Although a sports broadcast, he often reflects on personal life and business as it relates to the sports world. Demographics and regional preferences are frequent topics of his program. The majority of his conversations primarily center around the National Football League (NFL), college football, and the National Basketball Association (NBA).
In November 2005, ESPN apologized following a number of complaints about comments made by Cowherd on the death of professional wrestler Eddie Guerrero on the November 13, 2005 edition of The Herd.[15] Cowherd had reportedly commented "who cares that he died" and described his death as "not newsworthy" before speculating on the cause of death. He was later reprimanded by ESPN Radio general manager Bruce Gilbert over his remarks.[16] Cowherd again drew criticism in April 2014 with remarks on the death of The Ultimate Warrior.[17] In March 2018, Cowherd - who had previously referred to professional wrestling fans as "lonely, pathetic Booger Eaters"[18] - attended the taping of an episode of WWE SmackDown.[19]
On the April 5, 2007, edition of The Herd, Cowherd directed his listeners to "blow up" the sports blog The Big Lead by simultaneously visiting its home page. The site was unable to handle the influx in traffic, and the site was knocked offline for approximately 96 hours. ESPN's new Ombudsman, LeAnne Schreiber, wrote an article sharing her negative opinion of Cowherd's actions. Schreiber contacted Traug Keller, a senior vice president at ESPN Radio, and Keller indicated that Cowherd would face no disciplinary action for the stunt, because there had been no policy against such a tactic at the time. To prevent this from happening again, Keller instituted a zero tolerance policy of such activities in the future.[20]
Colin Cowherd during a live broadcast of The Herd at Public House in Chicago, Illinois on July 30, 2014
Cowherd was criticized for comments he made regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of Sean Taylor. On November 28, 2007, one day after Taylor's home invasion murder, Cowherd claimed that Taylor's past had brought this on him and that Redskins fans who mourned him were not "grown-ups". He stated about Taylor's turnaround: "Well yeah, just because you clean the rug doesn't mean you got everything out. Sometimes you've got stains, stuff so deep it never ever leaves." Taylor's death was later found to be the result of a botched robbery and the robbers hadn't known Taylor was home when they entered.[21]
In fall 2013, Cowherd began hosting the ESPN Sunday morning pro and college football talk show Colin's New Football Show.[22] Also in 2013, Cowherd's first book, You Herd Me! I'll Say It If Nobody Else Will, was published.[23] Cowherd has said on his radio show that he had been writing the book on-and-off for a few years. In 2015, Cowherd released his second book, Raw: My 100%, Grade-A, Unfiltered, Inside Look at Sports.
Sportsnation
He, Michelle Beadle, and later Charissa Thompson co-hosted the TV show SportsNation on ESPN2 from 2009 to 2012; the show debuted on July 6, 2009. SportsNation was designed to take "the pulse" of the nation. Cowherd and Thompson were given two choices to select from and they attempted to determine which choice was the audience's favorite (e.g., Who is more likely to haunt someone when they die, Kobe Bryant or Joe Paterno?). Cowherd announced in September 2012 that he would be leaving the program; his last month as host was December 2012. Marcellus Wiley took over for Cowherd in January 2013.
Dominican Republic baseball remarks
On July 23, 2015, Cowherd made remarks connecting the number of baseball players from the Dominican Republic to the game's alleged simplicity. The observation that the Dominican Republic "has not been known in my lifetime as having world class academic abilities", because "a lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have."[24][25]
The remarks drew the ire of some Dominican players, such as José Bautista, and of the MLB Players Association; later that day, USA Today reported that the MLBPA was considering the possibility of "withholding cooperation" with ESPN and Fox over their lack of reaction to the remarks. Major League Baseball also condemned Cowherd for making remarks they felt were "inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game."[24][25]
The following day, ESPN announced that it would immediately cut ties with Cowherd in response to the remarks. During the final episode of The Herd, Cowherd presented statistics from several studies regarding the current state of education in the Dominican Republic. He went on to say that "I could've said a third of baseball's talent is being furnished from countries with economic hardships, therefore educational hurdles. For the record, I used the Dominican Republic because they've furnished baseball with so many great players."[24] Cowherd apologized, though the apology was not well received.[26][27]
Fox Sports
On July 16, 2015, it was announced that Cowherd would leave ESPN. Network president John Skipper stated that Cowherd's presence had been "mutually beneficial", going on to say that "he came to national prominence on ESPN with his unique perspective on sports and society. Endings also bring new beginnings, for ESPN and Colin, and we thank him and wish him the best." Multiple sources reported that Cowherd was in talks with Fox Sports; Jamie Horowitz, a Fox Sports executive, previously worked for ESPN as a producer for Cowherd.[28][29] Cowherd's final broadcast aired on July 24, 2015. Although his contract was originally scheduled to end a week later on July 31, Cowherd was released earlier following controversial remarks he made regarding Dominican baseball players during the previous day's edition of The Herd.[24][25]
In 2018, Cowherd partnered with iHeartRadio and Red Seat Ventures to launch The Herd Podcast Network. On February 1, 2021, The Volume sports-talk podcast was launched, featuring its flagship program, The Colin Cowherd Podcast.[31] Other podcasts on the platform are led by pro athletes Draymond Green and Richard Sherman.
Personal life
In February 2021, Cowherd was hospitalized with a blood clot in his right lung.[32][33]
Cowherd resides in Los Angeles with his wife Ann.[34] He has one daughter and one son.[35]
^ abKinosian, Mike (April 8, 2004). "Now "Heard" Nationwide"(PDF). InsideRadio.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2007.
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