Former ESPN commentator Ryan Leaf has criticized two of his former company’s most prominent employees.
Speaking to OutKick Hot Mic, Leaf criticized two ‘College GameDay’ personalities: Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit.
“Herbstreit and McAfee are the most, you know, sensitive people I’ve ever met for guys who live on this, you know, high platform,” Leaf said Tuesday.
“They criticize them all the time, but my God, they are too sensitive. They are narcissists.”
Leaf alleged that his position within the company was used to get him off the air for calling games for ESPN last year.
Radio host and former ESPN personality Ryan Leaf criticized two of his former coworkers
Leaf was a quarterback at Washington State University. That school, along with Oregon State University, are the only two schools remaining in the old Pac-12 Conference after most members jumped ship in the conference’s reorganization.
The former QB had a feud with McAfee and Herbstreit because he felt they were making Washington State and Oregon State the butts of jokes.
“The coordinating producer calls me and I say, ‘Well, you’re not going to make this decision. Who’s going to make it? ‘ ‘Well, someone above my pay grade,’ he says. ‘Well, you need someone above your pay grade to call me,'” Leaf said.
‘So they did and by then I had confirmed with people why it had happened. So when I spoke to them on the phone I said, “Yes, I think this is the right thing to do. I think you and I don’t share values and so I think this is probably the right decision.”
Leaf continued: “I get it, I get it. There are $85 million people (from the McAfee deal) that are scaring you. You have to fall in line. I get it, for my part.”
He described his dispute with the two ESPN personalities as “when I attacked them for making it into a big joke.”
On an episode of ‘GameDay,’ veteran analyst Lee Corso referred to the Washington State-Oregon State game as the ‘Nobody Wants Us Bowl.’
Kirk Herbstreit tweeted that he thought Leaf was “hacked” after criticism from Washington State
But Washington State head coach Jake Dickert thought Corso had said it was the “Nobody’s Watching Us Bowl” and called the former coach out.
Leaf then criticized the ‘GameDay’ team for their comments, quoting Dickert on Twitter with the caption: ‘And @CollegeGameDay is supposed to be a celebration of #CFB. Instead they choose to turn it into a big joke and everyone on the panel allows it. Just a bunch of windsocks. #CougsvsEverybody.’
That led Herbstreit to call out Leaf, tweeting a day later: “Huh? Is this a real tweet? You must have been hacked, Ryan. Lee’s point was OBVIOUSLY that it’s 2 teams that are out, that haven’t found a home yet, NOT the “nobody watches the Bowl” one. I know you’re excited your guys won, but FUCK!”
McAfee joined the wave a week later when Rece Davis celebrated a Washington state flag nicknamed ‘Ol’ Crimson’ that made its 292nd appearance on College GameDay.
‘Ah, who cares! Who cares! They were showing this flag when they were 1-11 in 2009? And when they were 2-10 in 2010? They were? That’s crazy,’ McAfee said in late September. ‘So when they were bad, they were showing them every week on the biggest college football show? Wow! Handle success, Ryan Leaf! My goodness.’
“I want the West Virginia flag flying there every time there’s a game. We don’t get that, Washington State gets that, and all of a sudden Washington State says, ‘Big Beav’s up there now! ‘ It’s like, ‘Shut up! Washington State, I’m sick of you! It’s a waste of this program’s time.'”
Pat McAfee added to the criticism of Washington State on a later episode of ‘GameDay’
According Terrible announcementLeaf played his final game for the network on Sept. 23, meaning his critical comments came a day after he criticized his employers and coworkers.
Leaf admits the result “still stinks” because he enjoyed calling the games.
“In my case, the coordinating producer, who I had an incredible relationship with, came to me and said, ‘Hey, I think we’re going to take you off the games for the rest of the season,'” Leaf told Outkick. “And I said, ‘You know, you told me week after week that I’m your number one.'”
After his departure, Leaf says he received messages from both Herbstreit and McAfee.
“They tried to gloss over it by saying, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,'” Leaf said. “It’s nonsense. It is what it is.”
