Twenty-four months removed from being cut by ESPN, David Pollack has a positive spin on his dismissal. The former Georgia All-American linebacker was caught up in layoffs in June 2023 that included Max Kellerman, Suzy Kolber and multiple other ESPN on-air personalities.
At the time, Pollack was stunned. He had been at ESPN for nearly 15 years, traveling around the country each fall for College GameDay. He never had one last live show to soak in the atmosphere.
“I was definitely surprised,” he recently told On3. “I didn’t know it was coming. My phone rang, and I was like, ‘Oh, cool. Lee Fitting.’ I talked to Lee all the time, just to kick it. And then I was a little bit in the conversation, and I was like, ‘Oh, I know what this is.’ You could kind of feel it. And I was like, ‘OK, this ain’t gonna be that good.’ It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his decision.”
Pollack shared on social media in March that his wife, Lindsey, has brain cancer and was going into surgery. His departure from ESPN has freed up his schedule, allowing him to be around his wife and two kids nonstop as she battles cancer.
“Just day by day,” he recently told On3. “It’s a daily grind. It’s been difficult, it’s been fun and it’s been rewarding. We’ve grown a lot as a family.”
The chance to step away from the day-to-day of College GameDay and be around his family gave Pollack a new take on his ESPN firing. He said he’s also coaching girls’ basketball and football for his kids.
He’s started up his own podcast, “See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack,” to keep his college football takes fresh.
“I wasn’t the least bit frustrated,” Pollack recalled of being let go. “That’s a part of life. A big part of life is accepting that sometimes people make decisions, and it affects you. There are people all across the country who get bad news and get tough news. Unfortunately for my life, that’s something I was accustomed to. I’ve had plenty of bad moments—moments where I’ve been told I wasn’t good enough, you’re fired and you need to go. The feeling I felt was gratitude. I felt extremely grateful that somebody believed in me, which I don’t think I was worthy of being on the show, especially in the beginning, because I was learning the craft.
“I wasn’t on television for more than a couple of seasons when I was doing College GameDay. That’s not normal. I was just very thankful, I got to bring my kids with me to so many different places. I got to see so many different atmospheres, meet so many great coaches and build so many strong relationships.”
Even if Pollack has moved on from ESPN, college football fans have picked up on who has replaced him. The former College GameDay analyst’s seat is now filled by Pat McAfee. The former West Virginia and Indianapolis Colts punter was on the show in Pollack’s final years and has since become a staple, sitting between Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit.
Pollack admitted he sensed there was not going to be room for both personalities on the show.
“That’s a topic that people always want to bring up, but I don’t feel like that was Pat’s fault,” he said. “Pat was hired to do a job, just like I would have been called in to do a job. I don’t feel like Pat was the reason, no. They hired Pat, and Pat is really good at what he does, very different, very unique. A lot of times, when you’re spending a lot of money on a show, there are also levels to who’s important and who’s not. I wasn’t on the right side of that. That also happens in every business across the country every year.”
Pollack declined to go into detail on what offers he’s been made since ESPN parted ways. Returning to a TV network is appealing, but at the moment, he’s focused on spending time with his family. “What a blessing it is to be around her all the time,” he said.
Not being on the road in the fall has taken time to get accustomed to. Sitting in production meetings, chatting it up with coaches and having dinners with Rece Davis are no longer part of Pollack’s routine. The camaraderie of being on the show matched the thrill of being around thousands of fans on Saturdays during the college football season.
“The locker room is what you love about football,” he said. “Nobody goes, ‘Jeepers, man, I sure want to go out in this 100-degree heat and beat the crap out of each other.’ Nobody’s yearning to do that at 40. Yeah. But the busting of balls and the isms, the dinners and the friendships. Rece Davis is one of my better friends on this planet. Those are the things you miss. It’s the moments. It’s time with the guys. People that y’all would never know behind the scenes, like Mike, Trish and Bama Dave.
“All these guys that you spend 15 years with. It’s not 15 days, it’s 15 years. You become very good friends, and while you had your own lives and own little worlds, they were a big part of yours.”
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