In addition to his role as one of ESPN’s top college football color commentators, Greg McElroy hosts a growing podcast with ESPN and Omaha Productions called Always College Football with Greg McElroy. The former Alabama quarterback spoke to Front Office Sports about the growth of his podcast, why he has eschewed having a traditional broadcaster as a cohost, the Big Ten vs. the SEC, and which young rising coaches he sees having big future success.
Front Office Sports: As we enter into the new college football season, what type of ambitions do you have for your Always College Football show?
Greg McElroy: I think the big thing for us is just continued growth. This was kind of a brainchild of [Omaha senior producer] Mark Kubiak and myself—years and years ago, at a bachelor party, where all great decisions are made. And we’re sitting there talking about, “What if we did a podcast? How cool would that be?” Because at the time, there weren’t a lot of [college football] podcasts that were serving the national audience.
I listened to a few, but I just wish there were more. This was probably seven, eight, nine years ago. We waited for a while, and we talked about it, and then it really became more about the partner. Who did we want to do it with? Once Omaha approached us and we had meetings with several other companies, it was like … This is the time. This is the group, this is the team. The rest has kind of been history. Omaha, and their alignment with ESPN, where I do most of my work, has been tremendous. We’ve had great support.
