How To Balance Saban, Corso, & McAfee
One of ESPN’s upcoming dilemmas is how to successfully balance the distinct personalities of legendary coach Nick Saban, the eccentric Pat McAfee, and the staple of College Gameday, Lee Corso. The reason why College Gameday holds a lot of weight in the sports lexicon is because the cast rarely changes. The last major change to the core four of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Lee Corso was a decade ago when Davis joined the show. They have had a revolving door of contributors in the last decade and a half which included David Pollack, Tom Rinaldi, Maria Taylor, Pat McAfee, and Gene Wojciechowski. Nick Saban is different than those contributors because of the legacy he is leaving as the greatest football coach of all time. His insight and expertise provide a valuable asset previously never seen before on ESPN and College Gameday. Gameday should utilize him in the same manner they utilized Pollack. Saban should be on the majority of the airtime, providing expert analysis, occasionally interviewing coaches, and having his own picks segment. McAfee gives this show a much-needed youthful energy boost that keeps the viewers on its toes as seen during Gameday’s show at the SEC Championship where he “called all the dogs” before picking Alabama. However, because McAfee is more in the vein of a ‘casual viewer’ of sports that are not professional football, his analysis does not hold the same weight as Kirk or Nick Saban. McAfee should be in the opening segment of the show to provide that initial boost of energy before leaving set until his weekly kick competition occurs. McAfee should then leave again before returning for the show’s picks at the ends. Due to Corso’s age and health, he is no longer able to sit through the three-hour duration. He should only be on the show for picks as he is the reason the show exists and has gained as much lore as it has had. The core of the show should be Davis, Howard, Saban, and Herbstreit with McAfee making occasional contributions and Corso having the cherry on top at the end. The problem with having McAfee and Saban on at the same time is you run into the dilemma of having too many voices at once. We see this dilemma play out on CBS and Fox’s NFL Pregame Shows where the unnecessary and useless additions of JJ Watt and Rob Gronkowski have taken airtime away from the core of the shows.