Ryan Leaf isn’t holding back when it comes to his feelings about ESPN’s Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit. The former Washington State quarterback recently aired his grievances on the “Outkick Hot Mic” podcast, accusing the two ESPN personalities of being overly sensitive and even labeling them as “narcissists.”
“Herbstreit and McAfee are the most overly sensitive people I’ve ever met, especially for guys who live on such a high platform,” Leaf said during the interview on Tuesday. “They get criticized all the time, but boy, are they overly sensitive. Narcissists.”
Leaf’s criticisms didn’t stop at their personalities. He went on to claim that McAfee and Herbstreit used their influence within ESPN to have him removed from his role as a college football game analyst. According to Leaf, the issues stemmed from disagreements over conference realignment comments that he made about his alma mater, Washington State, and Oregon State—two schools that were left out during the most recent reshuffling of conferences.
Leaf recounted how, after his critical remarks, he was contacted by a coordinating producer at ESPN who informed him that he would no longer be calling games for the network. Leaf, however, believed that the decision had been influenced by higher-ups, including McAfee and Herbstreit, whom he had publicly criticized.
“The coordinating producer called me, and I said, ‘You’re not making this decision. Who’s making this decision?’” Leaf recalled. “He said, ‘Well, someone above my pay grade.’ I responded, ‘Well, you need to have someone above your pay grade call me.’ By the time they did, I had already confirmed with others why it happened. So when I got them on the phone, I said, ‘Yeah, I think this is about right. We don’t have shared values, so this is probably the proper decision.’”
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Leaf expressed frustration that his outspoken views had seemingly led to his downfall at ESPN, particularly in light of McAfee’s lucrative $85 million contract with the network. “I get it. You’ve got $85 million people scaring you. You’ve got to fall in line. I understand that, on my end of things,” Leaf added.
The feud between Leaf and the ESPN duo escalated earlier when Lee Corso, another ESPN personality, referred to a Washington State-Oregon State game as the “nobody wants us bowl,” a comment that Cougars head coach Jake Dickert misinterpreted as “nobody watches us bowl.” Leaf took to social media to defend his alma mater, blasting the “College GameDay” crew for what he saw as insensitive remarks.
“And @CollegeGameDay is supposed to be a celebration of #CFB. Instead, they choose to make it a big joke, and everyone on the panel enables it. Just a bunch of wind socks. #CougsvsEverybody,” Leaf tweeted on September 24, 2023.
Herbstreit responded to Leaf’s criticism, questioning whether the tweet was real and clarifying that Corso’s comment was meant to highlight the unfortunate situation of the two schools being left out of conference realignment, not to mock them.
“Huh? Is this a real tweet??? You must have been hacked, Ryan,” Herbstreit responded. “Lee’s point OBVIOUSLY was that it is 2 teams that have been left out—that haven’t found a home yet—NOT the ‘no one watches Bowl’. Know you’re excited your boys won but DAMN!”
McAfee also got involved, criticizing Leaf during an episode of “College GameDay” and suggesting that Leaf’s reaction was overblown. “Handle success, Ryan Leaf! Geez,” McAfee said. “I’m about sick of Washington State. Waste of time on this show.”
Leaf’s tenure at ESPN ended shortly after these exchanges. His last game as an analyst for the network was on September 23, 2023, just a day before he publicly criticized his employers and colleagues. Leaf later revealed that both Herbstreit and McAfee reached out to him after his departure, but he dismissed their attempts to downplay the situation.
“They tried to play it off like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Leaf said. “Just silly stuff. It is what it is.”
While Leaf admitted that the outcome “still sucks” because he enjoyed calling games, he seems to have accepted that his outspoken nature and refusal to back down likely led to his exit from ESPN.
