Report: ESPN Tried to Hire Sean McVay for MNF the Way Barstool Hired Deion Sanders
Source - Jon Gruden went from the Monday Night Football booth to a NFL head coaching job and another NFL head coach reportedly got a pitch from ESPN about making the opposite move.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that ESPN approached Rams head coach Sean McVay about taking an analyst job for the Monday slate of games. Per Marchand, the network thinks McVay would be a “standout” in that role.
There's only one thing sadder than a young guy without a lot going for him to hit on girls who are completely out of his league. And that's a guy who used to have game when it came to the ladies, but who lost it and lacks the self-awareness to realize it. The first guy is almost admirable in a way. Someone aiming high and hoping a fool's hope he lucks out. The second, is merely pathetic. A past-his-prime creep, deluding himself he's still got "it" as he small talks women younger than his Members Only jacket and belt clip for his phone, his Drakkar Noir failing to cover up the stench of his desperation.
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That's what Monday Night Football is, but ESPN has yet to realize it. A once proud institution that dominated not just the prime time sports landscape, but also the culture. Now it's just another game. Diminished by Thursday Night Football and the consistently better product that is Sunday Night Football.
MNF used to be a king maker. Landing that gig meant you were part of the national zeitgeist. A permanent and indelible fixture in our popular culture. But that was a long time ago. Now guys leave that job like it's the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwart's. Dennis Miller. Ron Jaworski. Tony Kornheiser. Gruden. Sean McDonough. Jason Witten. People would rather go be production assistants under Ellen Degeneres than slum with that gig. And it's only getting worse as ESPN bleeds from all the cord-cutting like they've got Subscriber Hemophilia.
A failing institution like that doesn't lure a 34-year-old wunderkind like Sean McVay away from coaching. It's the Last Chance U of broadcasting. You've got to find a someone out of work and desperate. Not the face of a new generation of coaching geniuses. McVay will have all the power he wants in every multi-billion dollar franchise he ever chooses to join. And yet the World Wide Leader thinks he'd rather sit there and banter with the next Joe Tessitore. Grow up, ESPN.
Though, while I don't do the hiring around here, I'm sure if McVay ever wanted to come join Barstool, the powers that be here would find a spot. He's no Deion Sanders, but then nobody is. And I'd be almost as proud to be McVay's co-worker as I am to be Prime Time's.