Colin Cowherd

Colin Cowherd during a live broadcast of his radio program on the campus of The University of Iowa in 2010

Colin Cowherd during a live broadcast of The Herd at Public House in Chicago, Illinois on July 30, 2014

In 2003, Cowherd was selected to replace Tony Kornheiser for the late-morning time slot (10 AM – 1 PM ET) on ESPN Radio.

Cowherd's show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, is a syndicated talk radio show broadcast on Fox Sports Radio. From 2004 to 2015, it was transmitted to ESPN Radio affiliates throughout the United States and online at ESPNRadio.com. In 2008, the Herd added a simulcast on ESPNU. The show features commentary on sports news, perspective on other news stories, and interviews with popular analysts and sports figures. Although a sports broadcast, he often reflects on personal life and business as it relates to the sports world. Demographics and regional preferences are frequent topics of his program. The majority of his conversations primarily center around the National Football League (NFL), college football, and the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He, Michelle Beadle and later Charissa Thompson co-hosted the TV show SportsNation on ESPN2 from 2009 to 2012; the show debuted on July 6, 2009. SportsNation was designed to take "the pulse" of the nation. Cowherd and Thompson were given two choices to select from and they attempted to determine which choice was the audience's favorite (e.g., Who is more likely to haunt someone when they die, Kobe Bryant or Joe Paterno?). Cowherd announced in September 2012 that he would be leaving the program; his last month as host was December 2012. Marcellus Wiley took over for Cowherd in January 2013. In fall 2013, Cowherd began hosting the ESPN Sunday morning pro and college football talk show Colin's New Football Show.[8]

In 2013, Cowherd's first book, You Herd Me! I'll Say It If Nobody Else Will, was published.[9] Cowherd has said on his radio show that he had been writing the book on-and-off for a few years. In 2015, Cowherd released his second book, Raw: My 100%, Grade-A, Unfiltered, Inside Look at Sports.

On July 1, 2015, it was announced that Cowherd would leave ESPN. Network president John Skipper stated that Cowherd's presence had been "mutually beneficial", going on to say that "he came to national prominence on ESPN with his unique perspective on sports and society. Endings also bring new beginnings, for ESPN and Colin, and we thank him and wish him the best." Multiple sources reported that Cowherd was in talks with Fox Sports; Jamie Horowitz, a Fox Sports executive, previously worked for ESPN as a producer for Cowherd.[10][11] Cowherd's final broadcast aired on July 24, 2015. Although his contract was originally scheduled to end a week later on July 31, Cowherd was released early following controversial remarks he made regarding Dominican baseball players during the previous day's edition of The Herd.[12][13]

On August 12, 2015, it was officially announced that Cowherd would join Fox Sports with a four-year deal. The Herd moved to Premiere Networks and Fox Sports Radio on September 8, 2015, and its TV simulcast moved to Fox Sports 1. Kristine Leahy was the co-host and newswoman. Joy Taylor replaced Leahy in 2018. Cowherd also serves as a contributor to Fox NFL Kickoff.[14] Cowherd was also the co-host on daily sports talk show Speak for Yourself with Cowherd & Whitlock on Fox Sports 1 with Jason Whitlock.

On the April 5, 2007, edition of The Herd, Cowherd directed his listeners to "blow up" the sports blog The Big Lead by simultaneously visiting its home page. The site was unable to handle the influx in traffic, and the site was knocked offline for approximately 96 hours. ESPN's new Ombudsman, LeAnne Schreiber, wrote an article sharing her negative opinion of Cowherd's actions. Schreiber contacted Traug Keller, a Senior Vice President at ESPN Radio, and Keller indicated that Cowherd would face no disciplinary action for the stunt, because there had been no policy against such a tactic at the time. To prevent this from happening again, Keller instituted a zero tolerance policy of such activities in the future.[15]

Cowherd was criticized for comments he made regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of Sean Taylor. On November 28, 2007, one day after Taylor's home invasion murder, Cowherd claimed that Taylor's past had brought this on him and that Redskins fans who mourned him were not "grown-ups". He stated about Taylor's turnaround: "Well yeah, just because you clean the rug doesn't mean you got everything out. Sometimes you've got stains, stuff so deep it never ever leaves." Taylor's death was later found to be the result of a botched robbery and the robbers hadn't known Taylor was home when they entered.[16]

On July 23, 2015, Cowherd made remarks connecting the number of baseball players from the Dominican Republic to the game's alleged simplicity. The observation that the Dominican Republic "has not been known in my lifetime as having world class academic abilities", because "a lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have."[12][13]

The remarks drew the ire of some Dominican players, such as José Bautista, and of the MLB Players Association; later that day, USA Today reported that the MLBPA was considering the possibility of "withholding cooperation" with ESPN and Fox over their lack of reaction to the remarks. Major League Baseball also condemned Cowherd for making remarks they felt were "inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game."[12][13]

The following day, ESPN announced that it would immediately cut ties with Cowherd in response to the remarks. During what would be the final episode of The Herd, Cowherd presented statistics from several studies regarding the current state of education in the country. He went on to say that "I could've said a third of baseball's talent is being furnished from countries with economic hardships, therefore educational hurdles. For the record, I used the Dominican Republic because they've furnished baseball with so many great players."[12] Cowherd apologized, though the apology was not well received.[17][18]