Former ESPN commentator Ryan Leaf has launched a fierce attack on two of his former company’s most senior employees.
In an interview with OutKick Hot Mic, Leaf blasted two “College GameDay” personalities: Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit.
“Herbstreit and McAfee are the most, you know, hypersensitive people I’ve ever met for men who live on this, you know, high platform,” Leaf said Tuesday.
‘They get criticized all the time, but man, they are oversensitive. Narcissists.’
Leaf alleged that they abused their position within the company to take him off the air because he covered games for ESPN last year.
Radio host and former ESPN personality Ryan Leaf has smeared two of his former colleagues
Leaf was previously a quarterback at Washington State University. That school, along with Oregon State University, are the only two schools left in the former Pac-12 Conference after a majority of its members jumped ship in a conference realignment.
The ex-QB got into a fight with both McAfee and Herbstreit because he felt they were making jokes of Washington State and Oregon State.
“The coordinating producer calls me and I said, ‘Well, you don’t make this decision. Who makes this decision?’ He said, ‘Well, someone above my pay grade.’ And I said, ‘Well, you need to have someone above your pay grade call me,'” Leaf said.
‘They did, and by that time I had confirmed with people why it was happening. So when I got them on the phone, I thought, “Yeah, I think this is about right. I think you and I, we don’t have shared values and so I think this is probably the right decision.”‘
Leaf continued: ‘I get it, I get it. You’ve got people with $85 million (McAfee’s deal) scaring you. You’ve got to play by the rules. I get that, on my side of things.’
He described his feud with the two ESPN personalities as “when I attacked them because they were making a big joke out of it”
On an episode of ‘GameDay,’ veteran analyst Lee Corso called the game between Washington State and Oregon State the ‘Nobody Wants Us Bowl.’
Kirk Herbstreit tweeted that he believed Leaf had been ‘hacked’ after criticism from Washington state
But Washington State head coach Jake Dickert thought Corso had said it was the “Nobody Watches Us Bowl” and reprimanded the former coach.
Leaf then lashed out at the ‘GameDay’ crew for their comments – quoting and tweeting what Dickert said with the caption: “And @CollegeGameDay is supposed to be a celebration of #CFB. Instead they choose to make it a big joke, and everyone on the panel makes it happen. Just a bunch of wind socks. #CougsvsEverybody.”
That led to Herbstreit challenging Leaf, tweeting a day later: “Huh? Is this a real tweet??? You must have been hacked Ryan. Lee’s point was CLEAR that these are 2 teams that got left out, that haven’t found a home yet, NOT the ‘nobody watches the Bowl’ thing. I know you’re happy your boys won, but DAMN IT!”
McAfee joined in a week later when Rece Davis celebrated the Washington state flag, nicknamed “Ol’ Crimson,” when it was displayed for the 292nd time at College GameDay.
“Ah, who cares! Who cares! Were you guys showing this flag when they were 1-11 in 2009? How about 2-10 in 2010? You guys were? That’s wild,” McAfee said in late September. “So when they sucked, you were showing them on the biggest college football show every week? Wow! Good luck, Ryan Leaf! Man.
“I want a West Virginia flag flying every time. We don’t get it, Washington State gets it, and all of a sudden Washington State says, ‘Now Big Beav is here!’ Shut up! Washington State, I’m sick of you! This show is a waste of time.”
Pat McAfee was even more critical of Washington State in a later ‘GameDay’ episode
According to Terrible announcementLeaf announced his final game for the network on Sept. 23, meaning his critical comments came a day after he had been slamming his employers and colleagues.
Leaf admits the result is ‘still bad’ because he enjoyed reporting on matches.
“In my situation, the coordinating producer, who I had a great relationship with, came and said, ‘Hey, you know what, I think we’re going to pull you from games for the rest of the season,'” Leaf told Outkick. “And I was like, ‘You know, you’ve told me week in and week out that I’m your No. 1.’
Leaf says he received messages from both Herbstreit and McAfee after his departure.
“They tried to dismiss it as, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,'” Leaf said. “Just nonsense. It is what it is.”