Colin Cowherd facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Colin Cowherd
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Cowherd in 2011
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| Born |
Colin Murray Cowherd
January 6, 1964 Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Eastern Washington University (BA) |
| Spouse(s) |
Kimberly Vadala
(m. 1996; div. 2007)Ann Hamilton-Cowherd
(m. 2010) |
| Children | 2 |
| Career | |
| Show | The Herd with Colin Cowherd |
| Station(s) | Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports 1 |
| Network | Fox |
Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is a well-known American sports broadcaster. He started his career in television in Las Vegas. Later, he joined ESPN in 2003, where he hosted a popular radio show. He also helped host TV shows like SportsNation. Today, Colin Cowherd hosts The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio and Fox Sports 1.
Contents
Early Life and School
Colin Cowherd was born on January 6, 1964, in Aberdeen, Washington. His father, Charles, was an eye doctor. His mother, Patricia, was from Britain and moved to the United States when she was 14. Colin has an older sister named Marlene. He grew up in Grayland, Washington, a small fishing town. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother mainly raised him and his sister. Colin has said he was a bit of a loner as a child. He often sat on his roof, listening to baseball games on the radio.
Colin went to Ocosta High School in Westport. He graduated in 1982. In high school, he played quarterback for the football team. He was also a top guard for the basketball team. After high school, he attended Eastern Washington University. He graduated in 1985 with a degree in arts.
Colin Cowherd's Career Journey
Starting Out in Broadcasting
Colin Cowherd began his career calling baseball games. He was the play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres' minor league team, the Las Vegas Stars. He later became the sports director at KVBC in Las Vegas. He was named Nevada's Sportscaster of the Year five times. From 1993 to 1995, he worked as a weekend sports anchor in Tampa, Florida. In 1996, he moved to Portland, Oregon. There, he worked as a sports anchorman for KGW-TV. In 2001, his radio show The Herd moved to the morning time slot in Portland.
Time at ESPN
In 2003, Colin Cowherd joined ESPN Radio. He took over the late-morning show from 10 AM to 1 PM ET. From 2004 to 2015, his show was heard across the United States. It was also available online at ESPNRadio.com. In 2008, The Herd also began to be shown on ESPNU. The show featured Colin's thoughts on sports news. He also shared his views on other news stories. He interviewed many popular sports experts and figures. Most of his discussions focused on the National Football League (NFL), college football, and the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Colin Cowherd sometimes faced criticism for comments he made. In November 2005, ESPN apologized after he made remarks about the death of wrestler Eddie Guerrero. He was later told off by an ESPN manager. He also drew criticism in April 2014 for comments about The Ultimate Warrior's death.
In April 2007, Colin Cowherd told his listeners to visit a sports blog all at once. This caused the website to go offline for about four days. ESPN's Ombudsman wrote about her negative opinion of his actions. ESPN decided not to punish him because there was no rule against it at the time. To prevent this, ESPN then created a strict rule against such actions.
Colin also received criticism for comments about the death of Sean Taylor. On November 28, 2007, after Taylor's murder, Cowherd suggested Taylor's past was connected to his death. He said that fans mourning him were not "grown-ups." Later, it was found that Taylor's death was from a robbery. The robbers did not know Taylor was home when they entered.
In fall 2013, Colin Cowherd started hosting Colin's New Football Show on ESPN. This show talked about professional and college football. Also in 2013, his first book was published. It was called You Herd Me! I'll Say It If Nobody Else Will. In 2015, he released his second book, Raw: My 100%, Grade-A, Unfiltered, Inside Look at Sports.
On July 23, 2015, Cowherd made remarks about baseball players from the Dominican Republic. He connected the number of players from there to the sport's simplicity. He said the Dominican Republic was "not known... as having world class academic abilities." He added that "a lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically."
These comments upset some Dominican players, like José Bautista. The MLB Players Association also expressed anger. Major League Baseball said his remarks were "inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game."
Colin Cowherd was already planning to leave ESPN. The day after his controversial remarks, ESPN announced they would end his contract early. During his last show, Cowherd shared facts about education in the Dominican Republic. He said he could have explained it better. He apologized, but many people did not accept his apology.
Hosting SportsNation
Colin Cowherd co-hosted the TV show SportsNation on ESPN2. He hosted it with Michelle Beadle and later Charissa Thompson. The show started on July 6, 2009. SportsNation aimed to find out what the country was thinking. Colin and his co-host would give two choices. They would try to guess which one the audience liked more. In September 2012, Colin announced he would leave the show. His last month as host was December 2012. Marcellus Wiley took over for him in January 2013.
Moving to Fox Sports
On July 16, 2015, it was announced that Colin Cowherd would leave ESPN. The network president said Colin had become famous at ESPN. He wished him the best. Many sources reported that Colin was talking with Fox Sports. Jamie Horowitz, a Fox Sports executive, used to produce Colin's show at ESPN. Colin's final broadcast at ESPN was on July 24, 2015. His contract was supposed to end a week later. But he was released early because of his controversial comments about Dominican baseball players.
On August 12, 2015, it was officially announced that Colin Cowherd joined Fox Sports. He signed a four-year deal. The Herd radio show moved to Premiere Networks and Fox Sports Radio on September 8, 2015. Its TV broadcast moved to Fox Sports 1. Kristine Leahy was the co-host and news reporter. Joy Taylor replaced Leahy in 2018. Colin also contributes to Fox NFL Kickoff. He also co-hosted Speak for Yourself with Cowherd & Whitlock on Fox Sports 1 with Jason Whitlock.
On January 30, 2025, Colin Cowherd announced he was moving to Chicago. This was a big change for him and The Herd with Colin Cowherd. He now splits his time between Los Angeles and Chicago. He confirmed this on his podcast. A new studio was built inside Big Ten Network's office in Rosemont, Illinois.
The Volume Podcast Network
In 2018, Colin Cowherd teamed up with iHeartRadio to start The Herd Podcast Network. On February 1, 2021, he launched The Volume. This is a sports-talk podcast network. Its main show is The Colin Cowherd Podcast. Other podcasts on the platform feature pro athletes like Draymond Green and Richard Sherman.
Personal Life
In February 2021, Colin Cowherd was in the hospital. He had a blood clot in his right lung.
Colin Cowherd lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Ann. He has two children, a daughter and a son.
Awards and Recognition
- Sports Illustrated named him Radio Personality of the Year in 2005.
- He was named Nevada's Sportscaster of the Year five times. This was voted by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
- PunditTracker rated him the Best Pundit of 2012 for his sports predictions.
