Kirk Herbstreit Breaks Silence on Politics—Fans Won’t Believe His Stance Revealed During College Football Season
Kirk Herbstreit—now there’s a name synonymous with Saturday football but never one to stay comfortably in the booth. Sure, he’s been the voice of “College GameDay” since ’96, a five-time Sports Emmy winner with a knack for calling those jaw-dropping gridiron moments, and lately, you’ll catch him on Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football broadcasting the NFL’s finest. But here’s the kicker: Herbstreit isn’t just about X’s and O’s, stats and scores—he’s never shied away from throwing his hat into the heated ring of social and political conversations, sometimes stirring the pot and other times asking us to lean in a little closer and listen.
Remember his candid support of Black Lives Matter back in 2020? He didn’t just offer a tweet or a soundbite—he leaned into the pain, the awkward truths none of us like facing, and made it personal. Fast forward to recent days, and he’s pivoted to a new hot-button topic: vaccines. But when tragedy struck the college football community with the sudden passing of former Ohio State lineman Ben Christman, Herbstreit stepped up—not with conspiracy, but with caution and a heartfelt push for real change, championing mandatory heart screenings in college athletics. That’s Kirk for you: candid, sometimes controversial, but always rooted in something deeper than the surface noise.
So here’s a question worth pondering—can a man who’s so firmly entrenched in the tribal passion of football also navigate the messy, complicated world of social commentary without losing his ground? Herbstreit doesn’t just entertain; he challenges. And truth be told, we might just need that kind of voice now more than ever.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit usually spends his days talking about college football. After all, he’s been part of the “College GameDay” family since 1996.
Herbstreit, a five-time Sports Emmy Award winner, has kept himself quite busy over the years. Not only does he call the biggest college football game each weekend with Chris Fowler, he covers the NFL for Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football.”
When Herbstreit isn’t talking politics though, he occasionally shares his political views.
Back in 2020, Herbstreit turned heads for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. He also made it clear that he had no issue with all the protests in the United States following George Floyd’s death.
“The black community is hurting,” Herbstreit once said. “How do you listen to these stories and not feel pain and not want to help? Wearing a hoodie and putting your hands (on a steering wheel) at 10-2. Oh god, I better look out because I’m wearing Nike gear. What are we talking about? You can’t relate to that if you’re white but you can listen. You can try to help because this is not OK. It’s just not. We gotta do better, man. We gotta lock arm-and-arm and be together. In a football locker room, that’s gone. We gotta do better.”
On Friday morning, Herbstreit shifted his focus to another hot topic in the political world: vaccines.
Earlier this week, the college football world learned that former Ohio State offensive lineman Ben Christman died from cardiac arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy. He was just 21 years old.
Herbstreit offered his condolences to the Christman family this Friday. That led to fans speculating about vaccines and whether or not they played a role in his death. However, Herbstreit tried to stop them in their tracks.
“I have no idea about Ben and his health history and respectfully this isn’t about politics,” Herbstreit wrote in response to a follower’s question. “Heart disease-cardiac arrhythmia-irregular heartbeat have been an issues with young people for generations! My grandfather-aunt-brother-myself all diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.”
Herbstreit continued, “If it’s okay let’s sidebar that discussion-just for a moment. Whether the vaccine added to this issue or not-the point is my suggestion about making Echos mandatory in college athletics is past due and hope we can make it happen albeit very expensive and I’d like to use my platform and family experience with heart disease to offer my support. That’s all.”
Not everyone will agree with Herbstreit’s politics, but that’s OK. He’ll continue to be himself, for better or worse.
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