From 3rd Grade Teacher to Cowherd & McAfee: How Amanda Gifford rose to lead ESPN’s college football coverage

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.andrewmarchand.comOne of the largest productions jobs in all of media is overseeing ESPN’s college football coverage. From “College GameDay” to more than 1,000 games, ESPN Sr. Vice President Amanda Gifford leads the network’s presentations. With a career that has spanned teaching third grade, producing Colin Cowherd’s radio show, a stint in ESPN’s Talent Office and TV production, Gifford explains what ESPN’s tries to accomplish and how she rose from an intern into a top executive with great insight about all the personalities she has managed.It is a 35-minute “The Main Event with Andrew Marchand.”For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.comPod Rundown* What is the goal for how ESPN produces college football* Her Penn State and radio background led her to where she is now* Why she taught third grade before joining ESPN full-time* College GameDay and not “screwing it up”* How ESPN exec Mark Gross was instrumental in Lee Corso’s special sendoff from GameDay* The way ESPN manages Kirk Herbstreit schedule with his Amazon Prime Video responsibilities* What are Nick Saban and Pat McAfee like to work with * The Kicking Contest with McAfee and Herbstreit having to pony up at times* ESPN will do more than 1,000 college football games, including 45 on the first Saturday* The UFL TV innovations that have spread to college football* The idea from the UFL that Gifford would love to bring to college football is …* The swearing issue at ESPN …* Going from third grade to working at ESPN Radio* How she started in radio at 16* Why radio is a great foundation* Why the big games are the easy games and …* Why working on Colin Cowherd’s Show was so vital in learning preparation* What moving from radio into management was like* How Cowherd’s brain never shuts off* What does the Talent Office at ESPN do* She wanted to stay in the Talent Office, but a top executive called with a new role * The apprehension with new roles, except for college football* What’s her next goal for her career* Does she still root for her alma mater Penn StateRelated Podcasts: Colin Cowherd … Adrian Wojnarowski … Shams Charania … Mike Soltys … Chris LaPlaca … Mark Shapiro… Adam Schefter … Ramona Shelburne … Greg Hughes … Traug Keller… Howard Katz … Fred Gaudelli … Laura Rutledge … Pete Radovich, Jr. … Troy Benjamin … Phil Mushnick