Katz doesn't remember the live audition but does remember Herbstreit being on his radar to replace James when contract negotiations with James became difficult. He said Herbstreit's audition tape showed that the "camera really likes him."
His preparation stood out to another ESPN executive, Al Jaffe, who recalled how Herbstreit's knowledge went far beyond that of some broadcasters who might focus mostly on the two teams they're covering that week.
"On GameDay, every conference is discussed," Jaffe said. "You’ve got to have an opinion on everything, and it’s difficult."
Herbstreit's seat on that show helped make him the face and voice of college football, which grew in fame over the past 25 years as he also called some of the week’s biggest games from the broadcast booth for ABC and ESPN. On at least a few occasions, the fame even became too much.
When he moved from Columbus to Nashville, he said in the Columbus Dispatch that he had to move away from a “relentless” vocal minority of Buckeyes fans who didn’t understand that his ESPN job required him to be objective about Ohio State.
Looking back this week, he says it was more about him than them and that he eventually could see himself returning to Columbus. At the time, his celebrity had become a burden he wasn’t ready for — with people he didn’t know finding where he lived and the lunatic fringe of college football getting upset with him for something he said on air.
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