Kirk Herbstreit pulled back the curtain on why he got so emotional after Ohio State's College Football Playoff championship win over Notre Dame on Monday night.
The ESPN analyst and former Buckeye said Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” that his son, Zach Herbstreit, was watching a game with a heart scare less than two years ago. He said a lot of emotions came up.
“For me, it was like a perfect storm,” Herbstreit said during an interview. “My son had heart failure two years ago and we had been talking about heart replacement for a while. He had to medically retire, but Ryan Day put his arm around Zach and told him… I'm grateful to them for staying involved.”
The longtime college football commentator then revealed that there was more going on between his family behind the scenes than his son's health issues.
“…Allie, my wife, faced some issues,” he added. “Behind the scenes it's been a tough year for me. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and[our dog]Ben passed away. It was just a lot of emotions, but when we do what we do… , you endure. You do your job. I think when we won, what happened, I was so happy for Ryan Day and those guys, what they faced, everything they went through. It's almost like a relief. And I just felt energized.”
Herbstreit, 55, who hosted ESPN's “College Gameday” for nearly 30 years, played quarterback for Ohio State University from 1989 to 1993.
While in Columbus, he met Allie, who was a cheerleader at her school. He then married her and had four sons.
After the game, Herbstreit appeared on “SportsCenter” with Scott Van Pelt and play-by-play man Chris Fowler, and he was a little teary-eyed.
When Van Pelt asked the question, Herbstreit said, “Don't start on me.” “I'm getting a little emotional. I'm just excited for these guys. I'm incredibly objective when I call these games. I love all my teams, but I'm just happy for this team because of what they've been through to get to this point.”
