College GameDay Makes Major Move Ahead of Season, and Pat McAfee Was Reportedly A Factor

There’s a big change coming behind the scenes at College GameDay just as the college football season is set to kick off, and the rising influence of Pat McAfee at ESPN may have reportedly played a role in what happened.

Veteran producer Jim Gaiero will no longer hold his position after a decade in a move made by the network that was known among people involved with its flagship college football program earlier this month, according to Awful Announcing.

College GameDay makes a change

College GameDay Makes Major Move Ahead of Season, and Pat McAfee Was Reportedly Involved — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ESPN vice president of production Matthew Garrett is poised to be named the executive producer of College GameDay starting this season, the report said.

And it may have been some background friction between McAfee and Gaiero that inspired the network to make the change.

Decision follows McAfee's online tirade

In a viral online rant last fall, McAfee castigated people at the network he believed were criticizing him after a recent showing he had on College GameDay.

“Those are really the people that hate me the most at this stage of life,” McAfee said of “old white people” and “ESPN people” in an Instagram story at the time.

He added: “Throughout the entirety, old whites and the old ESPN people over the last, like, three years have really hated me. That’s who all the producers are of GameDay, too. So now… it’s been a fun run. College football is great. Okay, cheers. Have a great day.”

McAfee didn’t name who any of those producers might be, but the Awful Announcing report indicated that his message was directed at Gaiero and Garrett.

Now, less than a year later, Gaiero is out of the picture at GameDay, even as Garrett is set to take over a more prominent role at the show.

Ex-GameDay producer is still with ESPN

Gaiero is embracing a change in role at ESPN as the network prepares to broadcast its first ever Super Bowl game, and he is poised to take over helping with the worldwide leader’s golf coverage in time for The Masters and the PGA Championship.

But the report still questioned the exact timing of the College GameDay move, with some wondering why it happened so close to the start of the college football season, and compared it to ESPN suddenly separating from executive Lee Fitting, who also worked on the show.

Nick Saban isn't happy about the move

The Gaiero-GameDay split reportedly has bothered Nick Saban, the seven-time national champion who joined the program as an analyst who is said to have a close relationship with the outgoing producer, with the report saying “the move has not gone over well with the former Alabama coach.”

But, “at the very least, friction with Pat McAfee was factored into the decision” for Gaiero to move on from College GameDay, according to the report.

ESPN’s bio of Gaiero credits him with overseeing the network’s “entire portfolio of college football studio shows.” That was, apparently, until now.

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