Dailymail Espn Host Under Fire Again for Calling
Trey Wingo: 'Worst decision' turned ESPN against me
Trey Wingo tried to be honest with management at ESPN, but it may have set his departure in motion.
The familiar voice is out at ESPN after the network did not renew his contract when it expired last month, as The Post's Andrew Marchand first reported. It ended a 23-year run at ESPN in which Wingo was the longtime host of "NFL Live" and the network's NFL Draft coverage, before becoming the co-host of ESPN Radio's morning show, "Golic and Wingo," in 2017.
Wingo told The Athletic that the question of why he is no longer at ESPN would be best answered by the network, but surmised that being honest about not wanting to do radio long-term may have led to his exit.
"Just so we're 100 percent open and honest here: When I agreed to do the radio show I said, 'OK, I'll do this for three years and see how it works out,'" Wingo said. "I knew fairly soon that this clearly wasn't what I wanted to do long-term. That did not have anything to do with any of the people that I worked with. They were great. Certainly working with Mike [Golic] again was so much fun and his son [Mike Golic Jr.] is just killing it. He's really talented, and I hope people are beginning to understand that.
"But it just wasn't how I wanted to spend my time. So my agent and I went to them [management] in May 2019, which is about halfway through the contract. We said, 'We just want to be as open and honest with you as we can. This is probably not something that I want to do again going forward. I just want to be open with you guys because the last thing I would want to do is not tell you that and then two months before you want to start talking about a new deal, you guys get blindsided by the fact that I might go somewhere else or want to do something else.' I tried to be as open and honest with them as possible, starting in May 2019. I guess in retrospect, that might have been the worst decision I could have made."
Wingo reiterated that he "[didn't] blame ESPN for anything" and does not have any "ill will towards anybody at ESPN." That feeling seemed to be mutual, as there was an outpouring of support from colleagues on social media throughout Wingo's last days at ESPN.
For the immediate future, Wingo is hosting his own podcast — "Trey Wingo Presents: Half-Forgotten History" — but was left having to ponder questions about whether he was penalized for being up-front with management regarding his feelings about the radio job.
"I certainly think that's somewhat of a logical place to go, right?" Wingo told The Athletic's Richard Deitsch. "I can tell you this, which I thought was very interesting. I had the greatest job in the world for me doing 'NFL Live,' doing the NFL Draft, going to the Hall of Fame [to host ceremonies]. I loved it. I loved the job. And then they came to me and said, 'Hey, would you consider doing this?' I loved the job that I had. I was really torn as to whether or not I wanted to leave that to go do something else.
"I'll never forget this. I'm not going to name a name here but someone said to me, 'You know, if you don't take this job, they will hold it against you.' So I guess that's my answer to your question because if I had said no to the morning show, apparently, people who would know these things were telling me they will hold it against you the next time if you don't take this job."
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Source: https://nypost.com/2020/12/03/trey-wingo-worst-decision-turned-espn-against-me/
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