RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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On a Monday morning, almost exactly six years to the day he signed off, Mike Golic, Sr. returned to ESPN Radio airwaves.
“It’s great to be back,” he said, sitting across from his son, Mike Golic, Jr., on the first episode of The Golics . “Been gone for 6 years. Didn’t think this opportunity would happen again. And very, very happy that it has with you. For as much as I’m going to rip you during the time we’re together, I am definitely glad to be sitting next to you.”
The father-son duo picked up right where they left off in the previous incarnation of their show, needling one another and setting the tone for ESPN audiences who might not remember what it sounds like to hear a Golic (or multiple Golics) on the radio.
We are back, and maybe better than ever @mikegolicjr | @golic pic.twitter.com/A3qldYlYzA
— The Golics (@thegolics) August 3, 2026
What was most striking about Golic, Sr.’s return to ESPN Radio wasn’t how smooth and familiar it felt, though that was certainly the case, but how impossible it seemed not so long ago.
It’s easy to forget how big Mike & Mike was. The centerpiece of ESPN Radio from 2000 to 2017, the weekday morning show was, in many ways, also one of ESPN’s go-to morning programs on the TV side, simulcasting initially on ESPNews before moving to ESPN2 in 2006.
Inducted into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2016 , the show might have continued on to this day in some form if not for a budding acrimony between Golic and co-host Mike Greenberg. Rumors became reports, which gave way to public sniping before it was announced in 2017 that the show would be ending. Greenberg took his talents to TV full-time while Golic tried to recapture what had worked with Trey Wingo (and to an extent, Golic Jr.). The magic had disappeared, however, along with radio’s place in ESPN’s hierarchy of importance. Golic and Wingo were canceled in 2020, airing their final show on July 31. Golic, Sr. continued calling college football games for ESPN for a time, but his contract expired in 2021, and, according to him, ESPN didn’t re-sign him because “ they just felt there wasn’t any worth .”
Time heals all wounds, as they say. Though it also doesn’t hurt to have supporters roaming the halls in Bristol.
In an interview with Richard Deitsch in 2021, Golic said that he felt like “the two people I deal with at ESPN” simply didn’t want him on the roster anymore.
“If you were to ask them and that’s what they said, ‘he’s been there 20-some years, and we felt it was time for a change.’ Okay, listen, that’s their decision. Decisions like that are made all the time. Do I agree with it? No, but again I wasn’t asked,” Golic told Deitsch . “Their answer may be he’s been there long enough, and we don’t feel there’s… he’s worth it being here anymore. Obviously they felt that because I’m not there. That would be a question for them. They could probably give you an answer to that easy and not get into any more, more if there is anything more. And I have no idea if there is.”
Later in that interview, Golic said the two executives he dealt with most at ESPN were Norby Williamson and Dave Roberts . If one were to presume these were the two people he was referring to, it’s worth noting that both are no longer with the company.
“Shoutout to Mike Foss , who helped make all this happen, the grand poobah around here,” Golic, Jr. said during Monday’s show, driving home the changing leadership perspectives in Bristol.
And so, to paraphrase a popular meme , somehow, Golic returned. Not only does he return to ESPN, but he does so in his old timeslot and, this time, sitting across from someone he’s very unlikely to have a falling out with anytime soon. The 63-year-old would probably bristle at the notion that this is the culmination of his broadcasting career, but in terms of where he and ESPN were just six years ago, it’s a happy ending and reunion few people thought would ever happen.
The post Somehow, Mike Golic returned: The ESPN Radio reunion that seemed impossible 6 years ago appeared first on Awful Announcing .
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