Kirk Herbstreit pulled back the curtains on why he was so emotional after Ohio State’s College Football Playoff championship win over Notre Dame on Monday night.
The ESPN analyst and former Buckeye said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday that seeing his son, Zak Herbstreit, on the sidelines after a heart scare less than two years ago brought out a lot of emotions.
“It was almost like a perfect storm for me,” Herbstreit said during the interview. “My son had heart failure two years ago, and they were talking about a heart replacement for a while. He had to medically retire, and I think the gratitude I have for Ryan Day putting his arms around Zak and keeping him involved.”
Then, the longtime college football commentator revealed that there was much more going on with his family behind the scenes than his son’s health troubles.
“… Ally, my wife, faced some stuff,” he added. “It’s been a tough year for me behind the scenes. My wife got diagnosed with breast cancer, you know, (our family dog) Ben dies. It was just a lot of emotion, and when you do what we do, you endure. You do your job. I think what happened, when they won, I was so happy for Ryan Day and those players, from what they faced and everything they went through. It was almost like a relief, and it just got the best of me.”
The 55-year-old Herbstreit, who served on ESPN’s “College GameDay” for nearly three decades, played quarterback for Ohio State from 1989-1993.
He met Ally, who was a cheerleader at the school during his time in Columbus. Later, he married her and had four sons.
After the game, Herbstreit appeared on “SportsCenter “with Scott Van Pelt alongside play-by-play man Chris Fowler when he got a bit teary-eyed.
“Don’t start with me,” Herbstreit said when Van Pelt asked him a question. “I’m a little emotional. I’m just fired up for these guys. When I call these games I’m incredibly objective. I love all of these Ohio State teams, but this team because of what they went through to get to this point, you’re just happy.”
