ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit clarifies viral hot mic comment made during Bill Belichick’s debut
Herbstreit was laughing at a joke from an ESPN spotter, not Belichick's overmatched football team, he said.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit took to social media to defend a comment he made during the broadcast of TCU’s blowout victory over North Carolina Monday night.
Herbstreit appeared to be laughing as the network came back from a commercial break with UNC trailing TCU 41-14 at the start of the fourth quarter. The video was clipped and began to circulate on the social media platform X.
Numerous accounts, including Barstool Sports, quoted Herbstreit as saying “they’re bad” in reference to UNC’s struggles.
Herbstreit quoted two of the tweets with an explanation of his words and the context they were involved in.
“Must be a slow night..not sure why this is so confusing,” Herbstreit wrote. “I said “YOU’RE bad” to my spotter Deron for something funny he said when we were just coming back on air.”
The ESPN analyst called one of the posts that seemingly misquoted him “manipulation at its finest.”
Bill Belichick’s debut as UNC head coach went disastrously wrong, with the Tar Heels falling 48-14 to an unranked TCU squad.
Broadcasting such lopsided contests can be difficult, Herbstreit said. At one point, ESPN showed Herbstreit’s dog on the broadcast wearing a headset in an attempt to keep viewers entertained during the non-competitive clash.
“Instead of making up things I said how bout giving Rece [Davis], Holly [Rowe], and I some love for getting through that game,” Herbstreit said. “Those games are by far the toughest games you announcers have to call.”
UNC scored a touchdown on its opening drive and things quickly went downhill.
TCU strung together 41 unanswered points before UNC scored its final touchdown of the night with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter.
The game was Belichick’s first as a college football head coach.
Before the blowout loss, Belichick joked that he hoped the outcome would be different from what happened during his NFL head coaching debut 34 years ago when his Cleveland Browns lost 26-14 to the Dallas Cowboys in 1991.
TCU’s 48-point effort marked the most points ever scored on a Bill Belichick-coached team, according to ESPN.
ESPN’s senior college football writer Pete Thamel said that Belichick’s team had a talent deficit. Recruiting is a key component of success college football. UNC finished eighth amongst ACC teams in 247Sports’s recruiting rankings. The Tar Heels were picked to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason poll.
UNC has some time to figure things out. They have a pair of non-conference games against Charlotte and Richmond the next two weeks. They won’t face another ranked opponent until Oct. 4 when they host No. 4 Clemson in their first game of conference play.
But, the Tar Heels’ home opener against TCU was tough to watch. Some might even say it was a “bad” look for UNC.
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