Katie Nolan Announces ESPN Exit
By Liam McKeone
Katie Nolan's time at ESPN has come to an end. The personality announced her departure via her Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon.
I’ve thought about sending this tweet for weeks and I still have no clue how to make it not make you all roll your eyes. Alas: the obvious thing has happened. I no longer work at ESPN. I’m really grateful for my time here. I made incredible friendships and valuable mistakes.
— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021
This year of slowing down has affected me on a cellular level. If you listen to the podcast this isn’t news to you. What’s next for me is to figure out how/where/when this new me can use the skills the old me acquired to make the stuff I think needs making. And maybe a vacation?
— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021
For the sake of brevity I’m gonna handle most of my thank yous via text, but I do want to publicly sing the praises of @AshleyBraband, a woman who made a lot of personal sacrifices in service of ESPN and myself, and who may never know how much that means to me.
— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021
Lastly, to the most beleaguered podcast fans in the game: Thank you, for all of it. Seeing you be decent and hilarious with each other online is the best evidence I have that I’m on a path worth walking. You rule. If you’re still here when I get back, I won’t forget that. LYMI.
— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021
Nolan joined ESPN in 2017 and immediately dove into the grander Le Batard universe, appearing on Highly Questionable and the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz consistently in her early ESPN career. Her most successful venture with the Worldwide Leader was Always Late with Katie Nolan, which was canceled in 2020 amidst the early onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nolan has always had a creative mind for the crossroads of sports and humor, as reflected in her Sports Emmy win for Garbage Time, the program she ran while with FOX Sports. From the outside, it feels that she was underutilized by ESPN and by the end of her tenure was only making spot appearances on various podcasts under the network umbrella. Her appearances on Highly Questionable, especially, were great for the show.
As for what's next for Nolan, Meadowlark comes to mind as the obvious landing spot given her previous work and the speed at which the newly-founded company is amassing talent. But from the sound of her tweets above, she's going to take her time deciding what the next step will be.