Jenny Taft (born September 5, 1987) is an American sports television personality who served as the moderator on

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

's '' Skip and Shannon: Undisputed''. Taft additionally works as a lead

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

sideline reporter Sideline(s) may refer to: * Extended side, the geometric line that contains the side of a polygon * Sidelines, the lines that mark the outer boundaries of a sports field * Sideline (app), a smartphone app * ''Sidelines'' (newspaper), the studen ...

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

broadcasts. Her broadcasting career began with the

Fox Sports North Bally Sports North is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. The channel broadcasts coverage of sporting events involving teams located in the Upper Midwest region, with a focu ...

(FSN) regional affiliate. Taft is also a pit reporter for

BattleBots ''BattleBots'' (logo: Bꓭ)In season 10, the 2020-2021 TV season, the show introduced the "Bꓭ" logo is an American robot combat television series. The show was an adaptation of the British show '' Robot Wars'', in which competitors design and o ...

on the Discovery channel.

Early years

Jenny Taft was born on September 5, 1987 in

Edina, Minnesota Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

. She attended

Edina High School Edina High School is a four-year public high school located in Edina, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of Minneapolis. The current student population is 2,683. Edina High School was ranked as 486th best public high school in the United States a ...

. Taft then attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, where she played lacrosse. She majored in Broadcast Journalism and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2010. Taft speaks French fluently.

Broadcasting career

Fox Sports North

Taft's broadcasting career began with Fox Sports in 2011. This early period of her career saw her fill a "Fox Sports Girl" role, as she served as a

for the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

of the WNBA. During her time as an FSN Girl, she was also a

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

contributor for Minnesota's Timberwolves,

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

, and

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

sports teams, as well as an in-stadium/arena host at Twins and Wild games. Taft attributed her success later in her career in part due to getting on-camera repetitions at FSN.

Fox Sports 1

In August 2013, she was promoted to join

FS1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed (TV network), Speed on August 1 ...

's news and highlights update team. She served as a track reporter for a 2013

Supercross The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from ...

event, which was her debut assignment at FS1. She also served as a reporter for the

U.S. women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

. Taft got her start in

reporting in 2014, as part of FS1's game coverage. In 2017, Taft was elevated to lead college football sideline reporter, alongside play-by-play commentator Gus Johnson and analyst

Joel Klatt Joel Klatt (born February 4, 1982) is a college football color commentator and analyst for Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports. Klatt played college football for the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Colorado (CU) Colorado Buffalo ...

. Her role at FS1 expanded considerably, as she has additionally covered the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, and the

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, traditionally held annually at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of a handful of benched shows in the United States. Dogs ...

. In 2018, she served as a fill-in host and moderator on various FS1 programs. That summer, it was announced that Taft would be succeeding

Joy Taylor Joy Allison Taylor (born January 17, 1987) is an American Media Personality, media personality and television host for Fox Sports 1. She is currently the co-host of Speak with LeSean McCoy and Emmanuel Acho. Taylor was the news update anchor on ...

as the moderator of '' Skip and Shannon: Undisputed'', hosted by

Skip Bayless Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II) is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left ...

and

Shannon Sharpe Shannon Sharpe (born June 26, 1968) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he ranks th ...

. Shortly after, on September 5, FS1 debuted ''CFB: Inside Slant'', a weekly college football show hosted by Taft. Despite taking on these new positions at FS1, she retained her college football sideline reporting duties for the 2018 season. In 2020, she was a sideline reporter for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

' coverage of

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

games. In 2022, Taft signed an extension at

but left '' Skip and Shannon: Undisputed'' after going on maternity leave in February. Taft also got into a verbal dispute on air with

after Bayless made critical comments about

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

' coach

Mike McCarthy Michael John McCarthy (born November 10, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). From 2006 to 2018, he was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. In 2011, he led t ...

based on his body weight and appearance.

Personal life

Taft is the daughter of John Taft, a former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

and member of the

United States men's national ice hockey team The United States men's national ice hockey team is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with its U18 and U17 development program in Plymouth, Michigan. The team is controlled by USA Hockey, the governing body for organized ice hockey in the ...

at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

. In 2015, Taft married

Matt Gilroy Matthew J. Gilroy (born July 20, 1984) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who last played for the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the National League (NL). Gilroy played in National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers, ...

, also a former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

defenseman. On December 4, 2021, Taft revealed that she was pregnant with a due date the following March.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taft, Jenny 1987 births American sports announcers American sports journalists American television reporters and correspondents American women sportswriters Boston University Terriers women's lacrosse players College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Edina High School alumni Fox Sports 1 people Fox Sports announcers Lacrosse players from Minnesota Living people Major League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers Sportspeople from Edina, Minnesota Women's National Basketball Association announcers Women sports announcers Women sports commentators XFL (2020) broadcasters