Molly Qerim (born March 31, 1984) is an American television personality and a host of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's '' First Take''. She previously was the host of

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...

's weekday morning show, ''

NFL AM ''NFL AM'' (also known as ''NFL All Morning'') is an NFL morning television program on NFL Network. The program premiered on Monday, July 30, 2012. It aired from 6a to 10a ET. On May 8, 2015, the program went on hiatus. Network executives stat ...

'', and ''NFL Fantasy Live''.

Early life

Qerim was born at Yale New Haven Hospital and grew up in

Cheshire, Connecticut Cheshire ( ), formerly known as New Cheshire Parish, is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Cheshire was 28,733. The center of population of Connecti ...

, and graduated from Cheshire High School before attending the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in communications and a minor in business administration. She received a master's degree from

Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University () is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of C ...

in broadcast journalism.

Career

Molly Qerim at Joint Base Charleston (cropped)

Qerim was an anchor and reporter for

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

. She was also a studio anchor, where she hosted ''SEC Tailgate Show'', ''SEC Tonight'', ''MaxPreps Lemming Report'', ''Full Court Press'', and ''Bracket Breakdown''. Qerim has also covered the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

in her time with ESPN, Versus (which became

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...

) and

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 ...

. In addition to her work outside the Octagon, she has co-hosted the annual

World MMA Awards The World MMA Awards are awards presented by ''Fighters Only'' magazine to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of mixed martial arts. Winners are presented with the ''Fighters Only silver statuette''. The World MMA Awards are divided ...

. In 2008, Qerim was the interactive host for ''College Football Live'' on ESPN and ESPN2. She was also the breaking news reporter for ''Fantasy Football Now'' on ESPN2 and was honored with an Emmy for her contribution to the show. Additionally, she co-hosted ''Campus Connection'' on ESPNU. Qerim has been a part of other digital media content, conducting interviews of various athletes and celebrities for ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile. She has covered multiple Super Bowls (hosting, reporting, and red carpet events), the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

presentation, the NBA draft, the

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, a ...

and the

MLB All-Star game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

, providing on-site reporting and interviews. She became the interim host of

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

's '' First Take'' in mid-July 2015. She replaced

Cari Champion Cari Champion (born June 1, 1978) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. She is the host of The Cari Champion Show on Amazon Prime Video Sports Talk. She has worked as an anchor and reporter for the Tennis Channel and as ...

, who was promoted to

's flagship show, ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

''. She was promoted to permanent host of ''First Take'' on September 15, 2015.

Personal life

On April 13, 2018, she announced that she has severe

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, f ...

. On July 20, 2018, Qerim married former NBA player and fellow ESPN host

Jalen Rose Jalen Anthony Rose (born January 30, 1973) is an American sports analyst and former professional basketball player. In college, he was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines' " Fab Five" (along with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy K ...

. In December 2021, TMZ Sports announced Rose had filed for divorce from Qerim, after having been separated for about a year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qerim, Molly 1984 births American people of Albanian descent American people of Italian descent American television sports anchors College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Disney people ESPN people Living people Mixed martial arts broadcasters National Football League announcers People from Cheshire, Connecticut People from New Haven, Connecticut Quinnipiac University alumni University of Connecticut alumni American women sportswriters