Molly Anne McGrath (born June 6, 1989) is an American sportscaster and studio host who works as a sideline reporter for

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 college football and college basketball telecasts.

Career

Early sportscasting work (2009–2013)

While attending Boston College, where she was a cheerleading captain, McGrath pitched the athletic director to let her interview athletes and coaches for the college’s website, BCEagles.com. These interviews helped her put together a reel which she used to help secure her first on-air job. While at BC, McGrath also interned at

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of Boston Red S ...

and

WHDH-TV WHDH (channel 7) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside Cambridge-licensed CW affiliate WLVI (channel 56). WHDH and WLVI share studios at Bulfinch Place (nea ...

. After graduating, McGrath worked at ESPN as a production assistant, where she logged play-by-plays, produced highlights, and other support tasks for various ESPN shows. In 2011, McGrath was hired as a web reporter and in-arena host for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

. She hosted, produced, and edited daily updates, exclusive interviews and other packages for the Celtics' team website. She also hosted the show Celtics Now for

Comcast SportsNet New England NBC Sports Boston is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports events th ...

and served as a sideline reporter for CSNNE’s regional broadcasts.

Fox Sports / ''Battlebots'' (2013–2016)

While working for the Celtics, an executive at

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 F ...

found clips of McGrath's work on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

and contacted her via

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

about a potential job opportunity with the network. She was among several initial hires by Los Angeles-based

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 ...

in the summer of 2013. Initially hired as an update anchor, McGrath quickly rose through the ranks. In 2014, she joined Mike Hill as a co-host and anchor on the daily sports highlight show,

America's Pregame ''America's Pregame'' is an early evening program on Fox Sports 1 hosted by Mike Hill and Molly McGrath. ''America's Pregame'' previewed upcoming games along with news and analysis. It aired at 5 p.m. Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportati ...

. In addition, McGrath also was the lead sideline reporter for

Fox College Football ''Fox College Football'' (or ''Fox CFB'' for short) is the branding used for broadcasts of NCAA Division I FBS college football games produced by Fox Sports, and broadcast primarily by Fox, FS1, and FS2. Initial college football broadcasts ...

and

Fox College Basketball ''Fox College Hoops'' (also know as ''Fox CBB or Fox Primetime Hoops for games airing in primetime hours'') is the branding used for Fox Sports broadcasts of college basketball for Fox, FS1 and FS2. Formally college basketball telecasts have also ...

. She also covered games for the

Fox NFL The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by '' Fox NFL Kick ...

. In 2015, McGrath hosted the return of the revived show ''

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 ...

'' on ABC, for its sixth season.

ESPN (2016–present)

In the summer of 2016, McGrath returned to

as college sports sideline reporter and co-host of College Football Live. For the 2016 college football season, McGrath worked the sidelines of

ESPN College Football Friday Primetime ''ESPN College Football Friday Primetime'' is a live game presentation of Division I-FBS college football on ESPN or sometimes ESPN2 and ESPNU. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, games air on ABC. There is no main sponsor. The game telecast air ...

games, along with

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

and

Adam Amin Adam Amin (born December 19, 1986) is an American sportscaster. Amin joined Fox Sports in June 2020 as a play-by-play announcer for MLB and NFL games after previously working for ESPN from 2011-2020. He is also the television play-by-play anno ...

. She also covered the sidelines for ESPN’s College Basketball telecasts. For the 2017 college football season, McGrath continued her work on the sidelines of

games, hosted various halftime shows and episodes of College Football Live, and covered a number of bowl games such as the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

, Outback Bowl,

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced ...

, and

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to the ...

. For the 2018 football season, McGrath covered Saturday

ESPN College Football ''ESPN College Football'' is the branding used for broadcasts of NCAA Division I FBS college football across ESPN properties, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN+, ABC, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPNews and ESPN Radio. ''ESPN C ...

games on ESPN or ABC with Mark Jones and

Dusty Dvoracek Dusty Dvoracek (born March 3, 1983) is a former American football nose guard. Drafted by the Chicago Bears of the National Football League in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft, he played college football at Oklahoma and professionally with ...

. In 2018 and 2019, McGrath covered the weekly Big Ten

Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating co ...

college basketball match-up with

Dave Flemming David Braxton Flemming (born May 31, 1976) is an American sportscaster who has been a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2003. Flemming also calls college football, college basketball, major leagu ...

and

Dan Dakich Daniel John Dakich (born August 17, 1962) is an American basketball sportscaster. He is a former player, assistant coach, interim head coach for the Indiana University Hoosiers and former head coach at Bowling Green State University. He current ...

. For the 2019 football season, McGrath covers two college football games per week: ESPN College Football Thursday Primetime with

Matt Hasselbeck Matthew Michael Hasselbeck (born September 25, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Boston College and was drafted in the sixth r ...

, and Pat McAfee, and ESPN/ABC Saturday games with

Steve Levy Steve Levy (; born March 12, 1965) is an American journalist and sportscaster for ESPN. He is known for his work broadcasting college football, ''Monday Night Football'' and the National Hockey League. Early life and career Levy went to Jo ...

Brian Griese Brian David Griese ( ; born March 18, 1975) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the th ...

, and

Todd McShay Todd Marshall McShay (born March 22, 1977) is an American football television analyst and commentator. Early life McShay attended North Shore Christian School in Lynn, Massachusetts and then Swampscott High School in Swampscott, Massachusetts, ...

. She joined

's coverage of the

XFL (2020) The XFL is a professional American football minor league consisting of eight teams located across the United States in mid-sized to major markets served by at least one other major professional sports team. Seasons run from February to April, ...

on the week 2 of the season. For the 2021 college football season, McGrath was paired with

Sean McDonough Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and WEEI Red Sox Radio Network. Early life The son of ''Boston Globe'' sportswriter Will McDonough, McDonough graduated from the S. I. Newhouse Sch ...

and

Todd Blackledge Todd Alan Blackledge (born February 25, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in both the NCAA and National Football League. In college, he led the Penn State Nittany Lions to a national championship. A member of the famed Class of 19 ...

throughout the season. McGrath also joined

Holly Rowe Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster currently working for the sports television network ESPN. Rowe is best known as a sideline reporter for college football games which are telecast on ESPN. Rowe made Utah Jazz team ...

on the sidelines for the television broadcast of the

College Football Playoff National Championship The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season. ...

in Indianapolis.

Personal life

McGrath was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to Deborah and Michael McGrath. Her father is of Irish ancestry and her mother is of Mexican-Spanish descent. She has an older brother, Patrick, who played football at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. Growing up in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its numerous eucaly ...

, McGrath attended

St. Ignatius College Preparatory St. Ignatius College Preparatory, commonly referred to as SI, is a private, Catholic preparatory school in the Jesuit tradition, serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 1855. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, in the Su ...

and graduated in 2007. She then attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Broadcast Journalism. While at BC, McGrath was captain of the cheerleading team and earned the athletic director’s award for academic excellence all four years. she lives in the Seattle area with her husband, Max Dorsch, a commercial real estate investments professional, and her son, Ray.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, Molly 1989 births Living people American television sports announcers American sports announcers American sports journalists American sportspeople of Mexican descent National Football League announcers XFL (2020) broadcasters College football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Boston College alumni Women sports announcers ESPN people