Coy Michael Wire (born November 7, 1978) is an American television anchor and correspondent as well as a former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Since 2015, he has worked for

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

as a sports anchor and correspondent, and currently is the anchor of CNN 10, a student-oriented news show. Wire was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

who played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. He played six seasons for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

from 2002 to 2007 and three seasons for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

from 2008 to 2010. With CNN, Wire's many field assignments have included on-the-ground coverage of 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 f ...

, the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

Semi-Finals and National Championship games, and

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) ...

Early life

Wire attended Rice Elementary in the South Middleton School District. Highland Elementary School, Lemoyne Middle School, and Cedar Cliff High School, all in the West Shore School District. He graduated from Cedar Cliff in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in 1997 where he set school records in both football and wrestling that have still not been broken. In 1995, his father, Rick, founded Dynamite Sports, a company that guides student athletes and their families through the recruiting process.

College career

Wire graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and was the first player in modern school history to lead the team in rushing one year and tackles in another.

Professional career

Buffalo Bills

Wire was selected in the third round of the

2002 NFL draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted ...

(97th overall) by the

. He started 15 games at

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

. Following the signing of Lawyer Milloy in 2003, Wire became a full-time

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

player and was named Buffalo's Special Teams Player of the Year twice. Wire was voted a

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in 2005 and selected by his teammates as the Bills' Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. After suffering a neck injury that required surgery to insert a titanium plate and four screws into his neck, Wire was released by the Bills on February 27, 2008.

Atlanta Falcons

Wire signed with the

on July 25, 2008. He played in 47 of 48 games over three seasons with the Falcons before being released on September 2, 2011. While with the Falcons, Wire was named a

and selected by his teammates as the franchise recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award in 2010.

NFL statistics

Media career

Wire served as a game analyst, studio analyst and online writer 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 name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

before joining CNN in 2015. From

CNN Center The Center, formerly and still commonly called the CNN Center, is the former international headquarters of U.S. cable network CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels were located ...

, Wire anchors daily

Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...

segments, covers events and serves as an expert contributor across all platforms. He appears regularly on CNN programs ''Early Start'', ''New Day'' and ''CNN Newsroom'', in addition to HLN programs ''Morning Express'' with Robin Meade and ''Weekend Express'' with Lynn Smith. He also contributes to CNN International's World Sport program and to CNN Digital on a broad range of crossover sports stories. In 2019, Wire worked as a special assignment travel correspondent for CNN. On September 8, 2022, Wire was made anchor of seasonal news program CNN 10, replacing former host Carl Azuz. In the aftermath of this change, many students, teachers and parents were surprised and expressed dismay at the change of anchor.

Personal life

Wire was raised by his parents, Rick and Jane Wire. His mother, Jane, is a visual specialist. He has a sister, Tiffany, and his brother, Casey, is a PGA certified teaching professional. Wire is of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Irish, Dutch, and Japanese descent. His mother named him after the Japanese word for "love". Wire resides in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia, with his wife, Claire, who owns a home design and renovation company. Wire wrote an inspirational book, ''Change Your Mind'', which was published in 2011.

Community work

Wire has served on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

at Make-A-Wish Georgia and has been a

keynote speaker A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

for organizations such as the

U.S. Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

, UPS, and the U.S. Department of Education.

References

External links

Stanford Cardinal bio

WireWire.com

On the Fringe: Wire Wire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wire, Coy 1978 births Living people People from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania American football safeties American football linebackers Stanford Cardinal football players Buffalo Bills players Atlanta Falcons players American football running backs