Joe Schad (born c. 1974) is a reporter, writer, analyst and broadcaster focused on college football and the NFL for more than 20 years. In July 2016, Schad announced he would begin covering the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

and the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a 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 Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

at the ''

Palm Beach Post ''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast. On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and '' The Palm Beach Daily News' ...

''. Schad joined

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

in 2005 as a sports reporter, working as ESPN's National College Football Reporter and appearing on shows including College Football Live,

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

, College GameDay, ESPN First Take, and

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News," stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hear ...

. Schad provided college

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 ...

news and notes for SportsCenter. In addition, Schad wrote news stories and blogged for

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

. Schad hosted a college football show for ESPN Radio and has done college football and NFL sideline reporting for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. Between 2010 and 2015, Schad broadcast more than 145 games for ESPN Radio, including the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, BCS National Championship Game and College Football Playoff Semifinals and National Championship Game. Schad is known for his breaking news, including underclassmen declaring for the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

as well as reporting numerous coaches who have been hired or fired, players who have transferred and coaching contract extensions. Schad reported feature stories and sitdown conversations for shows like College GameDay, SportsCenter and Outside The Lines. Some of Schad's more notable interview subjects are

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and former college football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green F ...

Pete Carroll Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as head coach for the NCAA's ...

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American former college football coach. Brown most recently coached at the University of North Carolina, where he had two stints, first from 1988 until 1997, and again from 2019 until his firing ...

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

Tim Tebow Timothy Richard Tebow (; born August 14, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football for t ...

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football player and coach. He played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nicknam ...

, Jake Locker,

Sam Bradford Samuel Jacob Bradford (born November 8, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Bradford attended Putnam City North High School, where he starred ...

Bobby Petrino Robert Patrick Petrino (born March 10, 1961) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Arkansas. He served as the head football coach at Missouri State from 2020 to 2022. P ...

, Tyrann Mathieu and

Kenneth Starr Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who as Special prosecutor, independent counsel authored the Starr Report, which served as the basis of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an i ...

. Schad has reported on several NCAA investigations including ones into

Reggie Bush Reginald Alfred Bush II (born March 2, 1985) is an American former professional football running back. He played college football for the USC Trojans, earning consensus All-American honors twice and winning the 2005 Heisman Trophy. Bush is wide ...

Cam Newton Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers. He is the NFL le ...

, Johnny Manziel, Marvin Austin, Rhett Bomar,

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and Baylor.

Early life and career

Schad grew up in

Glendale, New York Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Forest Hills to the east, Ridgewood to the west, Woodhaven to the south, and Middle Village to the north. Glendale was built on ...

and graduated in 1992 from St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, Queens and in 1997 from St. John's University in New York earning a degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. While a student at St. John's, Schad was the editor in chief and sports editor of St. John's student-managed newspaper, The Torch. He was also the sports director of WSJU, St. John's official radio station. Schad was recognized with several journalism awards during his collegiate career from the APSE and FSWA.

Before ESPN

After graduating from St. John's, Schad covered college and professional sports for ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' and also worked as a researcher for

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

. In 1999, Schad left New York and began working as a beat writer and general assignment reporter for th
Orlando SentinelFt. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
where he covered the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. During his tenure at the Sentinel, he broke numerous football and men's basketball stories including: a gambling scandal, street brawl, transfers, drug suspensions, accusations of rape, players turning pro and coaching hires. In 2003, Schad began his first stint covering the

for the ''

'' where he garnered national attention for his work on the

Ricky Williams Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977), known professionally as Ricky Williams, is an American former professional football running back who played for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the ...

' drug use, and an FBI investigation into hate mail sent to several prominent athletes. Schad currently resides in

Parkland, Florida Parkland is a city in northern Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Miami and located north of the city. As of the 2020 census, the population of Parkland was 34,670. Parkland is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which ...

References

Former Editor In Chief journeys from The Torch to the NFL. Joe Schad Is a "Media Free Agent" After 11 Years at ESPN. ESPN parts ways with college football staffers Joe Schad, Robert Smith. Former ESPN college football reporter Joe Schad going to Palm Beach Post. BREAKING: Joe Schad Landed His Dream Job and You Can Too. Joe Schad Palm Beach Post. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schad, Joe 1970s births Living people College football announcers St. John's University (New York City) alumni Year of birth missing (living people)