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

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 ...

’s college football and college basketball telecasts.

Career

Early sportscasting work (2009–2013)

While attending

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, 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 the Boston ...

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 (n ...

. 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 Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. 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 thro ...

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 name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

found clips of McGrath's work on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and contacted her via

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (branded on-air as 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 airs an array of live sporting events, including Majo ...

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 or Easterns may refer to: ...

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

Fox College Football ''Fox College Football'' 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 on the Fox network were lim ...

and Fox College Basketball. She also covered games for the

NFL on Fox 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 (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...

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

Battlebots ''BattleBots'' is an American robot combat television series and company. The show is an adaptation of the American Robot Wars competitions hosted in the mid–late 1990s by Marc Thorpe, in which competitors design and operate remote-controlled ...

'' on

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 ...

, for its sixth season.

ESPN (since 2016)

In the summer of 2016, McGrath returned to

as college sports sideline reporter and co-host of

College Football Live ''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, ESPN Deportes, ESPNews and ESPN Radio. ''ESPN College Footb ...

. For the 2016 college football season, McGrath worked the sidelines of ESPN College Football Friday Primetime games, along with

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 ...

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, NFL and College basketball games after previously working for ESPN from 2011 to 2020. He is also the televis ...

. 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 ESPN College Football Friday Primetime games, hosted various halftime shows and episodes of

, 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. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

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 replace ...

, 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 t ...

. 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, ESPN Deportes, ESPNews and ESPN Radio. ''ESPN College Fo ...

games on ESPN or ABC with Mark Jones and Dusty Dvoracek. 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 nominatin ...

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 lea ...

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 former head coach at Bowling Green State University and a member o ...

. For the 2019 football season, McGrath covers two college football games per week:

ESPN College Football Thursday Primetime ''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, ESPN Deportes, ESPNews and ESPN Radio. ''ESPN College Footb ...

with

Matt Hasselbeck Matthew Michael Hasselbeck (born September 25, 1975) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Seattle Seahawks. He played college football for t ...

, and

Pat McAfee Patrick Justin McAfee ( ; born May 2, 1987) is an American sports analyst, color commentator, and former professional football punter and kickoff specialist. He is an analyst on '' College GameDay'' and the host of the sports talk show '' Th ...

, 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 professional football coach and former player who was the quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). A former quarterback in the NFL, he play ...

, 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) XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001) The XFL was a professional American football league that played its only season in 2001. The XFL was operated as a joint venture between the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and NBC. The X ...

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 the WEEI Boston Red Sox Radio Network. McDonough has play-by-play experience for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States an ...

and

Todd Blackledge Todd Alan Blackledge (born February 25, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, leading them to a national c ...

throughout the season. McGrath also joined

Holly Rowe Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster for the ESPN sports television network, as a sideline reporter for college football and basketball games. Rowe made Utah Jazz history on October 22, 2021 as the team's first female ...

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. ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Personal life

McGrath was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, 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 university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Growing up in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. 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 ...

, McGrath attended

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

and graduated in 2007. She then attended

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 The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA metropolitan ...

with her husband, Max Dorsch, a commercial real estate investments professional, and their two sons.

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 NFL announcers XFL (2020–2023) broadcasters College football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Boston College alumni American women sports commentators ESPN people St. Ignatius College Preparatory alumni