For a generation of sports fans, Suzy Kolber became a household name. Her 27 years at ESPN were part of a terrific broadcasting career, one she still speaks about with affection. She loved the work, the preparation and the feeling of being on live television.
That is what makes her account of leaving so personal. Kolber understood that another contract was never guaranteed. What still hurts, she says, is that the end came without a goodbye.
In a conversation shared by Scripps Sports, Kolber reflected on helping launch ESPN2 and the X Games. When her time at the network ended, she wanted a simple acknowledgment of what she had helped build.
“There was never any acknowledgement,” Kolber said.
A few words wishing her well would have meant something.
“And there was never that.”
Kolber said the possibility of losing her job had been hanging over her for weeks. Reports about another round of layoffs featured photographs of her and Steve Young, prompting Young to call and ask whether she thought it was really happening.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” she recalled telling him.
She said she struggled to get a direct answer from her bosses. In a conversation with ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro, she recalled being told the process was about money and that her name was on a whiteboard, although he could not give her a definite answer about what would happen.
“I never in my whole career took for granted there’s going to be another contract,” Kolber said. “Like that’s the nature of the business.”
The message arrived after she left the gym on a Friday morning. One of her bosses texted to ask whether they could talk. Kolber joked that they could speak in August, two years later, then asked for time to get home before taking the call.
She described the conversation as “business-like.” Initially, she said, she was given seven days to clear out her belongings, although that deadline was later extended.
It brings to mind The Godfather: nothing personal, strictly business. That is the cold reality of the corporate world. Even a household name with decades of service can become a line in a budget. Kolber gave ESPN a considerable part of her life and received a corporate goodbye. For the company, it was a financial decision. For the person who loved the work, a few words of appreciation would still have mattered.
The most emotional moment came when she announced the departure herself. According to Kolber, ESPN told her it would not make an announcement and that she could handle it. She prepared a social media post and arranged for Adam Schefter to amplify it once it went live.
For someone who had spent so much of her life in television, putting that ending into words was emotional.
“This still makes me emotional,” she said while recounting that moment.
Yet Kolber spoke just as warmly about what came next. Her daughter was about to enter her junior year of high school, and leaving the Monday television schedule meant she could attend every one of her games.
“I don’t have to miss any games on Monday,” she said. “I get to be there for every single one of her games.”
She called that time a blessing. Adjusting to life without the rush of live television, however, took work. Kolber compared preparing for a broadcast to an athlete getting ready to race or play basketball.
“I was addicted to the adrenaline,” she said.
Learning to come down from that feeling and relax, she added, “has been an adjustment.”
Kolber now hosts The Originals on Scripps Sports Network, which launched the interview series on September 15. It is another chapter in a career that has made her such a familiar presence to sports viewers. The missing goodbye still matters to her, but so does everything she gained along the way—and the chance to be there for her daughter now.
