Erin Jill Andrews (born May 4, 1978) is an American sportscaster and television personality. She rose to prominence as a correspondent on the American cable sports channel ESPN after joining the network in 2004. She later joined Fox Sports in 2012 and has since become the lead sideline reporter for the network's NFL broadcasting team. In 2010, she also gained further recognition from placing third on the tenth season of ABCs Dancing with the Stars and eventually co-hosted the show from 2014 to 2019 with Tom Bergeron.
Early life and family
Andrews was born in Lewiston, Maine, to Paula Andrews, a teacher, and Steven Andrews, a broadcast journalist. Her family moved to San Antonio, Texas when she was 5 years old, and then to Valrico, Florida 18 months later, when her father, a six-time Emmy Award winner, began working as an investigative reporter for NBC affiliate WFLA-TV.
Andrews describes herself as a tomboy as a youth, living a life that always revolved around sports, watching NBA games with her father growing up, particularly Boston Celtics games. Andrews cited Hannah Storm, Melissa Stark, Lesley Visser, and Suzy Kolber as female sportscasters she looked up to who ultimately inspired her to become a sportscaster herself.
Andrews attended Bloomingdale High School in Valrico, where she was a member of the dance team, student government, and the National Honor Society. While growing up, she also attended the Brandon School of Dance Arts in Seffner, Florida. Andrews has stated that being a tomboy, she did not have a lot of female friends in high school, opting to hang out with the boys, finding it more enjoyable to discuss sports with them.
Following graduation from high school in 1996, Andrews attended the University of Florida, graduating in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in telecommunications. While in college, she was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, and the Florida Gators Dazzlers dance team from 1997 to 2000.
Career
2000–2004: Early work
In 2000, Andrews was employed by Fox Sports Florida as a freelance reporter. From 2001 to 2002, she served as a Tampa Bay Lightning reporter for the Sunshine Network. From 2002 to 2004, Andrews covered the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Thrashers, and Atlanta Hawks for the Turner South network as a studio host and reporter.
2004–2012: ESPN
Andrews began working for ESPN in April 2004 as a reporter for ESPN National Hockey Night. She has also reported for the College World Series, Little League World Series, and Great Outdoor Games. Andrews began serving as a sideline reporter for ESPN College Football Saturday Primetime and Big Ten college basketball games, and in 2005, her job expanded to include ESPN College Football Thursday Primetime and Major League Baseball sideline reporting. From 2008 to 2010, she reported for ESPN's and ABC's live coverage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
In 2010, Andrews competed on the tenth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. They placed third out of 11 couples.
In January 2011 Andrews signed an endorsement deal with Reebok to promote its ZigTech brand. Two weeks prior, as a sideline reporter during the 2011 Rose Bowl, Andrews noted that Texas Christian University Horned Frogs football players were slipping on the turf because of the new Nike shoes they were wearing. Due to the perceived conflict of interest, ESPN announced revised endorsement guidelines for its journalists that required Andrews to end her endorsement deal with Reebok by the end of 2011.
In November 2011, former ESPN executive Keith Clinkscales filed suit against ESPN Vice President Joan Lynch, claiming she had falsely alleged Clinkscales had masturbated while sitting next to Andrews on an airplane flight earlier that year. Andrews was reported to have disclosed the incident to a number of people but chose not to pursue the matter with ESPN's HR department because she was still shaken by public disclosure of her stalking experiences.
Andrews hosted the first hour of ESPN's College GameDay on ESPNU, and had been a Good Morning America correspondent on ABC since 2010, though she had not appeared on the show since covering the Oscars in February 2011.