In a recent podcast with with Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, the longtime radio host equated his departure from ESPN earlier this year to when he was released by teams during his NFL career.

“When ‘Mike & Mike’ ended, they still felt there was value to having me there,” the 58-year-old Golic said. “That’s why the new morning show with me and Trey and my son [Mike Jr.] got going, but after that deal and contract was up, they just felt there wasn’t any worth. And, not even from a monetary point, because they didn’t even talk about taking less money. We knew everybody was taking pay cuts. We didn’t even talk about that.”

At ESPN, Golic co-hosted the popular “Mike & Mike” morning radio and simulcast show with Mike Greenberg for 17 years and then co-hosted a replacement show with his son and Trey Wingo until last July.

Golic said he previously took a pay cut when “Mike & Mike” dissolved and the new program began. He broadcast college football games last fall but revealed that was at his own urging to stay involved.

“They said, ‘Well hell, I guess he wasn’t going to work and was going to get paid anyways.’ So I did that,” Golic said. “And we’ve gone back to them since. There were probably three or four different entities we were talking about college and ESPN was one of them. And their last conversation with my agent was ‘No, don’t want it.’ Not even a talk of we can’t pay much. It was just nothing.”

ESPN has parted ways with several of its big names, most recently Kenny Mayne. Golic told The Athletic he is looking at a few options to return to broadcasting.

“Sh–, is it a blow to the ego? Sure. To anybody it would be,” Golic said. “When you are there for as long as you are, and all of a sudden it’s not even discussed to keep you there, yeah, that’s a blow to the ego. But that’s life. I can’t sit here and cry about it. You move on.”

Golic’s NFL career ended in 1993 and he began at ESPN in 1995. When Golic asked two executives to explain why he was no longer wanted, he says he didn’t gain much clarity.

“The first response was ‘We don’t have to tell you,’ ” Golic said. “And I was like OK, and then it was ‘Well we just felt it was time for a change.’ ”

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Ryan Dunleavy