ESPN had struggled to crack the morning show market when, in 2011, a coordinating producer in his mid-30s named Jamie Horowitz was put in charge of the show “First Take.”

Horowitz obsessively convened rounds and rounds of focus groups to identify the ideal hosts for the show. He discovered that participants’ interest soared the moment that Skip Bayless, a former sports reporter, appeared on screen for a debate segment.

“Research showed that debate was the perfect complement to highlights and analysis fans were also consuming on morning offerings,” Horowitz told ESPN’s corporate blog. “Debate would no longer be the best part of the show, it would be the entire show.”

With that revelation — that lots of viewers would subject themselves to constant bickering on TV — the careers of two people skyrocketed: Bayless, whose provocative comments banged around the sports landscape with abandon, driving fury and TV ratings alike; and Horowitz, the behind-the-camera boy wonder who seemed to have a special view into the psyche of sports fans.