ESPN's McDonough says calling MNF wasn't 'fun'

Andrew Joseph | For The Win

ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough is moving back to his college football duties after two seasons in the Monday Night Football role, and it doesn't sound like he's too upset about the reassignment.

Speaking to WEEI in Boston, McDonough revealed that he simply didn't enjoy working the Monday Night Football games quite as much as he expected to when he replaced Mike Tirico in 2016.

He said via Yahoo! Sports:

"I say that after a lot of reflection and mostly a lot of belief that, ultimately, what is the most important thing in life is to be happy. As much as it was a great honor to be the voice of 'Monday Night Football' - and you guys know me well enough, and certainly a lot of my friends and family do - it wasn't a tremendous amount of fun the last two years. When I took my ego out of it, when the conversation about a reboot of 'MNF' came up, when I took the ego part of it out, and rationalized it, I really could be fine with not being the voice of 'MNF,' then it became easy. I love college football. For me, it's more fun, and that's a personal taste."

Much of the issue around his MNF role was that ESPN was generally stuck with a lackluster schedule. McDonough pointed that out in the interview:

"If you go back and look at the schedule, generally we got one of the worst NFL games each week. You're trying to make something sound interesting and exciting that isn't. For me, part of it was just the way the booth was set up the last two years. It was really geared around Jon Gruden. That's not unusual, TV really is an analyst-driven medium."

At times, that frustration would play out in his calls. During a 2016 Jets-Cardinals telecast, he complained about the officiating and the NFL's on-field product.

Sean McDonough absolutely eviscerating NFL officiating and the overall product on air. Wow! #MNF #NYJvsAZ pic.twitter.com/VEb1iKglT8 — Danny Lawhon (@DannyLawhon) October 18, 2016

Joe Tessitore is set to replace McDonough in the MNF booth.

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