Kirk Herbstreit Says Wife Alison Was Diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2024

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit was visibly emotional after his alma mater Ohio State defeated Notre Dame to win the national championship on Monday night, but he revealed that there was much more besides the victory that caused his reaction.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Herbstreit revealed that recent health scares for his wife Alison and his son Zak made the win for the Buckeyes carry even more weight in his mind.

"It was almost like a perfect storm for me," he said around the 1:25 mark. "My son had heart failure two years ago. They were talking about a heart replacement there for a while, and he had to medically retire. ... There was that side of it, looking down and seeing him in his jersey after potentially facing replacing your heart to that. I haven't really talked about this publicly, but Ali, my wife, faced some stuff. It's been a tough year for me behind the scenes. My wife got diagnosed with breast cancer. Ben dies. It was just a lot of emotion. And when you do what we do, you endure. You do your job."

Herbstreit praised Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and his coaching staff for still embracing Zak and allowing him to remain with the program in what Herbstreit said is "almost like a [graduate assistant]" role. He and Alison were together in the broadcasting booth as they watched Zak and the rest of the Buckeyes celebrate the victory.

"It was almost like, I don't know, maybe a release of all that pent-up stuff, and it just got the best of me," Herbstreit added.