​Mike Golic Sr. and Mike Golic Jr. are poised to debut The Golics on ESPN Radio on August 3, marking six years since ESPN parted ways with Golic Sr. and four years since Golic Jr. left to join him full-time. The new show will air weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon Eastern, and ESPN announced in June that it would be part of a multi-year deal. The program will be simulcast on the ESPN App and will be available on podcast platforms after each live broadcast.
Ahead of the launch, Golic Jr. joined The Athletic’s Audible podcast and described the return as feeling natural personally, attributing that ease to the number of familiar faces still around the building. He stressed that the story extends beyond his own experience, noting that it represents only half of what’s unfolding.
“Obviously, the first time around was more complicated, leaving with dad, and coming back was always going to entail more for him than it would for me,” Golic Jr. said. “I’m trying to give myself a chance to endure as long in this industry as he and so many people I grew up listening to and watching have. He’s already left an indelible mark on sports radio and sports media, so I knew the impact would be significant. But he’s genuinely excited and invigorated by the opportunity and by returning to something that feels familiar—something he knows well—with a group of people we trust and still care about.”
Golic Sr. spent 25 years at ESPN, beginning alongside Mike Greenberg on Mike & Mike, then with Trey Wingo and his son on Golic and Wingo before that show ended in 2020. After the split, the father-and-son team launched Golic & Golic on DraftKings in 2023. When DraftKings chose not to renew, they moved to FanDuel Sports Network, which operated for about 10 months before FanDuel TV announced a 20-month wind-down that eliminated roughly 100 jobs. It was the third stop in three years for a collaboration that ESPN had essentially rejected, and now, improbably, ESPN—the network that once told Golic Sr.’s agent it had no interest in bringing him back even at a reduced pay—has become the fourth stop. Yet, according to Golic Jr., that history has not bred resentment. He credited his father’s approach for keeping the transition smooth.
“I think the good news with my dad is he’s never been a grudges-kind of guy, never into drama, because he doesn’t hold things back,” the younger Golic said. “He’s an old-school, face-to-face guy. If he has a problem with someone, he’ll address it straight up, then and now, and he won’t let it linger. There wasn’t a lot of bad feeling to be parsed through when coming back here. There wasn’t a lot of that because I think he’s always handled his business the right way. He’s always taken pride in doing that. It’s allowed these conversations to be really fun. It’s allowed them to be energizing and hopeful, and, as you said, it’s given us a chance to do this with better synergy and publicity.”