Kirk Herbstreit wants to clear the air. The ESPN analyst was caught on a hot mic during the fourth quarter of TCU's 48-14 win over North Carolina saying, "You're bad," while groaning.
Videos by FanBuzz
Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The clip quickly went viral, with some insisting he was taking a shot at Bill Belichick's Tar Heels in the coach's debut.
Herbstreit said that was not the case. He explained on X that the remark was directed at his spotter, Deron, for something funny said as they were coming back from break. "Manipulation at its finest," Herbstreit posted. He later called out Barstool for suggesting otherwise, writing, "Must be a slow night. Not sure why this is so confusing."
He added that blowouts like Monday's game are among the hardest for broadcasters. "Instead of making up things I said how about giving Rece, Holly and I some love for getting through that game. Those games are by far the toughest games announcers have to call," Herbstreit wrote.
Tony Granieri, a spotter for ESPN who was in the booth, backed him up. Granieri tweeted that he was standing three feet away and Herbstreit did in fact say "you're bad" to Deron.
“They’re bad”
Kirk Herbstreit got caught on the hot mic!
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 2, 2025
The hot mic chatter overshadowed a rough debut for Belichick at North Carolina. The Tar Heels scored on their opening drive but quickly unraveled. Quarterback Gio Lopez threw a costly pick-six in the first half and finished 4-of-10 passing for 69 yards before being benched. Max Johnson came on in relief but the game was already out of reach.
"Obviously, we have a lot of work to do," Belichick said. "We need to do a better job all around. They outplayed us, out-coached us, and they were just better tonight. That's all there was to it."
North Carolina will face Charlotte on Saturday looking to regroup after one of the ugliest losses of Belichick's career.
