Mike Golic talks 'Mike & Mike,' Notre Dame, South Bend
He's a familiar voice in Michiana and a well-known voice in the sports world.
Tuesday, ESPN’s Mike Golic talked changes to his old stomping grounds and a very big change to his longtime gig.
He came back home just one week after announcing the popular sports radio show Mike & Mike will come to an end.
“This will always be a second home to my wife and I,” he said.
Golic says it’s hard to leave home, especially with so much change on the horizon.
“That change is obviously all for the better,” said Golic. “And my kids got to live a lot of those and you see even more and more dorms with air conditioning, who knew that was even possible?”
He noticed those little things when his son and daughter attended his alma mater.
He’s originally an Ohio guy, but the Fighting Irish runs deep in his blood.
“My brother Bob and I came here and my brother Greg came here as well, a year before I did,” he said. “Once this place gets ahold of you, it’s tough not to fall in love with it.”
He says during his time in the ‘80s, not much was interesting to students outside of Notre Dame.
“South Bend was just kind of there, you didn’t really venture out,” he said. “There was nothing really to venture out to.”
He says he now sees a now a thriving city, which is why Thursday he was the keynote speaker at the 24th Annual Excellence in Construction Awards Banquet, presented by the Michiana Builders Association.
It’s an event honoring the men and women that made these changes possible.
“A lot of these construction companies have not only worked in the South Bend Area and the power plants and the casino, but a lot of them do Notre Dame construction, as we know, Notre Dame is always building something,” he said.
There’s quite a bit of change happening in his life.
Come January 1, his longtime co-host of Mike & Mike will pursue a new morning show and Golic will continue his show with a new team.
Golic said before the shake up, he considered leaving the show after his contract ended in December.
“I was ready to kind of retire and go off to Scottsdale, Arizona and hang out there and jump back between there and Notre Dame during football season and retire,” he said. “But then the opportunity came with the new show to work with my son and to work with Trey Wingo and I said, ‘you know what, that sounds like fun.’ I know Trey very well and obviously I know my son, so I thought this will be a great opportunity. Kind of a one more go around to have some fun.”