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ESPN plans to try out a variety of candidates for the First Take hosting role after Molly Qerim's shock exit over the weekend, according to reports.
Qerim stunned viewers of the popular sports talk show after abruptly ending her 19-year stint with ESPN out of the blue, despite initial reports suggesting she would do so at the end of the year.
Amid those reports, the 41-year-old took to Instagram on Sunday night to confirm she is bowing out as First Take host after a decade in the hot-seat, before long-time colleague Stephen A. Smith revealed a day later that she has left the network entirely.
It remains unclear why she chose to depart in such hasty fashion, with Smith expressing his frustration at the 'uncomfortable' news on Monday.
ESPN must now turn its attention to Qerim's replacement, and President of Content Burke Magnus claims the company will spend 30 to 45 days testing out a number of potential options before making a decision.
Magnus told The Athletic: 'I don’t know if it’ll be someone in-house or not. We’re not locked into anything in particular.
ESPN is set to try out a variety of potential replacements for Molly Qerim on First Take
Qerim abruptly quit both ESPN and the show she hosted next to Stephen A. Smith for a decade
'The one thing that was unexpected was the timing of all this. She [Qerim] put out a statement because there was a report on it, so it kind of got out of our respective controls once that happened.
'While we knew we were going to make a change — her deal ran through the end of the year — we were more focused on that timeline. So we’re going to take probably about 30 to 45 days to try a variety of in-house people because we can do that on the show. Then we’ll make a decision shortly after that.'
Qerim first joined ESPN back in 2006, initially working on the network's digital and mobile platforms before becoming a College Football Live host two years later.
The American TV personality also worked as a breaking news reporter for Fantasy Football Now on ESPN2, receiving an Emmy for her contribution to the show in 2008.
Seven years later Qerim became the interim host of First Take when she replaced Cari Champion, who was promoted to ESPN's flagship SportsCenter show. Within a matter of months she then landed the gig on a full-time basis and never looked back.
'Molly Qerim is a wonderful person and an unbelievable teammate and colleague,' Magnus continued. 'There was a couple dimensions to this. One, is obviously we were in a renewal conversation. Two, is 10 years to do something like that is a long time.
'I’m not going to speak for her, but I think there was a feeling that she wants to do other things, and successfully being on a top show like that for a decade qualifies as maybe I can turn the page and do something else.
She was reportedly going to be stepping down as First Take host at the end of the year anyway
'We tried to have her do other things and to redo that agreement. It honestly became less about that, and more about, in my opinion, her wanting to do other and explore other things. It ended up being easier for her to make a clean break entirely.'
Magnus also suggested Qerim wanted to embark on a new chapter amid plans for her to step down as First Take host at the end of the year.
'She was going to come off First Take either way and that was something [where] we had already crossed that bridge,' he added. 'So it was from our perspective much more about what else could she be doing, how could we make her more versatile, get her involved in different things? That’s what we were trying to do.
'I read a lot of stuff on X [on Tuesday]. There’s no controversy here. There’s no shoe that’s going to drop. She’s an awesome person. You know, it’s business. You try your best and we just weren’t totally aligned. I totally respect her interest, in rather than going into a less defined situation, to make a clean break and try to do other things outside of ESPN.'
