From College Cafeteria to a National Network: How Molly McGrath Paved Her Own Way to Success

By Julia Morris

Hosting a television show in a college cafeteria might not be the conventional way to start out in broadcasting, but that is exactly what current Fox Sports 1 anchor Molly McGrath did to jumpstart her career.

25-year-old McGrath moved from San Francisco to Boston to attend Boston College in 2007.  After arriving in her new home, she realized right away that she wanted to study sports broadcasting.

“When I moved to Boston, the Red Sox had just won the World Series in 2007 and the Celtics won in 2008 and I was just in a really wonderful sports town,“ McGrath said.  “My college had a great athletic program so it really moved me to have more of a passion than anything for working in sports.”

While McGrath knew what she wanted to study, she also realized that her communications degree alone would not be enough to land her a job on-camera.

"I knew that I needed to find some kind of experience if I wanted to be on camera out of college," McGrath said.

During her senior year in 2010, McGrath was named cheerleading captain.  As an athlete with proven leadership abilities, she developed close relationships with the staff of the Boston College Athletic Department, including Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo.  McGrath took advantage of her connections and pitched an idea to DeFilippo that would help her gain sports reporting experience. 

“I said…I'm the cheerleading captain, I’ve worked with everyone here, and I know all of the athletes really well is there a chance that I could create a student reporter role, you really don’t have anything like that that exists,” McGrath recalls.  “If I do this and interview the athletes a couple times a week could we put this on the website as a way to help promote BC Athletics.”

DeFilippo agreed to let McGrath produce and host the show, which was shot in one of Boston College’s dining halls, Hillside Cafe.  The show, Mondays at Hillside, featured interviews with various athletes, including members of the women’s basketball team and the men’s hockey team.  

“It’s just very basic but it was a way to get me to figure out how to have live experience,” McGrath said.

After graduating from Boston College in 2011, McGrath used her college on-air experience to help her land a job with the Boston Celtics as a live in-arena reporter.   

"I applied with the reel made from all of my college stuff and they called me and had me come in for a meeting and I ended up getting the job," McGrath said.

McGrath now works for Fox Sports 1 in a variety of on-camera roles, including sideline reporter for NFL games, highlight reader, anchor, and co-host of a daily show.  Her dream is to one day cover the Super Bowl.  Although she looks back now on the Mondays at Hillside show and laughs, she knows the experience it provided was invaluable in helping her achieve her current success. 

“It got me comfortable hosting in front of my peers and in front of people so you know it’s silly but it really did help,” McGrath said.  “Any small experience can help you.”

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Interview Transcription

JM: Molly what made you want to pursue a career as a sports anchor and a reporter?

MM: Well I always knew that I wanted to work in television.  I went to Boston College and when I moved to Boston I was trying to decide if I wanted to work in news or sports.  I always loved sports and I have an older brother who played football in college and I come from a family with a strong sports background so that kind of made me think more about sports.   When I moved to Boston, the Red Sox had just won the World Series in 2007 and the Celtics won in 2008 and I was just in a really wonderful sports town. My college had a great athletic program so it really moved me to have more of a passion than anything for working in sports.

JM: I know you mentioned BC and you were a member of the cheerleading team there as well.  How do you think that being an athlete yourself affected your understanding of what athletes in sports have to go through to be successful?

MM: Yea that really helped.  Being a cheerleader at BC helped me get to know the athletic director and all of the coaches and I had a similar schedule.   I cheered for football and basketball, men and women, so I was always really busy and traveling with the team so I kind of understood what these athletes were going through in a different way but I still understood their schedule and it got me really close with some of the coaches and the Athletic Director.  One day I knew that I needed to find some kind of experience if I wanted to be on camera out of college so I went to the Athletic Director and said look you know me, I ‘m the cheerleading captain I’ve worked with everyone here and they trust me and I know all of the athletes really well is there a chance that I could create a student reporter role you really don’t have anything like that that exists.  If I do this and interview the athletes a couple times a week could we put this on the website as a way to help promote BC Athletics.   And he said yea that’s a great idea, that would be wonderful if you can kind of do the work of this then we’ll let you do it.  So that was kind of my first self-made on camera job was BC Athletics, that’s how I got my start.

JM: I’ve seen the Hillside Broadcasts it’s a great thing.

MM: Oh my gosh yea it’s funny because I knew I needed live experience to be able to say I had done stuff live so I said “Do you think we can do a show in our dining hall and it’s like so bad and very, very poorly produced it’s just very basic but it was a way to get me to figure out how to have live experience.  It got me comfortable hosting in front of my peers and in front of people so you know it’s silly but it really did help.  Any small experience can help you.

JM: I agree and I think it’s really impressive that you took the initiative with that.  I know you also touched on your experience working for the Celtics, how were you able to make the transition from covering college sports at BC to then covering a professional team?

MM: I graduated from BC and applied to over 150 jobs, most on camera and I got nothing.  I was graduating with no job and I was freaked out and I finally got a job at ESPN as a production assistant so I was behind the camera, cutting highlights, and writing scripts and printing scripts, prompting and all that.  So I took a job right out of college at ESPN as a Production Assistant and got to see what it’s like on the other side of the camera and really get that experience there.  But the entire time that I was at ESPN I was looking for an on camera job because they were not going to give me an opportunity to be on camera because they just don’t do that.  ESPN doesn’t do that kind of thing.   So I applied to a bunch of different jobs and my reel was almost getting outdated, it had been six months since I graduated so it was still sending out a lot of the videos from my college days.  And I sent that out and heard about an opening at the Celtics for their web reporter and team reporter position so I applied for that with the reel made from all of my college stuff and they called me and had me come in for a meeting and I ended up getting the job.  And that started out as a web-reporter for the Boston Celtics and then it evolved into live in-arena reporting which evolved into sideline reporter for Comcast Sports Net.  So it all kind of happened pretty quickly after that.

JM: And now obviously you are covering all types of sporting events for Fox Sports 1, what do you think is the best part of your job right now?

 MM: I think the best part of the job is definitely the opportunities Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1 have provided for me.  I came in to this a year ago with very little experience and since then I’ve gone from an update anchor to now being a co-host on a daily show every single day on a national network, which is just unbelievable.   So I’ve gotten a lot of hosting experience.  I had never done any football sideline reporting and they put me on NFL Sidelines last year which was incredible and to fill in for people like Erin Andrews who I always looked up to was just surreal.  And now I'll be doing some more college football.  So hosting experience, sideline reporting experiences, I’ve anchored, and I’ve read highlights on our show Fox Sports Live, it’s really given me a really diverse experience so that I can get talented in all different kinds of things.  That’s rare to find in a national network so it’s really great they’ve given me those opportunities. 

JM: Right and as you said just getting opportunities with professional sports and all the different things that you’ve got to experience, you have accomplished a lot thus far in your career so looking ahead what goals do you have for the future?

MM: I think my goal now is simply to just get better every single day and get more comfortable.   I’ve only been at a national network for a year but before that I really had very little experience.  They took a big chance on me so I’m still getting used to being on TV every day.  I’m still getting used to being comfortable.  I know I have a lot to work on so it’s just more of showing my personality.  Long-term goals I would love to host my own show some day.  And I would love to have the confidence to really command the show and carry it on my own so that’s definitely a goal.   And another goal of mine as a sideline reporter is to cover Super Bowl and be on the sidelines during Super Bowl I think that would be a career moment for me.

Molly McGrath Audio Interview: https://soundcloud.com/julia-morris-16/molly-mcgrath-interview