J.A. Adande Leaving ESPN to Focus On Job With Northwestern

J.A. Adande, who was named the Director of Sports Journalism at Northwestern last year, is leaving ESPN.

J.A. Adande will be leaving ESPN after 10 years to focus on his job as the Director of Sports Journalism at Northwestern, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of USA Today.

Adande has been a regular on Around the Horn since first appearing in 2002, and started working full-time for ESPN.com in 2007 as a columnist and sideline reporter. In 2016 he began at Northwestern as the Director of Sports Journalism and an associate professor after being an adjunct professor at USC from 2004-2015.

“Mainly, I couldn’t do two jobs at once,” Adande said to Glassiegel. “Last year, when I started the Northwestern job, I really wasn’t ready to say I used to work for ESPN. I wasn’t quite ready to give that up. But now, I’m at a place where I just want to focus on Northwestern. I really want to wake up in the morning and obsess over one thing.”

Adande graduated from Northwestern in 1992. Before joining ESPN full-time, he worked for 10 years at the Los Angeles Times.