Hall of Fame Sportscaster and the Host of ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter’

Linda Cohn | Biography

Author of ‘Cohn-Head: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club’

• By Ashna Tamrakar
• Update : October 18, 2021

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Linda Cohn is a Hall of Fame sportscaster and the host of ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter.’

Who Is Linda Cohn?

Linda Cohn is an American sports commentator and presenter. She has been the host of ESPN’s SportsCenter since joining the network in 1992. Cohn is ESPN’s longest-serving SportsCenter anchor, having anchored her 5,000th SportsCenter in early 2016, the most by any anchor in ESPN history. 

In 2014, Cohn was recognized as one of the top 25 most influential women in sports. Similarly, in 2017, the National Sports Media Association (NSMA) honored her in the Hall of Fame. 

In 2021, Cohn and national hockey reporter Emily Kaplan created In The Crease — The ESPN NHL Podcast. Besides that, during the NHL season, Cohn also contributes as a weekly analyst on SIRIUS XM’s NHL Network Radio and fills in as a host on Mad Dog Sports Radio regularly.

How Old Is Linda Cohn?

Born on 10 November 1959, Linda Cohn grew up in Long Island, New York. 

Early Life and Education

Cohn grew up watching sports on television with her father, who is an avid sports lover. As a result, she became interested in sports from a very young age. When she was 15, her mother discovered a hockey league where she could play alongside boys, despite the boys being just eight or nine years old. 

Cohn attended Newfield High School in Seldon, New York. She excelled as a goaltender in ice hockey during her high school days, representing her high school’s boys’ team. Although Cohn didn’t make her high school hockey team as a junior, she did so as a senior. 

Upon graduating from Newfield High School, Cohn played goaltender for the women’s ice hockey team at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego, New York. In 1981, she earned a bachelor’s degree in arts and communications. Later, in 2006, Cohn was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at Oswego State.

Early Career

Upon graduating from SUNY in 1981, Cohn began her career as a sports anchor at WALK-AM, a Patchogue, a New York-based radio station. She served for four years at the station before leaving in 1984. After that, Cohn served as a sports host for four different radio stations in the New York region until 1987, including a brief time as an update reporter at WFAN in New York City. Simultaneously, she worked at WCBS Newsradio 88 from 1984 to 1987), WCBS-FM from 1984 to 1987, and WGBB-AM from 1984 to 1985.

After her departure, Cohn was recruited by ABC in 1987. She created sportscasting history as the first full-time female sports anchor in the United States on a national radio network. There, she was the host of WABC Talk Radio from 1987 until 1989. 

Cohn’s first television appearance came in 1988 when she was hired by SportsChannel America, one of ESPN’s major competitors at the time. Cohn started her career as a weekend sports anchor and full-time reporter at KIRO-TV in Seattle in October 1989. Similarly, Cohn also anchored a call-in sports show on a New York radio station in 1989. 

Career at ESPN

In 1992, Cohn joined ESPN and returned to the East Coast to work on SportsCenter. She co-hosted her first SportsCenter with Chris Myers on 11 July 1992. She has also been in several commercials for the show’s This is SportsCenter segment. 

Despite her accomplishments, Cohn came close to being fired in 1994 when the network said she wasn’t displaying her passion for sports on television. She was then given six months to improve, and the network hired a video coach to assist her. 

Cohn established a name for herself as a prognosticator during the 1997 NCAA basketball tournament. That year, her bracket for ESPN precisely projected Coppin State University’s surprise first-round triumph over South Carolina, which remains one of the tournament’s top upsets to date. 

Cohn then got a contract renewal with ESPN in 2005 because of her performance. During her over two-decade-long career at the network, she anchored ESPN2’s NHL 2Night and RPM2Night, ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and National Hockey Night, and SportsCenter’s NBA All-Star Game coverage. She also covered the LPGA on ESPN and ESPN2 (1998-99) and the WNBA regular season, All-Star game, finals, and draft on ESPN2 and ABC. In addition, Cohn worked on MLB playoff coverage, ESPYs coverage, ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage, and Sunday NFL Countdown. She has also reported live from the Men’s Final Four and the X Games for SportsCenter. 

In addition, Cohn’s column “Linda Cohn’s Hotline” was featured regularly in ESPN’s The Magazine’s Life Section from 1999 to 2002. 

In July 2018, ESPN renewed her contract, and according to it, Cohn would play a more significant role in one of her specialties, hockey. She has also been hosting In the Crease Podcast, which premiered on ESPN+ during the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2018.

Career as an Author

Cohn’s memoir, ‘Cohn-Head: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club,’ was published in 2008. The book chronicles her love of sports and her experiences working on SportsCenter. 

What Is Linda Cohn’s Net Worth & Salary?

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cohn has an estimated net worth of $10million as of October 2021. Additionally, her salary per month is approximately $3 million.

Husband, Daughter & Son

Cohn was married to her long-term college boyfriend, Stew Kaufman. However, the couple divorced in 2008. Cohn and her ex-husband share two children: a daughter, Sammy Kaufman, and a son, Dan Kaufman.