Trey Wingo keeps it real about the scrutiny Stuart Scott faced during his time at ESPN

Former ESPN anchor Trey Wingo recently discussed the criticism that his former colleague, Stuart Scott, experienced from management. Wingo appeared on the “Hoodie Chroniclez” podcast and gave his take ahead of the “30 for 30” documentary about Scott. 

ESPN will premiere the documentary, “Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott,” on Wednesday night. However, before the documentary debuts, Wingo kept it real in giving his assessment on what it was truly like for Scott at ESPN and highlighted the level of scrutiny he faced because of his unique style and approach at the SportsCenter anchor desk. 

“Stuart was such an innovator,” Wingo said. “I’ll tell you one of the things that no one ever knows about Stuart, and maybe some people know this, but he was under a lot of scrutiny by management at ESPN. They didn’t like his style, which is interesting now because all they care about is style, for the most part. And they wanted to make sure, if you’re going to do that, back it up with information.” 

Scott was innovative as a broadcaster, but spent much of his time employed at ESPN being scrutinized for being different, when that was why he was brought to the worldwide leader in sports. Leadership at the network seemingly wanted the watered-down version of Scott. Scott’s sister, Susan, shared a story about how former ESPN executive Norby Williamson would challenge his scripts and had written him up. 

Unlike most people, Scott didn’t back down or fold under the pressure of management leaning on him. Instead of buckling and giving ESPN the vanilla version they apparently craved, Scott chose to take it up another notch, but also go even deeper with substantial information highlights.

“If you go back and watch Stuart at his heyday, he was presenting himself in a way, ‘Cool as the other side of the pillow,’ all that kind of stuff, but then you would listen to him, he would drop more facts and more knowledge in one of those SportsCenter episodes than anyone else,” Wingo continued. “Basically, he was like, ‘Really? You’re going to mess with me? Alright, I’m gonna do my thing, and then I’m going to show you how much of your shit I can put in there as well.’”

From his catchphrases and style to his unique approach to sports broadcasting, Stuart Scott was and always will be an innovator. ESPN 30 for 30 “Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott” will air Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET.