Joe Schad joined ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 in 2005 after a career as a sports writer. Schad currently works as ESPN's National College Football Reporter and appears on shows such as: Sportscenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

, College Football Live, GameDay, First Take

ESPN First Take

ESPN First Take is an American morning sports talk program on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD. The show was formerly known as Cold Pizza. The official switch was made on May 7, 2007. Two back-to-back two-hour episodes air each weekday from Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10 a.m...

, ESPNEWS

ESPNEWS

ESPNEWS , launched on November 1, 1996, is a 24-hour-a-day sports news television channel...

 and College Football Overdrive. Schad has provided a weekly college football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 news and notes segment for SportsCenter. In addition, Schad writes news stories and has blogged for ESPN.com

ESPN.com

ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...

. Schad also hosted a college football show for ESPN Radio and has done sideline reporting for ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...

. In 2010-11, Schad broadcast more than 20 games for ESPN Radio, including the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and BCS National Championship Game.

Schad is known for leading the nation in breaking news, including underclassmen declaring for the NFL draft

NFL Draft

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 as well as reporting numerous coaches who have been hired or fired, players who have transferred and coaching contract extensions. Schad reports feature stories and sitdown conversations for shows like College GameDay, SportsCenter and Outside The Lines. Some of Schad's more notable interview subjects are Urban Meyer

Urban Meyer

Urban Frank Meyer, III is an American football coach and former player. He is head football coach at Ohio State University, having been hired for the position in November 2011...

, Pete Carroll

Pete Carroll

Peter Clay Carroll is the head coach and executive Vice-President of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He is a former head coach of the New York Jets, New England Patriots and the University of Southern California Trojans football team.-Early life:Carroll attended Redwood High...

, Mack Brown

Mack Brown

William Mack Brown is head coach of The University of Texas at Austin Longhorn football team.Prior to his head coach position at Texas, Brown was head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, and North Carolina. Brown is credited with revitalizing the Texas and North Carolina football programs...

, Bobby Bowden

Bobby Bowden

Robert Cleckler "Bobby" Bowden is a retired college football coach. He coached the Florida State Seminoles football team from the 1976 to 2009 seasons...

, Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno

Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...

, Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow

Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...

, Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier

Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...

, Jake Locker

Jake Locker

Jacob Cooper "Jake" Locker is an American football quarterback selected by the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League in the 2011 Draft...

, Sam Bradford

Sam Bradford

Samuel Jacob "Sam" Bradford is an American football quarterback for the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and played college football at Oklahoma. In 2008, as a redshirt sophomore, Bradford became the second sophomore to win a...

 and Charlie Weis

Charlie Weis

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Weis is an American football coach. He currently serves as offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators. For five years, from December 2004 through 2009, he was the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame...

. Schad has reported on several NCAA investigations including ones into Reggie Bush

Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred "Reggie" Bush II is an American football running back for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft...

, Cam Newton

Cam Newton

Cameron Lemark Newton is a former American football safety. He played college football at Furman University, then played two seasons in the NFL, one each for the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers. He was cut from the Panthers before the 2007 season...

, Marvin Austin

Marvin Austin

Marvin Austin is an American football defensive tackle for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina.-Early years:Austin attended Ballou High School in Washington, D.C.,...

, Rhett Bomar

Rhett Bomar

Rhett Matthew Bomar is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft...

, Florida State, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 and Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

.

Early life and career

Schad grew up in Glendale, New York

Glendale, Queens

Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Cooper Avenue to the north, Woodhaven Boulevard to the east, Myrtle Avenue to the south and Fresh Pond Road to the West...

 and graduated in 1992 from St. Francis Preparatory in Fresh Meadows, Queens and in 1997 from St. John's University earning a degree in Journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

. While a student at St. John's, Schad was the Editor In Chief and Sports Editor of St. John's student-managed newspaper, The Torch

The Torch, St. John's University

The Torch is the official student-run newspaper of St. John's University in Jamaica, New York. Founded in 1922, the paper has shifted in and out of the control of the University and has been financially independent from the University since 1980...

. He was also the Sports Director of WSJU, St. John's official radio station. Schad was recognized with several journalism awards during his collegiate career from the APSE and FSWA.

Before ESPN

After graduating from St. John's University, Schad covered college and professional sports for New York Newsday/Long Island Newsday and also worked as a researcher for ESPN The Magazine.

In 1999, Schad left New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and began working as a beat writer and general assignment reporter for the Orlando Sentinel/Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel where he covered the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

. During his tenure at the Sentinel, he broke numerous football and men's basketball stories including: a gambling scandal, street brawl, transfers, drug suspensions, accusations of rape, players turning pro and coaching hires. He covered Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier

Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...

, Ron Zook

Ron Zook

Ron Zook is a former American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2004 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2005 to 2011. Zook is a native of Ohio and an alumnus of Miami University, where he...

 and Billy Donovan

Billy Donovan

William John "Billy" Donovan, Jr. is an American college basketball coach and a former college and professional basketball player. Donovan is the current head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team of the University of Florida...

.

In 2003, Schad began covering the Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 for the Palm Beach Post where he garnered national attention for his work on the first report of Ricky Williams' drug use and an FBI investigation into hate mail sent to several prominent athletes, including 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Jason Taylor

Jason Taylor (American football)

Jason Paul Taylor is an American football linebacker who currently plays for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft...

.

Schad currently resides in Plantsville, CT.