ESPN Drafts Chris Connelly To Replace Fired Bill Simmons As Grantland Chief

Less than three weeks after ESPN parted ways with the popular and verbose Bill Simmons, the Worldwide Leader has named a temporary replacement for the multimedia brand he founded. Chris Connelly, the former MTV regular who has been with the Disney-owned sports giant since 2001, has been named interim Editor-in-Chief of Grantland. Connelly has contributed to ESPN’s E:60 and Outside The Lines as well as ABC and Grantland, the sports and pop culture website that launched in 2011 and also produces podcasts, original video and more.

“Bill Simmons had the vision to create Grantland, and his leadership, ideas and inspiration made it singularly great,” Connelly said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to helping the writers, editors, and producers on this amazingly talented staff create more of the outstanding work for which they’ve rightly become known.”

Connelly started his career at Rolling Stone before becoming a writer and editor at Premiere magazine.