A former SportsCenter host is offering advice to NFL insider Dianna Russini as she makes her return to covering the league.
Last week, it was announced that the disgraced reporter landed a new gig with Costa Rica-based gambling firm BetUS for a weekly show titled ‘The Russini Report.’
Russini’s return comes about seven months after images released by the New York Post led to the stunning exposure of an alleged affair she was having with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.
Her return follows months of investigations, revelations and leaks of information and photos further tying the two together. It also led to the reporter resigning from her position at The Athletic.
Former ESPN star Linda Cohn believes she should open up about her truth in order to keep her audience.
‘There were a lot of people who didn’t even know who Dianna Russini was before that scandal with Mike Vrabel,’ Cohn said on her eponymous show. ‘Now that she has gotten the curiosity seekers involved, people now know who she is for all the wrong reasons. How is she going to keep them after the first show?
Former SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn believes Dianna Russini needs to address her scandal
Russini has launched her NFL comeback and opened up on her ‘nightmare’ six months
Russini resigned from her position at The Athletic after the Mike Vrabel affair scandal erupted
‘Because they are going to want to hear her talk about what her spring was when those pictures came out last April. And what, and what did she learn from that?
‘She is smart. She doesn’t want my advice. But if she is smart, she would share the human side of her, that people make mistakes, that she made a big one, and that she’d admit the wrongdoing.’
Cohn then disagreed with one sports writer’s opinion that Russini shouldn’t discuss the scandal. Instead, she believes Russini would come off as relatable.
‘I think it could humanize her because everybody makes mistakes,’ she said. Maybe they don’t make that kind of mistake. But people make mistakes.
‘And if she can look in the mirror and talk like that to her new viewers, you know what, and admit fault and admit mistake, just maybe she will keep those people around each and every Wednesday on her new show.’
It will stream on Costa Rica-based BetUS’s website and social media accounts with the first episode due to drop at noon ET on Wednesday.
BetUS previously described it as a live NFL betting show that will feature previews of games, guest interviews and matchup breakdowns.
Russini will also write an accompanying column that will contain her analysis of NFL games and major talking points.
The NFL insider’s new show will stream on Costa Rica-based BetUS’s website on Wednesdays
The first two guests on Russini’s show will be Pro Football Hall of Famer and two-time Super Bowl champion Bill Parcells and radio personality Damon Amendolara.
While announcing the news, Russini told People how the fallout of the scandal and her subsequent downfall left her ‘heartbroken.’
‘The best way to describe what the last six months were like for me is heartbreaking,’ Russini said. ‘At the beginning of this, it was a nightmare.’
Russini added that after a month of the scandal exploding she and her husband, Shake Shack executive Paul Goldschmidt, deleted their social media accounts and shut themselves away.
‘The lies became so out of control,’ Russini continued. ‘This was a runaway train, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
‘Once we realized nothing was going to stop this, it became unhealthy for us to read it because it wasn’t helping us heal. It was piling on and adding to what we were already dealing with.’
‘I would not wish that experience on any person ever,’ she continued.
‘But through it, I did get an opportunity to not just learn about myself, but my family and our priorities, and maybe some decisions and things I was doing in my career, and putting it before what I really wanted most, which was to be a mom.
Russini had been spreading word around NFL circles she would be back in the spotlight soon
‘And while it was so hard at first, feeling their love and support helped me believe that, “Wait, I know I can go back to doing this. I know that they’re settled. I know that we’re a unit, and no one is going to come between us. Nothing’s going to break us.”‘
As well as her new show, Russini will be a featured contributor on the ‘Nobody’s Safe’ podcast with sports radio veteran Jon Weiner, who is better known as Stugotz.
Russini’s high-profile media career was thrown into chaos back in April, when photos surfaced of her at an adults-only Arizona resort with Vrabel.
Although both Russini and Vrabel, who are both married with children, denied having an affair, the photos sparked a wave of speculation regarding the nature of their relationship.
A string of further photos later emerged of the pair, including pictures showing them kissing at a New York bar, reportedly in March 2020.
Russini also revealed that NFL owners, agents, general managers, coaches and players, including ‘star quarterbacks’ – all reached out to her in recent months to offer their support.
Russini was a reporter for ESPN covering the Tennessee Titans when Vrabel was head coach
Russini claims that one player was even sending her motivational messages on his way to practice at 5am.
‘The absolute best part of this situation has been the loyalty the NFL has shown me,’ Russini told People.
‘They checked in with me almost daily while I wasn’t working to make sure that I was staying connected to football, to check on me as a person and to just see how I was doing.
‘I felt like players were texting and calling me to say, “Get back to work, it’s time.” I think it’s pretty poetic that here I was all these years telling the story about these players going through adversity, and then they became sort of the people that I was learning from during this.’
