NEW YORK - ABC named veteran reporter and play-by-play announcer Michele Tafoya as its Monday Night Football sideline reporter, replacing Lisa Guerrero after one season and saying it was a mistake to hire the former television actor for its showcase sports program.
Guerrero took over for Melissa Stark. In discussing the switch Monday, Monday Night Football producer Fred Gaudelli said he didn't think Guerrero was a good fit for the job.
"The sideline reporter role is in an incredibly hectic environment, nothing is predictable," he said. "It was our hope that we would work like gangbusters to expedite that curve as quickly as we could, but in the end the talent and role weren't as compatible."
The Walt Disney Co. network said Guerrero would continue to work for ABC Sports.
"I enjoyed my season," Guerrero said in a statement released by the network. "It was a wonderful step in my career, and I look forward to the next opportunity."
Tafoya brings more experience than Guerrero. She spent last football season as ESPN's onsite reporter at Monday night games and joined ABC Sports in 2002 as a courtside reporter on NBA telecasts.
This June she will work her second NBA Final for ABC. Tafoya joined ESPN in 2000 and also serves as an NBA sideline reporter for the network. Other ESPN roles include men's and women's NCAA basketball play-by-play and studio host, and college football and basketball sideline reporter.
Before joining ESPN, Tafoya also worked for CBS as a game reporter and studio host for NFL, college football and college basketball telecasts.
PRESEASON ON TV: All 65 preseason games this season will be available on television for the first time. The league's four network partners, ABC, CBS, ESPN and Fox, will show 11 games, and the NFL Network will broadcast the other 54.
OWL TO NFL: Florida Atlantic long-snapper Brian Pare is the first player from the 3-year-old program to sign in the NFL, agreeing to a free-agent contract with the Bears.
OBITUARY: Robert "Pink" Erickson, a football coach and father of 49ers coach Dennis Erickson, died Thursday in Everett, Wash. He was 79.
