Ryen Russillo – Wife, Salary and Net Worth

Quick Facts

Ryen Russillo has had his ups and downs. He has made mistakes and also recorded enviable achievements just like anybody else. However, he stands head and shoulders above a lot of his contemporaries based on the sheer number of networks he has worked for and the number of roles he has fulfilled in his career.

The Massachusetts native is known mostly for his time on ESPN Radio, hosting his show, The Ryen Russillo Show. The show went through a few iterations throughout its life span. It saw the coming and going of a few co-hosts but Russillo was the one constant in the show’s success story. Here is everything we know about the sports journalist.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Russillo was born in West Tisbury, a town in Duke’s County, Massachusetts. He came into the world on August 5, 1975.

Nothing is known about his early years, upbringing, the identity of his family members or early education. The sports host has chosen to keep all these pieces of information under lock and key.

For his college education though, Ryen is an alumnus of the University of Vermont. While at the institution, he was an active member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He also made the time to do an internship at the CBS-affiliated WCAX, located in Burlington. Ryen was also active in sports; he was a play-by-play man for the minor league baseball team, Trenton Thunders. He may have gone on to play professionally too had the team not relocated to New Jersey. Ryen had only been involved with the franchise for six months. He graduated from Vermont in 1997.

One of Ryen Russillo’s earliest recorded jobs was in his home state of Massachusetts. He worked in Boston’s WWZN, a radio station affiliated with Sporting News Radio, now SB Nation Radio. While there, he co-hosted The Die Hards. He was joined by four other co-hosts: Kevin Winter, Anthony Pepe, Mike Winn, and John Anik and was part of the show from mid-2003 to 2005. Most of the job was done by Ryen, Pepe, and Anik, as Winter and Winn left the show pretty early on.

Besides his time and work with WWZN, Russillo also worked with WBCN, a Boston radio station. While there, he served as their pregame and postgame commentator for the NFL’s New England Patriots. He would eventually leave the radio house, allegedly after a fallout with WEEI’s John Dennis.

The sportsman then moved to Connecticut where he was brought on by ESPN Radio. Ryen fulfilled a plethora of roles for the station in his time there. He hosted different programs including The Baseball Show and NBA Sunday. During the 2008 season, he also memorably served as host of the ESPN Radio College GameDay.

His ESPN hosting responsibilities have seen him host other shows including All Night with Jason Smith, GameNight, and The Doug Gottlieb Show. Ryen Russillo’s hosting credentials started getting praise from different quarters and saw him dubbed as the “Best Radio Voice of 2007” by Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated.

Besides ESPN, the radio show host also made the time to lend his expertise to other networks like Comcast Sportsnet New England (CSNE). He also worked for the network as a studio analyst for their Boston Celtics’ television coverage.

In September 2015, former NFL player, Danny Kanell joined him as co-host of his Ryen Russillo show. Kanell was a replacement for Ryen’s former co-host Scott Van Pelt. Danny didn’t last long in the show though, as he was let go by ESPN Radio in April 2017.

Russillo was the subject of some unsavory news on August 23, 2017, when he was arrested by the police in Wyoming. Apparently, the sports newsman had been taken in for criminal entry. Worse still, he had also been naked and intoxicated. This led to him being suspended by ESPN.

Ryen seemed unfulfilled with his time at ESPN Radio and announced that he would be leaving the network to try his hands at new opportunities. His final show was aired on December 22, 2017. He still continued to collaborate with ESPN though, producing podcasts for them and appearing on some of their television programmings like Get Up!. He re-signed with the network in August 2018.

Who Is His Wife?

Russillo is not married and has never been as far as anyone can tell. However, he has not been exempt from the spinnings of the rumour mill.

He was once rumoured to be dating ESPN colleague . This was buoyed by the fact that the sports analyst had humorously tweeted that Ryen was her boyfriend. Neither Russillo nor Champion ever came out to confirm the rumours. Russillo was also rumoured to be dating a lady named Sara Walsh. However, he came out via Tweeter to dispel the rumours. He stated clearly that Sara was his closest friend and already had a super hot husband. He has even posted a picture on his Instagram of himself bottle-feeding Sara’s babies alongside her husband.

Salary And Net Worth

Ryen Russillo has built such a rich work portfolio working at various networks in his career spanning well over 15 years. It should not be surprising to hear that he is seating on a comfortable pile of cash.

We studied many online sources, and the overwhelming consensus is that the sports journalist records an annual take-home of $100,000. The same consensus also puts his net worth at around $2 million.

Other Interesting Facts About Ryen Russillo

The Ryen Russillo Show was previously known as The Scott Van Pelt Show. This is because it was originally hosted by Scott Van Pelt who was first joined by Russillo and eventually replaced by him. During this co-hosting days, the show was renamed as SVP & Russillo.

The show was again retitled to Russillo and Kanell after Danny Kanell joined him as a co-host.

From 2009 to 2012, Ryen Russillo also hosted ESPN’s The NBA Today Podcast. It became the second most downloaded podcast by the sports network.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.