Alison Butler: Everything to Know About Kirk Herbstreit’s Wife

Alison Butler is the wife of Kirk Herbstreit, the well known college football analyst for ESPN and Amazon Prime Video. Kirk is on television every week during the season, but Alison has kept a much lower profile. She is best known at home, as the mother of their four sons and the steady centre of a busy football family.

Searches about the couple sometimes include the words kirk herbstreit wife divorce. That search comes from public curiosity, not from the documented record. Alison and Kirk married in 1998 and remain married. This article explains what is actually known about Alison, their meeting at Ohio State, their family, and the moves their life has required.

Quick Facts

Background and Ohio State Years

Much less is published about Alison Butler’s early life than about her husband’s, and that is by her own choice. She does not give regular interviews, and she does not build a public profile of her own. Some online profiles give a birth date in 1973, but those dates differ between sites and have not been confirmed by Alison or Kirk in a reliable source, so they should be treated as unconfirmed.

What is well documented is her time at Ohio State University. Alison was a cheerleader for the Buckeyes during the same period when Kirk Herbstreit was a quarterback on the football team. Kirk, who came from Centerville, Ohio, was the son of Jim Herbstreit, who had been a captain on the Ohio State team of 1960. Football and Ohio State were therefore at the centre of both of their young lives.

The cheerleader and the quarterback met as students, and their relationship grew during their college years. Published profiles say the couple dated for several years before they married. Their story is a familiar college one, except for what came next: Kirk would become one of the most visible voices in college football, a job that would shape the whole family’s life for decades.

Marriage in 1998 and Four Sons

Alison and Kirk married in 1998, two years after Kirk joined ESPN and began his rise on College GameDay. While his work took him to a different college town almost every week of the season, Alison built the home base in Columbus, Ohio, where they first lived as a married couple.

The couple have four sons. Their oldest are twins, Jake and Tye. Then came Zak, and then their youngest son, Chase. All four sons went on to play football, which is no surprise given the family around them, but each followed his own path. Jake and Tye first played at Clemson. Zak joined Ohio State as a tight end, bringing the family story back to the school where his parents met. Chase played high school football at St. Xavier in Cincinnati as a quarterback, like his father.

Raising four boys while one parent travels for most of the autumn is a heavy job, and by every public account Alison carried the daily side of it. Kirk has often spoken with thanks about his family and the support at home that lets him keep a demanding travel schedule. Behind a broadcaster who is on the road for months sits a parent who keeps school, sport and home life running, and in this family that parent is Alison.

The Move From Columbus to Nashville

In 2011, the family made a hard decision. They left Columbus and moved to the Nashville area in Tennessee. Kirk explained at the time that a group of vocal Ohio State fans had turned on him, accusing him of being unfair to his own school in his work on air. The pressure and harassment reached his family life, and he said he could no longer keep defending himself and his family over his love for Ohio State.

The move says a lot about the cost of a public job for a private family. Alison and the boys had to leave the city where the couple had met, married and started their family. Nashville became their main home, giving the boys more privacy as they grew up and played their own football.

Later, the family also added a home in the Cincinnati area so that Chase could play high school football at St. Xavier. Splitting life between two homes in two states is not simple, but it reflects the pattern of their marriage: the family adjusts around football, first Kirk’s career and then the boys’ own playing years.

Family Life, Dogs, and Staying Private

One part of family life that fans do know well is the Herbstreit dogs. The family keeps golden retrievers, and one of them became famous in his own right. Ben, a golden retriever who was ten years old, travelled with Kirk, appeared on College GameDay sets and on Thursday Night Football broadcasts, and was loved by viewers. Kirk announced on November 7, 2024, that Ben had died of cancer. He shared that he had said goodbye over FaceTime while away for work, after one of his sons took Ben to the veterinarian.

Peter, a younger golden who joined the family in December 2023 and had trained alongside Ben and the family’s other dogs, then took over as Kirk’s travel companion. The warmth fans felt for Ben showed how much of the family’s private kindness had become visible through one dog, even while Alison herself stayed out of view.

That balance defines Alison’s public place. She appears in family moments and in her husband’s thanks, but she does not seek interviews, fame or a social media following. Some weaker online profiles attach business titles, charity founder claims and degrees to her name, but these are not supported by strong sources and are repeated from site to site without proof. The honest record is simpler: a former Ohio State cheerleader who married her college partner in 1998, raised four sons through decades of football travel, and protected her family’s privacy while doing it.

Are Kirk and Alison Herbstreit Divorced?

No. There is no documented divorce between Kirk Herbstreit and Alison Butler. They married in 1998 and are still together, with their family life continuing between Tennessee and Ohio. Searches that pair their names with the word divorce reflect a common pattern with famous couples: people ask the question online, and low quality sites repeat it, even when there is no event behind it.

Recent coverage of the family, including reporting on their sons’ football careers and on the loss of their dog Ben in 2024, describes Alison and Kirk as a married couple and a family unit. Unless the couple themselves state otherwise, the correct and documented position is that their marriage of more than twenty five years continues.

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FAQs

Who is Kirk Herbstreit’s wife?

His wife is Alison Butler Herbstreit. She was a cheerleader at Ohio State when Kirk was the Buckeyes quarterback, and they married in 1998.

Is Kirk Herbstreit divorced from Alison Butler?

No. There is no documented divorce. Kirk and Alison married in 1998 and remain married, raising four sons and living mainly in the Nashville area.

How many children do Alison and Kirk Herbstreit have?

They have four sons: twins Jake and Tye, then Zak and Chase. All four played football, including time at Clemson and Ohio State and, for Chase, high school football at St. Xavier in Cincinnati.

Why did the Herbstreit family leave Columbus?

They moved to the Nashville area in 2011 after Kirk faced harassment from some Ohio State fans who accused him of criticising his own school on air. He said at the time that defending himself and his family had become unfair and too much to continue.

Final Thoughts

Alison Butler’s story is the quiet half of a very public football life. She met Kirk Herbstreit at Ohio State, where she cheered and he played quarterback. She married him in 1998, just as his television career was taking off, and she has held the family together through weekly travel, a move between states, and four sons growing into football players themselves.

She has done all of this while staying almost fully private, which is why weak websites fill the gaps with guesses. The documented facts need no filling in. A marriage that began on a college campus has lasted more than twenty five years, and the family she built with Kirk remains at the centre of his life off camera. That, and not the divorce searches, is the real story of Kirk Herbstreit’s wife.

Featured photo: Kirk Herbstreit – photo by Bobak Ha’Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons