Exclusive: ESPN's Katie Nolan on working with Dos Equis, winning arguments & more

For American sports fans, October is generally a wonderful time of year. After all, simultaneously you can not only watch pre-season, regular season and post-season action from the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB, but also college football.

Last month I had the pleasure of speaking with "Professor" Jay Cutler -- the legendary former quarterback of the Chicago Bears -- and fellow NFL legend Martellus Bennett about their working with the College Football Football College. As part of such, Dos Equis is offering a curriculum of 10 free, binge-able lessons covering topics from trick plays to offensive positions which are all it takes to earn that coveted “degree” in college football watching… and a chance to win tickets to the College Football Playoff National Championship in New Orleans, just by taking the final exam.

Another 'professor' within the College Football Football College is Katie Nolan. Nolan is the host of the popular ESPN2 show Always Late With Katie Nolan. Nolan has also hosted Sportscenter on Snapchat and the ESPN podcast Sports? With Katie Nolan.

I spoke with the Sports Emmy Award-winning media personality on November 6, 2019 about her work with the College Football Football College, becoming a Guinness Book Of World Records holder, our shared alma mater of Hofstra University and plenty more. Highlights from the interview have been transcribed exclusively for Sportskeeda while the full interview can be streamed below.

On what to expect from her course with the College Football Football College:

Katie Nolan: Look, the beauty of "the dis," the wonderful poetry of the right type of insult is something that I take very seriously and I make sure my students don't take very lightly. So the main thing that we provide at the College Football Football College... The point of an argument is to win it.

So I teach the kids, a) how to do that, and b) most importantly now you have a thing to back you up. So when you get into a college football argument with your friends, you can say "Listen dude, I don't know what you think you know, but I have a certificate from a beer school. So I'm the expert in this argument." You know what I mean?

So it's giving people the upper hand so they can always beat their friends, because their friends won't have the diploma. We will have given them an actual piece of paper you can print out because they've graduated from the College Football Football College.

On working alongside Jay Cutler and Martellus Bennett as part of the College Football Football College:

Katie Nolan: To be included next to names like those two, I never even dreamed of the day. And now I get to be here, it's me, Jay Cutler, Martellus Bennett, it's just two wonderful bright minds... They played college football, I famously did not. But I've learned so much from them. I've soaked up their energy, the way they are with kids. The way they take this so seriously. It's such a great honor and such a great organization to be part of.

On being a Guinness Book Of World Records holder:

Katie Nolan: I'm smiling from ear to ear right now, I'm just honored that you even know... I don't have a lot of athletic achievements. When I was 10 years old I won a Junior Olympics Gold Medal in rhythymic gymnastics, but no one cares about that, I was 10 years old. I'm 32 now.

When I was 31, I set a Guinness Book Record for 'most donuts stacked while blindfolded'. Sure, maybe some people might say that's not an athletic achievement, but I say to those people, "Shut up because absolutely it is." Just like with the Dos Equis College Football Football College, I have a piece of paper that proves I'm the winner. Thank you for asking about it. Yes, I am in the Guinness Book Of World Records, and yes, it is a big deal.

On her last words for the kids:

Katie Nolan: Listen, kids, you can be anything you want to be... To anyone over the age of 21, you can absolutely be what you want to be, because the Internet will let you print a piece of paper that lets you say that you are that...