Rich Eisen’s been a voice in the NFL world for a long time. Even though from 1998-2023 he worked on baseball reporting, it’s football where he’s made his mark. He was a bit of a path-breaker with the NFL Network and even debuted their first ever podcast, The Rich Eisen Podcast, in 2010. It’s cliche to say that behind every successful man is a successful woman, and so is the case with Eisen.

Meet Rich Eisen’s wife, Suzy Shuster, a former sports reporter. She had her education at Columbia University, graduating in 1994 with a degree in art and history. Shortly after graduating, she went on to work at Fox Sports Net in Los Angeles. She learned to use her background in history to establish connections between characters and instances and tell well-rounded stories. This made her stand out among her peers at the time.

Shuster then went on to have a successful career as a sports journalist, her first major role being as a producer on ESPN’s SportsCenter, ironically even before her husband found his way onto the network. She also produced HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which adds to her already impressive career highlights.

It was during their common stint at ESPN that Shuster and Eisen met, before getting married in 2003. They went on to have 3 kids, Xander, Taylor, and Cooper. They’ve raised their children in the Jewish faith, but with a healthy interest in other cultures. This is where Shuster’s background in history and art comes in. She has a fascination with African tribal art and was always eager to include all manner of African art and trinkets in their home decor. It must have made for a fascinating childhood home- toys and Americana on one side and ornate African carved masks and tapestries on the other.

Rich Eisen sure can podcast, but can he play-by-play call?

When Rich Eisen got news that Audience Network was shutting down in 2019, he was both lost and eager to make the most of it. They’d hosted his hit show, The Rich Eisen Show, for years, and at that point was no small gig. That’s when he decided to take it onto YouTube, and now his show is bigger than ever. He credits Shuster to no small degree, of course. She has experience in the field, and she guided him when he needed it.

He hasn’t necessarily found that success when it comes to live commentary, though. Even fans of his show have called out his play-by-play as lackluster, some even calling it ‘awful’. Somehow, he isn’t as rich with the play-by-play commentary skills. He’s laid back and an impressive jockey on his show on YouTube, but that doesn’t work when live commentating. Do you think Suzy Shuster would do a better job of it? Who’s to say.