#ESPN No. 2 exec Connor Schell leaving in wake of huge layoffs

In the wake of ESPN’s layoffs, Connor Schell, the No. 2 in charge, is leaving his position at the network at the end of the year, The Post has learned.

Schell is exiting on his own accord as he is going to start his own non-fiction production company, according to sources. This is Schell’s passion as he is more of a creator than a manager.

Discussions between Schell and network president Jimmy Pitaro have been going on for months and are unrelated to the layoffs. It is said to be amicable, with the very real possibility that Schell will produce documentaries for the network in the future.

At ESPN, Schell oversees all content throughout the entire company and is expected to continue to do so for the next two months. It is not yet clear how ESPN will replace his responsibilities.

Schell came to prominence at ESPN as one of the people behind its popular “30 for 30” series. He was also a producer on the Academy Award winning “OJ: Made in America” and the recently acclaimed “Last Dance” series.

While there have been hits, Schell had some misses as well, especially on live production. He entered the job with little to no experience in the area.

The most noticeable error was when Schell was part of a group that teamed Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland together on “Monday Night Football,” which had McFarland in a contraption on the sideline during games.

Now, he will return to his strength, which is creating content as opposed to managing people.

On Thursday, ESPN dropped 10 percent of its workforce by letting go 300 people and announcing it would not fill 200 positions. Many longtime behind-the-scenes folks were dismissed with some announcing the news on social media.