Phelps’ contract not renewed by ESPN; Is network looking to get younger?

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Digger Phelps announced Monday that last night was his finale at ESPN and in TV.

It likely wasn’t his choice. According to sources, Phelps’ contract wasn’t renewed by ESPN.

Phelps, 72, tried to put a positive spin on the situation.

“I spent 20 years at Notre Dame as a coach and now 20 years here at ESPN doing a great job with all you people. And now it’s time for me to move forward, and this will be my last time on TV,” Phelps said.

Phelps added: “It’s been a great run. Twenty years is always my target for everything, and it’s time to move forward.”

However, when I talked to Phelps in November for a column in the Chicago Tribune, he didn’t sound as if he wanted to move forward from ESPN. From the column:

Phelps, though, has no intention of stopping. Even though he doesn’t like that college basketball has turned into a 3-point shooting contest, he still loves getting to dissect the big moments at the end of the games.

After all these years, Phelps still is a showman at heart. He pulls out a green highlighter and holds it up against the green tie he is wearing. Somewhere along the way, the matching highlighter-tie combination “became my M.O.,” much like the green carnation he wore as coach of the Irish.

“Everywhere I go, people say, ‘Where’s your highlighter?'” Phelps said.

Phelps appears to be having too much fun to think about retiring. His work at ESPN takes him to college campuses throughout the country. That’s where he truly is in his element.

“I’ve lived at Notre Dame for 42 years,” Phelps said. “I still go to the dorms and speak just like I did 40 years ago. People say, ‘Why are you still living (in South Bend)?’ Well, I’m not a Florida guy. I’m not a Palm Springs guy. I’m a campus guy.”

Listen, 20 years is an eternity in TV. Phelps did well to last that long at ESPN.

In this business, new executives come in and want to leave their mark. Changes get made all the time, and Phelps’ number might have come up.

However, given what happened to Brent Musburger, who at 74 got moved over from the being the main voice of college football on ESPN to a lower profile role as lead play-by-play man for the new SEC Network, and now with Phelps, it does beg the question of whether the network is looking to get younger?

I have been told not to read anything into the moves involving Musburger and Phelps. It is “timing” as much as anything else.

For my piece on USA Today on 70-year-old announcers still going strong, John Wildhack, ESPN’s executive vice-president for programming and production, said of the age issue:

“We always want to improve and get better,” Wildhack said. “It’s never been a case of, ‘We’ve got to bring in so-and-so to get younger.’ We’re looking to have a mixture of great veterans and young people who have the potential to grow.”

As I said, people in this business, young and old, get shifted and/or moved out all the time. Still, the “timing” is interesting.

As for the old Notre Dame coach, congratulations on a fine run at ESPN. He was a valuable asset to the network’s college basketball coverage.

And don’t be so sure you have seen the last on Phelps on TV. Once a showman, always a showman.

 

 

3 thoughts on “Phelps’ contract not renewed by ESPN; Is network looking to get younger?”

  2. I appreciate, at times, what Digger brought to the table although he was a little arrogant for my taste especially for a coach who never won anything of consequence during his years on the bench.

    Wish him well though.

  3. Digger’s a good guy and a natural showman. Met him at a coaching clinic when he first came to Notre Dame and watched his practice at the ACC Auxiliary gym. Sorry to see him go, but getting old isn’t for sissies or national TV.

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