Dan Dierdorf coming out of retirement ...

[Steak Snabler]

to be radio analyst for Michigan football:

http://www.freep.com/article/20140417/SPORTS06/304170110/dan-dierdorf-michigan-football-radio-img

Jim Brandstatter moves to play-by-play, replacing the retired Frank Beckmann.

 

[Starman]

No biggie. DD is still coherent enough he should do fine.

Brandstatter on PBP is gonna be a train wreck, though.

 

[MileHigh]

Can you call it coming out of retirement if you don't miss any assignments?

 

[LanceyHoward]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

 

[Starman]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

It's pretty clear he did; going from a national network NFL analyst to an individual college color-man is a huge comedown.

Dierdorf is right on retirement age (64) anyway; for him this is like a semi-phaseout job.

 

[MileHigh]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

When you look at the moves by CBS this calendar year, no doubt he did get pushed.

It was the "surprise" winner of the Thursday night package.

It's redoing/revamping the NFL Today with Shannon Sharpe getting pushed to the curb.

I would suspect there will be some big shuffling of the broadcast crews for the upcoming season, with Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts geting pushed into the No. 2 spot and getting some prime games since Nantz/Simms won't work every Sunday.

 

[Bubbler]

It's redoing/revamping the NFL Today with Shannon Sharpe getting pushed to the curb.

That breaks my heart. (Said no one ever.)

 

[LanceyHoward]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

When you look at the moves by CBS this calendar year, no doubt he did get pushed.

It was the "surprise" winner of the Thursday night package.

It's redoing/revamping the NFL Today with Shannon Sharpe getting pushed to the curb.

I would suspect there will be some big shuffling of the broadcast crews for the upcoming season, with Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts geting pushed into the No. 2 spot and getting some prime games since Nantz/Simms won't work every Sunday.

Fouts will be 63 at the start of next season. It makes no sense to push out Diedorf and replace him with someone only two years younger.

 

[slappy4428]

No biggie. DD is still coherent enough he should do fine.

Brandstatter on PBP is gonna be a train wreck, though.

Love Brandy as a friend.... have to agree with Star on this...

 

[Boom_70]

It's redoing/revamping the NFL Today with Shannon Sharpe getting pushed to the curb.

That breaks my heart. (Said no one ever.)

I'm sorry that Jay Pharroh's hysterical Sharpe imitation will
no longer be relevant.

 

[playthrough]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

I'm not so sure. He said the travel was getting too tough for him, and having watched him once walk from the booth to the lunch area at Lucas Oil Stadium with his completely shot legs (it made MY legs hurt, and this was five years ago), I believed him 100 percent. Even if he doesn't live in Michigan (doesn't he live in St. Louis?), the travel of a college football schedule is a fraction of an NFL sked.

 

[Liut]

No biggie. DD is still coherent enough he should do fine.

Brandstatter on PBP is gonna be a train wreck, though.

Love Brandy as a friend.... have to agree with Star on this...

Yeah, I gulped hard when I read Brandstatter was moving over to Frank's role.

 

[LanceyHoward]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

I'm not so sure. He said the travel was getting too tough for him, and having watched him once walk from the booth to the lunch area at Lucas Oil Stadium with his completely shot legs (it made MY legs hurt, and this was five years ago), I believed him 100 percent. Even if he doesn't live in Michigan (doesn't he live in St. Louis?), the travel of a college football schedule is a fraction of an NFL sked.

Dierdorf worked 18 games a year at CBS max. The regular season and one playoff game. At Michigan he works twelve. If CBS still wanted them they could have also easily worked out a reduced schedule for him by letting him take some of the bye weeks off. I also think travel to an NFL city like Pittsburgh is easier than to a college town like State College.

 

[playthrough]

This makes me wonder if Dierdorf got pushed out at CBS.

I'm not so sure. He said the travel was getting too tough for him, and having watched him once walk from the booth to the lunch area at Lucas Oil Stadium with his completely shot legs (it made MY legs hurt, and this was five years ago), I believed him 100 percent. Even if he doesn't live in Michigan (doesn't he live in St. Louis?), the travel of a college football schedule is a fraction of an NFL sked.

If Dierdorf worked 18 games a year at CBS max. The regular season and one playoff game. At Michigan he works twelve. If CBS still wanted them they could have also easily worked out a reduced schedule for him by letting him take some of the bye weeks off. I also think travel to an NFL city like Pittsburgh is easier than to a college town like State College.

I believe Diedorf still lives inIEVE dIERDORF eive

Yeah, but with CBS there are virtually no home games. For Michigan he'll go to Ann Arbor more than half the time and virtually every road trip will be within 200 miles of Ann Arbor.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Pretty sure he said when the retirement announcement was made that he wanted to keep working, but with less travel and a less intense working schedule. This would fit that bill. If you're covering one team all the time, that eases the volume of prep work. As others have noted, there are fewer games and less travel, too. Seems like this is exactly what he had in mind when he was announcing his retirement plans.

 

[Sea Bass]

It's redoing/revamping the NFL Today with Shannon Sharpe getting pushed to the curb.

That breaks my heart. (Said no one ever.)

Is he my friend? No. Did I ever view him as a friend? No. Did I ever view him as an acquaintance? No. Do I like him? No. If I saw him in a snowstorm, his truck is broke down, mine is working perfectly, would I pick him up? No.