Last season, ESPN bade farewell to long-time college basketball analyst Digger Phelps. Often in the studio and a part of the hoops version of College Gameday, Phelps was cast in the Lee Corso role, but without having to make headgear picks. After the NCAA Final Four in April, Phelps announced he was “retiring” after 20 years at ESPN, but some felt that it was the Worldwide Leader’s not renewing his contract and allowing him to leave. Whatever the reason, Phelps was not part of ESPN’s college basketball announcing roster for 2014-15.

Well, Phelps’ retirement did not last long. This week, Phelps joined Campus Insiders where he will be a college basketball analyst (naturally). According to the press release, Phelps will make appearances all season long:

Phelps will appear on Campus Insiders throughout the season, including providing regular analysis and conducting select interviews with coaches. He will be part of Campus Insiders’ conference tournament, Selection Sunday and NCAA Tournament coverage, and will be on-site for the network at the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis. Fans will also be able to follow Phelps on Twitter via @DiggerPhelps.

Yes, Digger is also on Twitter and the account began on Monday which so happens to the day when Phelps joined Campus Insiders.

If you’re wondering what Campus Insiders is, it’s a website that offers various programming on college sports. Former ESPN’er and CBS Sports reporter Bonnie Bernstein and Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis are part of the site. Campus Insiders provides content to Yahoo, USA Today, Rivals, DailyMotion and is seen on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and other platforms.

It’s good that Digger has “unretired” and will have a platform for his opinions, but it won’t be as wide as the ESPN family of networks. We’ll keep an eye to see if Digger says anything outrageous or just plays through.

[Campus Insiders]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.