ESPN Adds Chip Kelly To Its College Football Broadcast Roster

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN has added a new big name to its college football coverage roster.

Chip Kelly was named the latest addition this week to the network’s roster of college football analysts.  Kelly, who has more than 30 years experience in college and professional football, will serve as a studio analyst for many of the network’s college football broadcasts. According to a press release from ESPN, Kelly will also appear on Friday and Sunday editions of SportsCenter to offer insight on college and NFL matchups.

Lee Fitting, ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer, called Kelly’s outside the box approach as a coach one of his major strong points while discussing his addition to the network’s on-air football roster.

“Chip is one of the most innovative football minds of our generation,” Fitting said.  “As a coach, he saw the game from a unique perspective, never afraid to take an unconventional approach.  We want him to bring that mentality to our college football coverage each week, offering fans a varying viewpoint outside of the conventional thought process.”

Kelly said in response, he intended to use that unconventional approach when he begins his time with the network, adding he is anticipating starting the next chapter of his football career with ESPN.

“Over the last 30 years, I have experienced football from one perspective – as a coach,” Kelly said.  “Working in television will allow me to see the game from a different angle; simultaneously;  I’ll provide viewers an insight to the mindset of a coach and team while offering alternative views of various situations.  Once I decided to make the move to television, my familiarity with ESPN, combined with their high-quality productions and vital role in college football, it was easily the best network suited for me.”

From 2009 – 12, Kelly served as head coach of the University of Oregon’s football team, compiling a record of 46 – 7.  That record included wins in the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, and a trip to the College Football National Championship.  In 2009 and ’10, he led the Ducks to the Pac-10 title.  He also led the team to the Pac-12 title.

His time at the helm in Oregon is only one part a 24-year college football career.  Before taking the helm at Oregon, he also spent two years as the team’s offensive coordinator. He spent the past four seasons in the National Football League, including a stint at the helm of the Philadelphia Eagles.

While leading the Eagles, Kelly led the team to a 10 – 6 record and led the team to the NFC East title.

Kelly’s own accolades include Pac-10 Coach of the year in 2009.  He earned four separate coach of the year awards in 2010 including the Associated Press Coach of the Year award.

Kelly will start his on-air college football career with ESPN with the start of this year’s college football season.

More information on Kelly’s addition to ESPN’s college football broadcast ranks is available online now along with all of the latest college football news at:

 

 

 

Website: http://www.espn.com/college-football

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CFBonESPN

Twitter: http://twitter.com/espncfb

 

 

 

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ESPN Networks’ College Football Media Days Schedule Announced

Courtesy: ESPN

It’s almost that time again.  College football season is almost upon us once again.  In anticipation of its impending return ESPN has announced its plans for the sport’s annual Media Days.

ESPN and the ESPN networks will launch their coverage of college football’s conference media days beginning next Monday, July 11^th.  In all 14 Conference Media Days will be covered across ESPN’s family of networks and will continue into August.  It all begins on College Football Live.  ESPN’s daily college football news and information show returns next Monday, July 11^th.  It will continue daily throughout the season airing regularly from 1:30 – 2pm ET on ESPN.  Joe Tessitore will anchor the show’s broadcast in its first week back.  He will be joined by college football analysts Joey Galloway and Paul Finebaum.  Greg McElroy, Booger McFarland, and Marcus Spears will each make appearances from Hoover, Alabama, the site of the SEC Media Days.

ESPNU will have 30 hours of Media Days coverage.  That includes 10 three-hour College Football Media Days specials over 15 days beginning with the SEC (July 11^th – 14^th).  The Pac-12 is next on July 14^th, followed by the Big 12 July 18^th – 19^th.  From July 21^st – 22^nd ESPNU will cover the ACC’s Media Days.  Coverage of the Big Ten conference’s Media Days rounds out ESPNU’s Media Days coverage from July 25^th – 26^th.  Brendan Fitzgerald, Matt Schick, and Anish Shroff will share time anchoring ESPNU’s Media Days broadcasts.  They will be joined primarily by analyst Tom Luginbill for additional commentary.  Kevin Carter (July 14^th) and Charles Arbuckle (July 25^th) will also make appearances during the network’s coverage of Media Days.  Anish Shroff will be live onsite in Charlotte, North Carolina for coverage of the ACC’s Media Days.  ESPNU’s coverage schedule is noted below.

 

DATE	TIME (ET)	CONFERENCE
Mon., July 11th	3pm	SEC
Tue., July 12th	1pm	SEC
Wed., July 13th	1pm	SEC
Thu, July 14th	1pm	SEC/Pac-12
Mon., July 18th	1pm	Big 12
Tue., July 19th	1pm	Big 12
Thu., July 21st	1pm	ACC
Fri., July 22nd	1pm	ACC
Mon., July 25th	1pm	Big Ten
Tue., July 26th	1pm	Big Ten

 

Anchor Matt Barrie and reporter Marty Smith, who will be on site in Alabama for the SEC’s Media Days, will carry coverage on ESPN’s SportsCenter.  ESPN3, ESPN.com, and the SEC Network will each carry their own additional Media Days coverage.  That information is provided below.

 

ESPN3

DATE	TIME (ET)	CONFERENCE
Monday, July 25th	2pm	Sun Belt
Mon., July 25th Tues., July 26th	3pm 10am	Conference  USA
Tues., July 26th Wed., July 27th	TBD	Mountain West
Thu., July 28th	12pm	Mid-American
Tue., Aug. 2nd	9am	American

 

Along with its  major conference coverage, ESPN3 will also carry coverage of four FCS schools’ Media Days.

DATE	TIME (ET)	CONFERENCE
July 21st	11am	NEC
July 26th	10am	CAA
July 26th	1:30pm	Big South
July 27th	8pm	Southland

 

ESPN.com will have reporters on site from a number of Media Days locations providing daily news, analysis and more.  The  reporters and their assigned sites are noted below.

Conference	Reporters
SEC	Edward Aschoff   Greg Ostendorf   Alex Scarborough   Mark  Schlabach
Pac 12	Kyle Bonagura   Kevin Gemmell   Chantel Jennings   David Lombardi   Chris Low   Ted Miller
Big 12	Max Olson   Mitch Sherman   Jake  Trotter
ACC	Andrea Adelson   Matt Fortuna   David Hale   Jared Shanker
Big 10	Brian Bennett   Josh Moyer   Dan Murphy   Adam Rittenberg   Jesse Temple   Austin Ward
American	Ivan  Maisel

 

More information on the ESPN networks’ Media Days coverage is available online now along with all of the latest college football headlines at:

 

 

 

Website: http://espn.go.com/collge-football

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CFBonESPN

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ESPNCFB

 

 

 

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always  keep up with the  latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Hoyas, Ducks Face Off At Annual Armed Forces Classic

Courtesy: ESPN

Georgetown University and the University of Oregon will face off in this year’s annual Armed Forces Classic presented by ESPN.  The game, in its second year, will be broadcast from the United States Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.  It will air this Friday, November 8^th at 8pm ET/10am local time on ESPN.  It all kicks off with SportsCenter Special: Armed Forces Classic pregame show at 7:30pm ET.  The Hoyas and Ducks will face each other inside the base’s three-story, 110,000 square foot Humphreys Community Fitness Center.

The now annual basketball game is at the heart of ESPN’s fifth annual America’s Heroes: A Salute to Our Veterans.  The celebration is a five-day effort that honors those that serve, have served, and those preparing to serve.  The network’s special programming runs from Wednesday, November 6^th – Sunday, November 10^th.  Dan Shulman will anchor the broadcast.  He will be joined by analyst Jay Bilas and courtside reporter Andy Katz.  Kevin Connors will anchor the game’s pre-game broadcast.  He will be joined by analyst Jay Williams.  The pair will also have halftime and post-game coverage.  The pair will welcome Georgetown’s own John Thompson III as a special guest on the pre-game broadcast.

The Hoyas are currently second in the Big East pre-season.  Number 19 Oregon has been picked to finish number four in the Pac-12 preseason media poll.

More information on the annual Armed Forces Classic is available online at http://espnevents.com/armed-forces-classic.  More information on ESPN’s college basketball coverage is available online at http://www.facebook.com/ESPNCollegeBasketball and http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

ESPN Hosting College Football Coaches

Courtesy: ESPN

Coaches from some of college football’s biggest teams will be making the rounds on the ESPN family of networks beginning this Monday, July 22^nd.  Coaches from the ACC, SEC, Big 10, and Pac 12 will appear on a variety of ESPN programs, including: College Football Live, SportsCenter, First Take, and Highly Questionable on television.  On radio, they will appear on: SVP and Rusillo, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Coach and Company, and SportsCenter Tonight as well as on chats, podcasts, and more online. 

Coaches from the ACC will make appearances on July 29^th and 30^th.  ACC coaches will be doing interviews July 31^st and August 1^st.  Pac-12 coaches will make appearances on TV and radio on July 24^th and 25^th.  Coaches from the SEC will appear on TV and radio July 22^nd and 23^rd.  Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott will visit ESPN’s headquarters on Thursday, July 25^th.  He will make the rounds from 12pm EST to 2:45pm EST.  During his time at ESPN’s headquarters, Scott will make appearances on SportsCenter and on ESPN Radio’s SVP & Rusillo.

A full schedule of coaches and their appearance schedules is available below.

SEC

July 22 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)	July 23 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
James Franklin (Vanderbilt)	Bret Bielema (Arkansas)
Hugh Freeze (Mississippi)	Butch Jones (Tennessee)
Les Miles (LSU)	Gus Malzahn (Auburn)
Dan Mullen (Mississippi State)	Will Muschamp (Florida)
Gary Pinkel (Missouri)	Steve Spurrier (South Carolina)
Mark Richt (Georgia)	Mark Stoops (Kentucky)
Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M)
Nick Saban (Alabama)

 

Pac-12

July 24 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)	July 25 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
Sonny Dykes (California)	Todd Graham (Arizona State)
Mark Helfrich (Oregon)	Lane Kiffin (USC)
Mike Leach (Washington State)	Mike MacIntyre (Colorado)
Mike Riley (Oregon State)	Jim Mora (UCLA)
Steve Sarkisian (Washington)	Rich Rodriguez (Arizona)
David Shaw (Stanford)	Kyle Whittingham (Utah)

 

ACC

July 29 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)	July 30 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
Paul Chryst (Pittsburgh)	Steve Addazio (Boston College)
David Cutcliffe (Duke)	Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech)
Dave Doeren (NC State)	Randy Edsall (Maryland)
Larry Fedora (North Carolina)	Jimbo Fisher (Florida State)
Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech)	Al Golden (Miami)
Mike London (Virginia)	Jim Grobe (Wake Forest)

 

Big Ten

July 31 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)	August 1 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Gary Anderson (Wisconsin)	Tim Beckman (Illinois)
Darrell Hazell (Purdue)	Mark Dantonio (Michigan State)
Jerry Kill (Minnesota)	Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)
Urban Meyer (Ohio State)	Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern)
Bo Pelini (Nebraska)	Brady Hoke (Michigan)
Kevin Wilson (Indiana)	Bill O’Brien (Penn State)

 

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.