It’s been talked about for months and although its not "official" Dan Dakich will be taking his services from the Big Ten Network to ESPN beginning next season.
Dan will help ESPN with their coverage of college basketball. He has been involved with college basketball since his playing days at Indiana in 1981. He will be the color analysis for many basketball games especially in Big Ten country. His duties will resemble Steve Lavin, who left in the offseason to take the head coaching position at St. John’s. Lavin, the former UCLA head coach broadcasted numerous Big Ten games paired along side Brent Musburger.
Bloomington means a lot to Dan. He spent 17 years of his life in basketball country. He played for Coach Bob Knight from 1981 to 1985 and coached for 13 seasons. He was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity while in B’town.
In November of 2009, Dan began work with the Big Ten Network serving as a weekend college basketball analyst. He spent most of his weekends driving along 65 to Chicago. He never did any games for the BTN, but did studio work and analysis from the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA tournament both in Indianapolis.
DD has been involved with basketball his entire life. This will be another extension for the coach. He served as the interim head coach at IU in the spring of 2008 after Kelvin Sampson was fired because of NCAA violations. He then began "The Dan Dakich Show" on October 6, 2008 on ESPN 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis. The program has been a tremendous hit on what seems like an ever-changing radio station as Emmis Communications has taken hits with the economy.
I actually had the pleasure of working with Dan last summer–producing his show for 3 months. He is truthful and straight to the point. Obviously he loves IU, has a passion for the Hoosiers but he is professional and the bias is not obvious. He has a great wealth of contacts in college basketball and certainly is well respected.
The news is not surprising to most. The opinionated Dakich was a tremendous addition for the BTN this past year. He understands college basketball from a players, coaches and analyst perspective. He brings his insight with recruiting and more to the sports broadcasting power.
The deal is not completely done Dakich admitted on his radio program Monday. ESPN racing analyst Vince Welch was on his program and as he finished up, he congratulated Dan on his jump to ESPN. Dan appreciated the support but laughed it off saying it wasn’t official. ESPN is gaining a great man.