Former IU men's basketball coach Tom Crean has signed with ESPN to be a studio analyst and in-game commentator for the upcoming college basketball season, the network announced Monday.
Crean was relieved of his duties at IU in March and served as an analyst for ESPN during the 2017 Final Four. He has also worked as a studio analyst for Yahoo's NBA Draft specials in recent years.
ESPN said the exact studio and game broadcast pairings will be announced in coming weeks, but Crean will appear across ESPN and ESPN2 in various capacities.
Despite having his name surface in rumors about several head coaching vacancies during the past few months, Crean did not take a head coaching job.
The 51-year-old Crean, who compiled a record of 166-135 in nine seasons as IU's head coach, expressed his excitement in joining ESPN in a video tweeted out by the company.
"I've long had a great respect and admiration for what the people at ESPN do and how hard they work," Crean said in a video posted by ESPN.
Jake Thomer
