Pro Football HOFer Dan Dierdorf on Thursday was named color analyst for Univ. of Michigan football radio broadcasts, while longtime analyst Jim Brandstatter will move to the play-by-play role, according to Angelique Chengelis of the DETROIT NEWS. Brandstatter takes over for Frank Beckmann, who "retired last season after more than 30 years." Dierdorf announced he was leaving CBS' NFL coverage before last Thanksgiving, and he said that he "received a call the next day" from UM AD Dave Brandon to gauge his "interest in working Michigan radio games." Dierdorf said, "Dave Brandon was relentless. When Brandon and I talked, he asked if I'd be willing to commit to do this for a while, and I did. I've committed for at least three years" (DETROIT NEWS, 4/18). Dierdorf had indicated that he was leaving CBS because the "travel was becoming too difficult for him physically." However, he said that he has a "summer home in northern Michigan, about a three-hour drive from the campus in Ann Arbor, and he'll stay there for much of the football season." In St. Louis, Dan Caesar noted all but one UM game in '14 is "within driving distance for him, either from Michigan or St. Louis, and he already has made arrangements to be on the team plane for the other contest" at Rutgers. Dierdorf: "This is the only job that I would have taken. I thought I was going to do some local radio -- which I will do -- but I never thought I'd commit to do something like this. But I can't resist, it's my alma mater" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 4/18). In Detroit, Mark Snyder writes there are several reasons a Brandstatter-Dierdorf booth is an "interesting choice," including both being in their mid-60s and Brandstatter "having little play-by-play experience." Brandstatter said that he does not expect the new position "to affect his role as the Detroit Lions' radio analyst." Snyder notes IMG College "refused to discuss the seelction process and what other candidates were considered" for the UM role (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 4/18).
