Dan Dakich will no longer serve as analyst for ESPN college basketball broadcasts

INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Dakich will launch a new sports show next month on Outkick, is no longer announcing basketball games for ESPN but will remain as host of his Indianapolis-based radio show.

Dakich appeared on Outkick 360 Monday for the announcement that his new digital show "Sack Up with Dan Dakich" will debut in October from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET. His Indianapolis show on The Fan airs noon to 3 p.m. ET.

Emmis Communications, which owns The Fan, confirmed Tuesday that Dakich will continue to do his Indianapolis show, which is on WFNI 107.5 FM and 93.5 FM.

Outkick describes itself as a "fearless sports media company founded by Clay Travis." Travis boasts on his website that he is banned from appearing on ESPN and is known to frequently bash the network.

Dakich, similarly, on Monday had negative things to say about ESPN as he revealed he would no longer be announcing college basketball games for the network, a job he's held for a decade.

"I’m not going to do games at ESPN and that was as much my choice as their choice," he said. "I got to do a ton of stuff because of the money and that’s fine, but there’s a whole world out there that I want to have influence in.”

Dakich went on to say that every one of his bosses at ESPN would tell him "you are the best guy we have at ESPN, period."

"And I am like ‘OK, then why am I not doing North Carolina-Duke?’ or ‘Why am I getting bumped by (Dick) Vitale and (Jay) Bilas to do the Indiana-Purdue game? It’s a big game,' " he said. "It’s not a meritocracy and I like meritocracy.”

Being part of Outkick was appealing to Dakich, he said, because “I don’t mind talking politics. I don’t mind talking about things that maybe ESPN didn’t necessarily want me talking about."

The controversies

In 2019, Dakich was suspended by Emmis for “a failure (in 2018) on Dan's part to adhere to the journalistic principles valued by Emmis." Emmis did not elaborate on what led to Dakich’s five-day suspension, nor did Dakich respond to a request for comment from IndyStar at the time.

In March 2020, Dakich went on a five-minute tirade in which he lambasted the firing of the head coach of Scottsburg High, while simultaneously insulting the town and school.

He called a player a "meth head," said the town was full of "meth and AIDS and needles,” urged listeners to "take a dump" in Scottsburg and threatened, "I may just drive down there and beat the hell out of every school board member."

Emmis told IndyStar at the time it was “aware of the statements made by Dan Dakich earlier this week and we continue to investigate the issue." Dakich was not publicly punished for the tirade.

Earlier this year, Dakich stirred up more controversy that caught the attention of ESPN.

The network said in February it was launching an investigation into Dakich after a Twitter dispute over college athlete compensation in which Dakich debated several college professors.

One of those professors, Dr. Johanna Mellis, accused him of misogynistic actions after she challenged him to a swimming competition.

When Dakich asked whether teachers knew anything about sports, Mellis responded: "Dan you want to play in the 'arena?' " Mellis tweeted to Dakich. "Let’s level the playing field a bit: I used to swim upwards of 10,000 yards in practice sometimes. I’ve done 10x100s butterfly, 10x400IMs, and one time 10x1000 freestyles for time. It’s brutal, but yeah let’s go at it in the pool."

Mellis said in an email to IndyStar at the time that she was asking that they race in the pool, but Dakich took it another direction. He responded with a tweet that has since been deleted, saying he would have to get divorced from his wife first.

"Through his use of the b-word and the way he sexualized my clear reference to racing in the pool, he debased and violated me according to my identity over the public airwaves for all to hear," Mellis wrote.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Dan Dakich no longer an ESPN college basketball analyst