Right when you thought Pete Carroll's Bowl Season was over, ESPN has to go and hire him to be an analyst for the BCS Championship Game. Carroll will appear on a few Sports Centers, College Gameday and of course the coverage of the Texas-Alabama showdown at the Rose Bowl. Via ESPN....

USC head coach Pete Carroll, who led the Trojans to seven consecutive Pac-10 titles and two National Championships, will join ESPN to provide analysis about the Citi BCS National Championship on the network’s SportsCenter and College GameDay Built by The Home Depot Jan. 6-7.

Carroll will offer his insight on the pressure of playing in a National Championship Game and at the Rose Bowl, as well as coaching against Texas coach Mack Brown in the 2006 National Championship game. Carroll joined USC in 2001 and holds a 97-19 record (83.6%), second highest among active coaches with more than five years at the position.

Carroll will appear on the ESPN set at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on the evening editions of SportsCenter Wednesday, Jan. 6; a special one-hour College GameDay Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m.; National Championship pre-game and halftime shows on ABC beginning at 8 p.m.; and for ESPN’s SportsCenter post-game coverage following the game.

I don't despise Carroll as much as some people, and his personality might work in adding something to the broadcast. We shall see.

ESPN's NBA Hiring Department has nabbed another former player/coach, and this time he's even a former employee of the network. Recently fired Hornets' Coach Byron Scott will be back with the network this January. Via ESPN PR....

Former NBA star and head coach Byron Scott has joined ESPN as an NBA studio analyst and will start his new role in January. Scott previously served as an ESPN analyst during the 2003-04 season.

“Byron has excelled in every professional endeavor and we know his success will carry over to his on-air role,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production. “We welcome him back. His experience and passion for the game will resonate with our fans.”

“I look forward to being able to contribute my insights and perspective on the game I love,” said Scott. “ESPN has an abundance of terrific talent and I’m glad to be back in broadcasting with the premier sports network.”

I honestly thought that Jon Gruden would stay with MNF for one year, and then roll out to a team in need of a head coach (*ahem* Redskins!), but that's definitely not the case. Gruden has signed a multi-year deal to stay with the network....

Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden, who joined ESPN in May as a Monday Night Football analyst, has agreed to an exclusive multi-year agreement with the company. Gruden has made a commitment to remain with ESPN.

In addition to his MNF role alongside play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico and analyst Ron Jaworski, Gruden will appear on ESPN’s NFL Draft and Super Bowl week coverage, among other platforms, and he will call the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl in South Florida on January 31, 2010. Gruden will serve as an analyst for ESPN Radio’s 2010 Rose Bowl and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title game broadcasts, where he will team with Tirico, and he will be part of SportsCenter coverage leading up to the ESPN on ABC telecasts of both games.

"Working with Mike, Jaws and our entire Monday Night Football team is the most fun I have had in years, and I am fired up to make this long-term commitment to ESPN," said Gruden. “Monday Night Football is special and I look forward to remaining a part of it and continuing to call these great games.”

While there's no mention of a "coaching clause", there's no reason to believe he'd re-sign if he wanted to immediately return to coaching. I'm still conflicted on how I feel about him as an announcer, but the move makes sense for ESPN. Even though there are times when he goes overboard with emotion and analogies, he's still better than Kornheiser.

In ESPN's press release, when they hired Bobby Valentine, they stated that he will have a large role in 2010. Well today, that "larger role" for Valentine might be back in Japan with the Yokohama Bay Stars. According to Fox Sports, the former manager is already in talks to go back overseas....

The Yokohama Bay Stars of the Japanese Central League are making a "concentrated effort" to hire Valentine, according to a major-league source.

Valentine, 59, also is on the Cleveland Indians' short list of candidates who will receive interviews, sources say.

A planned meeting between Valentine and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria in Europe failed to materialize after ESPN.com reported the team's interest in Valentine.

The Marlins instead chose to retain Fredi Gonzalez rather than face a backlash of negative publicity for firing him after an 87-win season.

Valentine, currently working for ESPN, is not aggressively pursuing the Nationals' opening and is not believed to be a serious candidate for the Astros, sources say.

I guess that's the risk you run when you hire a former manager, but this does bring up an interesting PR angle that coaches are using now. Instead of toiling around at home, managers and coaches are almost to the point where they're using ESPN as a launching point. The perfect example of this will be when the Redskins hire Jon Gruden in the offseason, but it seems to be happening more and more lately.

Sources: Valentine could return to Japan as coach (Fox Sports)