Don't look now, Michigan and Michigan State fans — Matt Millen is back in the neighborhood.
The former Penn State and NFL linebacker and former Lions executive will be the lead analyst for Big Ten Network football broadcasts, Sports Business Journal reports. Millen also will have a role in Fox Sports' NFL and college football broadcasts, so he could end up back at Ford Field, too.
That could be interesting, given that the mere sight of the 57-year-old raises the ire of many in the Great Lakes State.
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Millen was by any measure a huge success prior to arriving in Detroit. He won four Super Bowls during his 12-year career as a player with the Raiders, 49ers and Redskins and transitioned smoothly into a broadcasting career after retirement.
But his reputation forever took a turn when the Lions hired him as president and CEO in 2001. The move was questioned at the time, given Millen's lack of experience, and the groundswell against him grew quickly. By 2006, it became commonplace for fans to chant "Fire Millen" even at other venues around Michigan that had nothing to do with the Lions.
By the time he was fired three games into the 2008 season, the team had compiled a 31-84 record on his watch and he was essentially persona non grata in Detroit and beyond.
Millen quickly settled back into broadcasting, joining ESPN in May 2009, but in 2010 a Michigan sports radio show started a Facebook page devoted to banning Millen from calling any Michigan or Michigan State games on TV. Four and a half years later, the page has 375 likes, but the sentiment remains in many quarters.
