After reading some national stories about Paul Maguire, I was confused about his future as an ESPN college football analyst. It turns out so is Maguire.

“I’m still with ESPN for another year,” said Maguire in a telephone interview. “I probably won’t be doing any games because they are bringing some younger guys along. They’ve changed everything.”

He was speaking from his home in Charleston, S. C. He and his wife, Beverly, moved there full-time five years ago from Eden. However, they just bought a condo near a golf course in Hamburg and plan to stay here from August through October to escape the 90-degree days in South Carolina.

The length of his stay here is a little uncertain because Maguire doesn’t know if he is going to be needed by ESPN. A network spokesman said Maguire will do some games and some studio work.

“I have not heard that” about studio work, Maguire said with a laugh. “I have no idea.

“All I know is they just said ‘you’ve been with us a long time and we’re going to use you when it’s convenient and we’d like to.’ It’s basically up to me. They’ll call me and ask, ‘would you like to do this?’ ”

Maguire, who was on NBC’s top NFL team with Dick Enberg and Phil Simms in 1997 before working ESPN’s Sunday Night Football from 1998 to 2005, has been doing college football on ESPN and ABC for a few years. After working with play-by-play man Brad Nessler and analyst Bob Griese last year on ABC afternoon games, Maguire didn’t expect to be benched. But ESPN revised its entire college lineup.

“It’s a little disappointment,” Maguire said. “I felt we had a hell of a year last year.

“I’ve also told them this is not the end of Paul Maguire. I still want to do games, whether it is college or pros. I am probably going to have to wait until next year to do it.”

The 70-year-old Maguire said his agent can’t look for another place for him to land while he has a year left on his ESPN contract.

“This would have been my 39th year [as an analyst] and no one has done it as long as I have. With this year and some 11 years playing, this is 50 years doing television and football.

“I have a lot of time left to work,” added Maguire. “I’ll be 71 years old . . . make that young. But I still feel good and that’s the only reason I’d do it. I don’t feel like I’m done yet. I’m not ready to retire.”

Maguire doesn’t appear to be bitter about the situation.

“How can you be upset with something that has been so good to you for 38, 39 years? It’s been a great trip. The point is . . . if something comes along after this year I’m sure as hell going to work next year somewhere, somehow if it’s possible.”

Former Bills quarterback Doug Flutie is no longer part of ESPN’s plans after its realignment of its college football roster. A network spokesman used the traditional “going in different directions” line to explain his departure.

Fox pulled out all the stops for baseball’s All-Star Game, but it remains a tough sell in Western New York. The American League’s 4-3 victory over the National League on Tuesday averaged a 5.7 rating on Channel 29, representing 5.7 percent of the area’s households. That’s about half of the 10.4 overnight national rating. The national rating was 8.9. The most impressive announcer was President Obama, who spent a half-inning illustrating his baseball expertise with Fox announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. In a postgame interview, New York Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera said he was impressed by the president’s knowledge of his favorite pitch, the cutter.

A tip of the cap to the latest HBO Sports documentary on the late Ted Williams. Among the numerous highlights is footage from “The Natural,” the Robert Redford movie partially shot in Buffalo. In an interview, Redford said his character wore No. 9 in homage to Williams. HBO replays the documentary at 9 a. m. today and at various times throughout the month.

ESPN has named broadcasting legend Don Ohlmeyer its new ombudsman. Ohlmeyer’s lengthy resume includes a stint on Monday Night Football in the Howard Cosell days, which should make his assessment of new analyst Jon Gruden even more interesting.