Even in retirement, Bobby Ross couldn’t stay away from college football. After calling it a career with Army in 2007, Ross kept himself in the game for a year by providing radio commentary of games for Westwood One.

Two years later, Ross is taking on a more influential role.

The former coach who won a national championship with Georgia Tech in 1990 is the newest coach to join the Legends Poll — a top 25 poll voted on by legendary college football coaches.

“Any coaches who are asked to give their opinion, it’s a real honor, but I also think it’s a very worthwhile thing for evaluations for the BCS and things of this nature,” Ross said during a phone interview Monday. “It’s going to be interesting for me because I do follow college football when I’m not doing anything, but now I’m going to be a part of it.”

Ross becomes the 18th Legends Poll voting coach and joins an illustrious group that already boasts 13 College Football Hall of Fame members and six national championships.

“I feel very honored. When you look at the selection, it’s a who’s who. I don’t know how I fit in there, but I’m glad I do,” Ross said. “I’m honored to be invited to join it. I think I’m going to enjoy myself. I talked to (current Legends Poll coach) Don Nehlen about it and we competed when he was at West Virginia and I was at Maryland, and it was good to renew some acquaintances in coaching, so I’m very excited about it.”

After spending four years at Maryland, Ross took over at Georgia Tech in 1987 and built the Yellow Jackets into a national contender. In 1990, he led them to an 11-0-1 record and a national title by finishing No. 1 in the final Coaches’ Poll.

Ross, whose career as a head coach spanned from 1973-2006, spent eight years in the NFL as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions. In just his third year in the NFL, Ross guided the Chargers to an AFC Championship and a Super Bowl appearance. The Chargers lost the Super Bowl 49-26 to the San Francisco 49ers.

Ross’ three years with the Lions included one playoff appearance in 1999. The Lions haven’t been back to the postseason since Ross’ departure.

Ross came back to the college game in 2004 to take over at Army one year after the Black Knights recorded an 0-13 season. Ross went 9-25 during his time with Army before retiring in 2007.

After spending a year with Westwood One, Ross decided to step away for a year. With a son in Afghanistan and a grandson playing high school football, Ross wanted to spend some time with his family.

But the lure of again getting involved in college football in some capacity was too strong. That’s why the Legends Poll became the obvious fit for Ross, especially considering what Legends Poll coaches do to make their decisions.

Each coach is given certain teams during the football season to be experts on. After each game, the coach is sent game film to study their teams and know every aspect of how that team performs week to week.

Ross is excited about the chance to sit down and scrutinize film again, and more importantly, be influential in the college football world again.

“I’ve got three teams. I think right now it’s going to be Maryland, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech,” Ross said. “If any of those three appear that they might be out of the picture for the BCS, then it might be that I’m given another team and I’ll look a little further and that type of thing.

“So I think it’s going to be really fun looking at film. I always love to look at film. That was something I really enjoyed, and I’ll be making a contribution to something I think is very, very important in college football.”