Report: Bob Stoops Joins Fox Sports to Replace Urban Meyer on CFB Pregame Show

Fox Sports is hiring former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops for its Big Noon Kickoff college football pregame show, replacing Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.

Per Marchand, "After Meyer took the Jaguars coaching job in January, Fox Sports immediately zeroed in on Stoops. Meyer—who received near universal praise during his two years on Big Noon—spoke to Stoops about what the job entailed, a source said."

Stoops, 60, spent 18 years as Oklahoma's head coach (1999-2016), going 190-48 in his time with the Sooners. He never missed a bowl game, going 9-9, and won the national championship in 2000. Oklahoma also finished as national runners-up in 2005 and 2008.

In 2019, he was hired to be the head coach and general manager of the XFL's Dallas Renegades franchise. However, the league didn't last long in its second iteration, shutting down after its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2020.

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley briefly brought back Stoops to the staff in December after the COVID-19 pandemic left him short-staffed. Because Stoops was already under contract as a special assistant to the athletic director, he was eligible to step into a coaching role.

"It was awesome," Riley told reporters at the time. "Our kids were excited to see him. I think he had some fun as well. Kind of been in our hip pocket the whole time. We've got a Hall of Famer sitting on the bench. That's a pretty good bench. More than that, how much he cares about this program. I don't think there's anything he wouldn't do for this program. This program is near and dear to him. He's been great."

Replacing Meyer, who was widely lauded in his pregame role, will be no small task for Stoops. But being a Hall of Fame college coach will lend him a gravitas as Fox attempts to compete with ESPN's College GameDay, long the king of Saturday pregame programing.