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After Urban Meyer vacated to the NFL, Fox Sports added another Championship-caliber coach to their college football coverage lineup.
Bob Stoops will join the studio crew in Los Angeles next season to replace Meyer. The former Oklahoma Sooners coach retired from the college ranks in 2017, but recently took over for the XFL’s Dallas Renegades franchise before the league folded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff will feature Stoops alongside a pair of USC Heisman winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, former Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn and host Rob Stone on the program. The ‘BNK’ will look to compete with the ever so dominant crew of ESPN’s Gameday for a Saturday morning ratings toss-up. Meyer was added by FOX for a boost to the show back in 2019. The former Ohio State coach was instantly praised for his knowledge of the game, which won’t skip a beat with Stoops filling the role.
Meyer was hired to be the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this year. He becomes the latest successful college coach moving up to help spur a turnaround of one of the NFL’s worst franchises. One of Meyer’s rivals, Nick Saban, left LSU to coach the Miami Dolphins in 2004. A two-and-out affair before heading to Alabama and becoming one of the all-time greats in college football history.
Jacksonville currently holds the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. Meyer is likely to be eyeing Clemson star QB Trevor Lawrence as the Jags’ top pick.
Stoops, 60, won a national championship in 2000 at Oklahoma and became the iconic powerhouse program’s all-time winningest coach with 190 victories over 17 seasons. In January, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.
