Fox hires ex-Sooner Stoops to replace Meyer on 'Big Noon'

Updated Mar. 8, 2021 3:28 p.m. ET

Associated Press

Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops will replace Urban Meyer on Fox’s college football pregame show, the network announced Monday.

Meyer, the former Ohio State coach, spent two seasons with “Big Noon Kickoff” before leaving to become an NFL head coach for the first time with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Stoops, 60, stepped down at Oklahoma in June 2017 after 18 years leading the Sooners. He was 190-48 and won a national championship in 2000 with Oklahoma. Stoops was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in January.

He coached one season with the XFL’s Dallas franchise in 2020, before that league suspended operations. He’ll join analysts Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart and host Rob Stone on Fox’s two-hour studio show.

Fox has tried to challenge ESPN's long-running “College GameDay” on Saturday morning by having its pregame show lead into marquee games in the noon Eastern time slot. That includes Big 12 games involving Stoops' old school, most notably the annual Oklahoma-Texas rivalry.

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