Yahoo Sports Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops to replace Urban Meyer on Fox's 'Big Noon Kickoff'
Fox has added a legendary coach to its college football pregame show.
Bob Stoops, the longtime head coach at Oklahoma, will join the cast of “Big Noon Kickoff” this fall. Stoops replaces Urban Meyer, who was hired as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars back in January.
Stoops, a College Football Hall of Famer, will join the cast as an analyst alongside Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn and host Rob Stone. The show airs on Saturdays at 10 a.m. to lead into the network’s biggest game of the weekend, dubbed “Big Noon Saturday.”
According to the New York Post, Stoops was the network’s top target once Meyer got back into coaching. Meyer even clued Stoops in on what to expect should he join the show’s cast, per the Post.
Stoops, 60, was the head coach at Oklahoma from 1999 until he announced his retirement in June 2017 and handed the reins to Lincoln Riley. Stoops amassed a 190-48 record over that span, with 10 Big 12 titles and one national championship. Stoops, a 2021 inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame, briefly returned to the sideline, coaching the Dallas Renegades of the XFL during the league’s brief return.
“Coach Stoops’ Hall-of-Fame resume speaks for itself, and that success, along with his passion for college football, makes him the perfect fit for 'Big Noon Kickoff,'” said Fox Sports executive Brad Zager. “His impact on the sport is still felt in Oklahoma’s continued success and the multiple former assistants who are now head coaches all over the country. We are excited to add someone who mentored multiple top draft picks and Heisman winners, coached in multiple championship games and has gone head-to-head against some of today’s greatest active coaches.”
Added Stoops: “I’m looking forward to joining such an incredibly talented team. Over the past two seasons, Fox has assembled an insightful, engaging and entertaining pregame show that has become destination viewing for today’s college football fan, and I’m excited to be part of it beginning this fall.”
"Big Noon Kickoff" is entering its third season as an alternative to ESPN’s behemoth “College GameDay” on Saturday mornings. In its inaugural season, the show went on the road for a handful of games much like “GameDay.” Otherwise, it aired from Fox Sports’ studios in Los Angeles.
During its first season, "Big Noon Kickoff" was just an hour-long broadcast. It expanded to two hours in 2020. It will remain in the two-hour format in 2021 to compete with "GameDay," which is a three-hour show. Fox said it is planning to take "Big Noon Kickoff" back out on the road in the fall.
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