Fox Sports executives must have heard the collective groans when Craig James was hired as an analyst for regional network Fox Sports Southwest, because the former SMU running back is already out of the gig.
SI media reporter Richard Deitsch says James is gone after one weekend on duty as a college football analyst for Fox Sports Southwest. James was brought on to provide analysis for Fox Sports South’s postgame studio show and Big 12 wrapup show. Deitsch says James did not have a formal agreement in place, but was supposed to work throughout the season.
The issue reportedly is that the hire did not go through top-level Fox Sports management, which supposedly rejected the move. And why would they do that? Maybe because James became a hated figure after it was revealed he was intricately involved in the removal of Mike Leach as Texas Tech’s football coach, and because he expressed some anti-gay opinions while running for Texas Senate.
The last thing Fox Sports probably wanted was the negative publicity that comes with hiring a guy like James, all while they’re trying to build the new Fox Sports 1 network. It didn’t even matter that James would have been doing stuff for a specific region; just having him associated with the brand was a bad look.
