Doug Gottlieb Hated One Thing He Had to Do for Skip Bayless to Get Fox Sports Job

Andy Nesbitt | Jun 24, 2025

Doug Gottlieb didn't love what he had to do to win over Skip Bayless. / Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Skip Bayless was in the news again Sunday night for one of his bad takes, this time criticizing Tyrese Haliburton over his injury shortly before the Indiana Pacers star had his season come to a heartbreaking end thanks to a torn Achilles.

Bayless made a career at ESPN and then at Fox Sports by spewing terrible takes on a daily basis, and that has continued now that he is no longer on TV every day.

Doug Gottlieb, who in 2017 made the jump over to Fox Sports from ESPN and still has a radio show with them, blasted Bayless for his take on Haliburton and then explained what he had to do to win over Bayless so he could land his job at FS1. And it was something he absolutely hated.

Via Awful Announcing:

“So, [Jason Stewart], you worked in the same building [as Bayless]. So you know this to be true. Skip Bayless ran his own shop. He was everything for his show, Undisputed. And when I got to take the job … I am forever upset with myself about this. So, I was under contract with CBS. I had six months left, and I wanted to get back out to California. I wanted to do Fox television at the time. A good friend of mine, Jamie Horowitz, was running the daily shows. And Jaime is responsible for bringing Colin (Cowherd) and Skip to Fox Sports 1. But in order to work at Fox Sports 1 at the time, I had to make nice and kiss the ring with Skip Bayless.

“What does that look like? I had to send him couple of texts, set up a phone call. I didn’t gravel, but I didn’t feel good about it. That goes back to, Skip didn’t like me. And he didn’t like me because I was on, back when it was 1st and 10, and I would be on opposite of him. And he would say ridiculous s---. And I would call him on his ridiculous s---. Not to the point that Jalen Rose did. Or what Ryen Russillo did. But Ryen and Jalen didn’t want to work at Fox Sports at the time. So they weren’t going to grovel and kiss the ring. I kissed the ring. And I f------ hate myself for it.”

Bayless is now relegated to sharing his takes on his podcast and on social media. Gottlieb can be heard each day on Fox Sports Radio and is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay.

It sounds like he is very happy to no longer be coworkers with Bayless.

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