Early in Tuesday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show, longtime guest host Greg Cote did what few on the show have been willing to do over the past year.
As part of a played-up debate with newly added cast member Jonathan Zaslow, Cote made reference to the very high-profile absence of longtime cohost Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, teasing that Zaslow had replaced Stugotz as Le Batard’s cohost. The comments — though they stood out for their rarity amid Stugotz’s largely unexplained, prolonged absence — were clearly made in jest.
However, they struck a chord with Le Batard, who circled back later in the show to clear the air.
“If it appeared flippant to our audience in any way that the Stugotz thing is something we are enjoying here privately as you react and get annoyed, please understand that I love Stugotz. I will always love Stugotz,” Le Batard said. “We invited him to our (Miami-Indiana) watch party, we’ve been inviting him all month to be on the show, and we want him around here. The door is wide open for him.”
.@LeBatardShow discusses @stugotz790 on today’s show pic.twitter.com/qR2a5R2qYL
— Mark (@lebatardshowfan) January 27, 2026
Stugotz’s separation from the Le Batard Show and Meadowlark Media began last year, when the company extended its partnership with DraftKings. The new agreement did not include Stugotz’s two podcasts, which he then took independent while appearing far less frequently with Le Batard.
Both hosts were largely quiet about the split until the holiday season, when Fox Sports Radio announced Stugotz as its replacement for Doug Gottlieb on afternoons. While Le Batard praised Stugotz for earning the opportunity and promoted the new show, neither man fully explained the nature of their split or what the future would look like.
Stugotz initially claimed he was booked for 9 appearances on the Le Batard Show in January under specific conditions, but those conditions have not come to pass. Stugotz has not appeared on the Le Batard Show since last summer.
“He’ll give you whatever information he wants about when he’s coming back. We don’t know. I’d love for him to be back,” Le Batard said, taking on a more emotional tone. “I don’t want anyone in our audience thinking this is some flippant joke, because there’s stuff here that would be funny and I would love to make content out of, but I’m not going to, out of respect to a relationship that I really value and will always value.”
Stugotz hired Le Batard as his co-host in 2004 at WAXY, a South Florida-based station he founded. The duo brought a national audience to its local show before ultimately joining ESPN about a decade later. Le Batard and the show’s crew left the Worldwide Leader in early 2021, and the show signed a major licensing and sponsorship deal with DraftKings.
Given his self-professed love for radio compared with the show’s current format as a live YouTube and streaming show, Stugotz likely feels more at home at Fox. In a recent episode, he alluded to a “hurtful” exchange with Le Batard that led to their falling-out, adding that he questioned his future in the industry as a result.
Le Batard has not addressed any such confrontation.
“I don’t want our audience to think that I’m enjoying the fact that Stugotz isn’t around here, and I don’t want it to feel like that for anybody, here included,” he said Tuesday. “Because I’d love to have him back. I want him back.”
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.