Jimmy Johnson, who won two Super Bowls and a national championship as a coach, has announced his retirement from Fox Sports after being a part of its NFL coverage for 31 years.

The 81-year-old Johnson made the announcement Monday during an appearance on “The Herd With Colin Cowherd.”

“The most fun I ever had in my career, that’s counting Super Bowls and national championships, was at Fox Sports,” he said, adding that he loved working for CEO Eric Shanks and Fox NFL Sunday producer Bill Richards.

“But I’ve made an extremely difficult decision,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for the last four or five years and I’ve decided to retire from Fox. I’m going to miss it. I’m going to miss all the guys. I’ll see them occasionally. It’s been a great run starting 31 years ago.”

Johnson worked alongside Curt Menefee and Terry Bradshaw and analysts Howie Long and Michael Strahan.

He won Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys for the 1992-93 seasons and the college football national championship with Miami in 1987.

Bengals place franchise tag on Higgins again >> The Cincinnati Bengals have placed the franchise tag on Tee Higgins for a second time, as the team hopes to work out a long-term deal with the star wide receiver.

If the Bengals can’t reach a contract with the 26-year-old Higgins before July 15, his salary for the 2025 season would be $26.2 million.

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin reiterated last week at the NFL scouting combine that one of his top priorities is to get a deal done with Higgins.

Higgins posted a one-word reaction on social media after getting the news — “tag.”

Higgins would have been one of the top players to hit free agency. Instead, he is the second player to receive a franchise tag, joining Kansas City guard Trey Smith. Teams have until today at 1 p.m. PST to tag players.

Higgins was tied for sixth in the league this past season with 10 touchdown catches. He also had 73 receptions for 911 yards and averaged 12.5 yards per catch.

Eagles to release Slay >> The Philadelphia Eagles are set to release six-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, a person familiar with the decision said.

The 34-year-old cornerback spent five seasons with the Eagles and played a key role in helping them win the Super Bowl just three weeks ago. The move was expected to save the Eagles about $4.3 million next season against the salary cap.

Slay spent the first seven years of his career with the Detroit Lions before he was traded to the Eagles in March 2020 for third-round and fifth-round picks in that year’s draft. He had nine interceptions in the regular season over his career with the Eagles — and had one in this year’s postseason against Green Bay.

Packers to retain McDuffie >> Green Bay linebacker Isaiah McDuffie has agreed to terms on a two-year, $8 million deal that will keep him with the Packers, according to reports.

McDuffie was due to become an unrestricted free agent if he hadn’t reached a deal with the Packers.

McDuffie, 25, started all 17 games for the Packers this past season and ranked second on the team with a career-high 97 tackles.

Motorsports

Legge will be first woman in NASCAR Cup race since 2018 >> Katherine Legge will become the first woman in a NASCAR Cup Series race since Danica Patrick in 2018 when the veteran makes her debut Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Legge will drive the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports. She becomes the first woman since Patrick made her final Cup Series start in the Daytona 500 seven years ago.

Legge, who is a 44-year-old native of England, has five career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. She most recently raced in NASCAR at Road America in 2023. She ran the ARCA race last month at Daytona International Speedway.

Legge has raced in multiple series over the years, including seven IndyCar Series starts last season. She has four career starts in the Indianapolis 500 and in 2023 set a record for fastest qualifying time by a woman.

Legge will be sponsored at Phoenix by venture studio DROPLight and Sherfick Companies, a real estate and construction development business.

“Entering the NASCAR Cup Series is a dream come true,” said Legge. “Racing stock cars has been an incredibly fun and new challenge that’s given me a renewed sense of vigor for this sport. As always, I’m grateful for the opportunity to do what I love and am inspired by all of the effort, preparation and behind the scenes work it takes to get here.”

Men’s basketball

Saint Mary’s up to No. 21 in AP poll >> Saint Mary’s (27-4, 17-1 West Coast Conference), which finished with its best conference record in school history after beating Oregon 74-64 on Saturday night, moved from No. 23 to No. 21 in the latest AP poll.

The Gaels will enter the WCC tournament as the No. 1 seed for the third straight year. Their next game will be in the WCC semifinals at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Monday, March 10.

Meanwhile, Auburn and Duke remain atop the poll. Auburn was the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel. The Tigers held the top spot for the eighth straight week following wins over Ole Miss and then-No. 17 Kentucky.

Duke was No. 2 for the second straight week after blowing out Miami and Florida State.

No. 3 Houston moved up a spot after beating Texas Tech and Cincinnati, while Tennessee climbed to No. 4 following Jahmai Mashack’s last-second 3-pointer from well beyond halfcourt to beat Alabama 79-76.

Women’s basketball

USC moves to No. 2 in poll >> USC has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in AP poll.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC got six first-place votes from the national media panel.

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. UCLA fell to fourth with UConn right ahead at No. 3. South Carolina, which won a coin flip to get the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth.