Deny, deny, deny: But don’t be surprised if Meyer leaves
Florida's Urban Meyer is just like every other coach: At some point, he's going to need a new challenge.
If Urban Meyer wants to clear the air again about rumors that he’ll become Notre Dame’s next football coach after the upcoming season, he’ll have an opportunity this week at SEC media days in Alabama.
Will it make a difference? No. But at least everybody will have something on tape for reference, just like all those clips of Nick Saban saying: “I guess I have to say it. I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.”
I know. Meyer is different, right? That’s what Florida fans say. That’s what Meyer suggests. So when he all but slammed his fist on the table the other day and said, “I’m not going to Notre Dame. Ever. I’m going to be the coach at Florida for a long time, as long as they want me,” we had to believe him right?
Uh, no.
I don’t know Meyer but I know coaches. Never met one — in any sport on any level — who didn’t at some point need a new challenge. This isn’t to say Florida isn’t one of the best college football jobs going right now and possibly even a better job than Notre Dame (the name still has cache even if the current edition doesn’t). But at some point, after another championship and another multi-million-dollar raise, it’s only natural for a coach to think, “What next?” and look around.
Fact is, compared to other coaches, there’s twice the reason to think Meyer’s gone after one more season. He has two things tempting him: 1) We know what the Notre Dame job means to him because he has said it; 2) We can guess what the NFL means. With some teams now using a form of the spread offense, it would be easy for Meyer to convince himself of a smoother transition to the NFL than Saban and Steve Spurrier had.
Personally, I think Meyer’s gone. Gator fanboy needs to understand something: Coaches lie. They do it because they think they have to. They do it to keep recruits from getting cold feet and to keep their players focused. They do it because they think it’s none of your business whether they take that next job or not.
And, yes, Meyer has done it. The Orlando Sentinel dug up a couple of quotes from the Gators’ sainted coach.
♦ “I was contacted by one, but I’m not interested. I love it here. We have a lot of work to do. That’s the bottom line.” — That was Meyer in 2002 when he was the Bowling Green coach. Six days later, he took the Utah job.
♦ “All I keep saying is I plan on being the coach here at Utah.” — That was Meyer in 2004. Five days later, he took the Florida job.
Still feel the same about Meyer?
Get ready for a season of denials. But they mean nothing.
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233 comments Add your comment
Hungover mutt fan
July 20th, 2009
9:38 am
Urban Meyer or Nick Saban will go to Notre Dame.. Why? Because they both kicked the mutts a$$es last year. Go mutts woof woof
spectator
July 20th, 2009
9:42 am
This talk of Meyer going to Notre Dame is just silly. The “prestige” of Notre Dame is a myth. The only job Meyer would leave FL for is of course, UGA. Everyone knows that UGA is the best job in college football…why would he consider anything else. Dog fans are getting tired of CMR and his inability to beat all of these inferior teams on the UGA schedule…Richt will be gone soon, every coach in America will be applying for the UGA job (best job in college football)but Meyer will get it.
htowngator22
July 20th, 2009
9:42 am
Who knows! Urban might leave UF for ND, but not before winning 2 or 3 more championships.
AlwaysAVol
July 20th, 2009
9:42 am
I heard that Urban Meyer and Bobby Patrino are both going to quit coaching and take a job teaching Marital Fidelity in some mega-church. Sign me up!
TampaGator
July 20th, 2009
9:47 am
One of the main reasons Urban took the Florida job (other than the vast potential the school had for a great coach like Meyer) over Notre Dame was that he would not have to travel all over the country to recruit, which is a major requirement for the ND head coach. You are never around to be with your family. Meyer loves and wants to be near his family. If you had ever met Ms. Meyer, you would understand why. Plus, Urban is very involved in the life of his kids. The UF job allows him to be a great coach and still be a family man because 99% of his recruiting trips are less than 12 hours and few are over 24 hours. If he took the ND job or an NFL job, he would have to give up the family life he now has. It WILL NOT happen. Plus, the Meyers just love Gainesville, and Urban currently has the best coaching job in America, including the NFL. He will soon be making over 4 mill a year. You can forget Meyer leaving Florida. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Period.
BruffDawg
July 20th, 2009
9:48 am
GREAT ARTICLE JEFF. Urban Meyer will head to ND eventually. Anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves. READ HIS BOOK. It is his dream job. He is named after a pope after all. Plus he already explained why he did not take the job the first time (didn’t want to be run out if he couldn’t win right away). Now he has the credentials to give him at least three seasons w/o any questions. Personally i would love to see him stay because as a competitor i want my teams to go against the best. PS Richt would go to Miami way before he ever went to FSU (do some research).
Otto
July 20th, 2009
9:53 am
Bruff ND would take 5 to 8 to turn around. You would have to build facilites to get the Football program into the 1990s.
Comin' Down The Track
July 20th, 2009
9:59 am
Y’all, TampaGator makes a pretty stout defense for Meyer staying. For those of us who are not Gator fans (I being chiefly among those since I actually grew up in America’s wang while WE were the dominant team and have many friends who are lizard lovers, and it was totally sweet I tell you), let’s strap it on and beat the lousy so-and-so’s a few times with some authority and consistency. Then we’ll all be wishful thinking about Meyer NOT going to Notre Dame (honestly, who cares about Notre Dame anymore?! They are a non-entity in college football).
BruffDawg
July 20th, 2009
10:01 am
With their schedule? I think Urban could have a ten win season (which is bcs for nd) in at most three years. Plus he has the recruiting connections in florida that every nd coach wishes he had. ND still gets 4 star athletes and with his coaching and that weak schedule it would take three years tops.
READY
July 20th, 2009
10:03 am
When he does CMR will do cartwheels down Millege Ave!
DR
July 20th, 2009
10:04 am
Meyer is the biggest liar in the SEC.
dan
July 20th, 2009
10:08 am
As a Dawg fan, I don’t want Urban Meyer to leave. It pisses me off when Dawg fans say things like ” oh when Urban Meyer leaves, we’ll be good again”. That’s such a second tier loser mentality. I want Urban to stay, and I want other schools, especially UGA, to set up their game and match Florida’s intentsity.
I want Richt and company to grow and pair and whip Florida’s ass THIS year, not next year or the year after “when we’re good again”. Mack Brown got his butt whipped against Bob Stoops, and I’m sure Texas fans whined and complained about how Brown could never win the big game. But the last few years, Texas has figured it out and has handed it to Oklahoma. It can be done!
The bottom line: I can give two craps where Urban Meyer goes. I just want to see my football team Man Up, and kick some Gator ass. 20 years is long enough dammit! They kicked their ass in 2007, do it again.
RxDawg
July 20th, 2009
10:08 am
Nortre Name = No
NFL = Probably
BruffDawg
July 20th, 2009
10:13 am
Agreed dan. I want Urban to stay so we can beat Fla at their best. I just think he is a job jumper. Plus there is NO WAY Meyer goes to the No Fun League. He can’t pull the my way or the highway crap with players who have lawyers and agents and contracts. He is WAY to controlling to ever go to the NFL. The first time a player said no to him he would be back in the NCAA so fast it would make your head spin.
Rickster
July 20th, 2009
10:16 am
Are Urban Meyer and “”Papa John” Schnatter the same person?
Buck Strickland
July 20th, 2009
10:24 am
Jeff, I wouldn’t call him a liar. He’s doing his job and protecting the program. Reporters ask, he answers. Can you imagine if we all had to deal with being asked about whether we were looking to switch jobs? If I knew my answer was going to be made public record, I’d lie and say what’s in the best interest of my career and family. Jeff, calling coach Meyer a liar may be technically correct but if it weren’t for the media the man wouldn’t have to lie like he did in the past. And “no comment” unfortunately doesn’t work these days so don’t try to say he should be responding with that.
Elliot Garcia
July 20th, 2009
10:24 am
Urban must be a really good coach….nobody ever talked about Ron Zook leaving….I guess you don’t see any other university clamoring to hire away Richt either….
Craig
July 20th, 2009
10:24 am
Gator fans are truly in denial. The point is – Urban has consistently lied about coaching job opportunities. It’s not about a “better job”. It’s about a bigger challenge. ND was once the storybook program in college football. It’s now a joke or at least a non-issue anymore. Add to the fact Urban has already mentioned this as his dream job. Add all of this together and you have – no credibility on his denials, a MAJOR challenge with bringing this program back to prominence, and Urban saying before this is his dream job. He’s achieved everything he possibly can at UF. This year he can achieve a trifecta there. He has a Heisman achievement there. He’s tapped out. Time for him to move on. An ego like his cannot afford to stay there to eventually see him fizzle out like many others. The days of JoePa and Bowden remaining loyal decades to a top program are over. Meyer will move on. Better go ahead and make a name plate of Charlie Strong or someone else.
Gov. Clinton Tyree
July 20th, 2009
10:25 am
Wishful thinking by Dawg and SEC fans.
Yap all you want. Whatever. Schultz, you’re an enabler.
I suppose he could stay 40 years like Bowden at Florida State, but my guess is he’ll have a short career because of the intensity with which he does his job. Just our cross to bear.
In the meantime, I am really enjoying the Fall every year. Aren’t you?
AltamahaDawg
July 20th, 2009
10:27 am
As I said before, Meyer used the equivalant of the fingers crossed. If he didn’t refer to himself in the third person, so it doesn’t count.
I hope he stays though.
Chris Trudeau
July 20th, 2009
10:30 am
For the love of everything that is holy, please…TRY HARD to come up with something interesting to talk about. There are plenty of examples of people questioning whether he will leave or not…so to pile on and give yourself some “I told you so on {insert date here}” palaver shows that you are phoning your job in, sadly, probably from a payphone…
ByteMe
July 20th, 2009
10:31 am
so here’s my question back: if reporters really know he’s lying when he answers, why ask the question at all? Seems like something just to fill space.
BruffDawg
July 20th, 2009
10:33 am
One thing no one has aked. Why do you think Charlie Strong has stayed? No job offers? Give me a break. Strong has stayed because Meyer has told him this is his last year and after this the program is his. It has all been worked out.
FALCONS SORRY
July 20th, 2009
10:41 am
IS MEYER A LIAR? YES HE IS! AND SO IS THAT LIAR AUTHUR BLANK! THOSE TWO CHEETERS AND LIARS NEED TO WORK TOGETHER! ALL THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IS LIE AND BETRAY PEOPLE WHO TRUST THEM!
charliedawg
July 20th, 2009
10:43 am
Rickster – I think Urban is taller tham Papa John…..
m
July 20th, 2009
10:45 am
Maybe if Meyer leaves floriduh, then floriduh can bring back one of their own…none other than floriduh PE major and bench warmer chan gomer gailey. Maybe he can wreck their program just like he did Tech’s.
irish fan in GA
July 20th, 2009
10:46 am
OK… Urban did not take the job before. He has not been offered the job again. I think Urban just has a big head and thinks he can rattle the Gators fans. I think Urban will be in the NFL in 2 years. Not at Notre Dame. If Coach Weis does not do the job, ND will not go back to a choice the said no! Maybe Lou will come back???
The Truth
July 20th, 2009
10:46 am
Why would Meyer leave? He has the easiest job in college football. He has had the good fortune to walk into a situation where someone else handed him arguably the best college football player of all time for four years, and at the same time this coincided with FSU and Miami being way down from their glory years. Not to mention Meyer barely has to walk out his door to find the best athletes in the country salivating to play for the obscenely fortunate Gators. Notre Dame would be a nightmare compared to the ease of coaching at UF. On second thought, maybe that would be a good reason to leave. To prove he can do it without Tebow and without the monstrous recruiting advantage he has over any other school.
charliedawg
July 20th, 2009
10:50 am
BTW, I want Charlie Strong to leave, not UM. Gators have won the SEC and NC by having a great defense, look what happened when they did not have a great defense, 8-4.
Jeff, write an article as to why Charlie has not gotten a head coaching job, someone needs to now that TM is gone,
AltamahaDawg
July 20th, 2009
10:51 am
I think some of you are simply misunderstanding the point, or you do understand but can’t resist the chance to take a stab at somebodies that you you have no idea what they are all about.
Any coach of any character SHOULD refuse to fuel the speculation of taking another coaching job. You don’t spit on your existing employer, and you don’t play your hand in the media. You construct a statement that is accurate as of this moment in time.
It’s a job, obviously it’s subject to change. The motivation of asking him the question is far more “dishonest” than any answer he is likely to give. As if it really matters what the answer was.
The Actual Truth
July 20th, 2009
10:56 am
The Truth: No one else handed Tebow to Meyer. Meyer recruited Tebow. I am not a Florida fan or a Gator Hater, but maybe we can mix a few facts into the discussion.
Comin' Down The Track
July 20th, 2009
10:57 am
Everyone is missing the point. The bait here is for the wishful thinkers. Look, I can’t stand Coach Meyer either. I think he’s a slimy weasel. I have very little evidence to back up that claim. I simply BELIEVE it. There is very little evidence to suggest Coach Meyer is leaving so, you can BELIEVE Coach Meyer is going to leave all you want. It doesn’t make it so. Repeating it ad nauseum doesn’t make it so. Better to just beat him where he stands and shut up, writers and commenters alike, about him leaving. Just change the culture. Spurrier did it there. We can do it here, too. GATA
Another one saying Meyers leaves - SECTalk Forums
July 20th, 2009
11:01 am
[...] Another one saying Meyers leaves Deny, deny, deny: But don’t be surprised if Meyer leaves | Jeff Schultz [...]
kudzoo
July 20th, 2009
11:08 am
Evidently Jeff is a descendant of Sgt. “I know N-O-T-H-I-N-G!” Shultz.
Rebel Ace
July 20th, 2009
11:14 am
Ole Miss fans could care less. We’ll still own Florida. Hey, Gators, it’s foruth down — go for it! LOL
Howard
July 20th, 2009
11:15 am
I am a Gator. I wonder why this is such a hot topic. I wonder if it is because so many Dawg fans hope that Meyer will leave in the belief that GA will then be competitive with Florida. I doubt that if Meyer leaves there will a drop off at Florida. They will just find another young coach. Even when Zook was there they still beat Georgia. The reality is that Florida has now surpassed Georgia for a number of reasons. First, Florida has more athletes in the state to recruit. Second, Florida is a bigger school creating greater alumni nationwide and therefore more exposure. I am surprised by the number of Gators in Atlanta. Georgia is a great university and has a great football coach, but I think the expectations at Georgia are a bit too high. Florida is now an elite school for athletics and in the same class as USC, Texas, and Ohio State. Georgia is a great school and can win the SEC and maybe even a national title but not in the league with those schools. this is true with or without Meyer.
TPA
July 20th, 2009
11:17 am
Most Gator fans know that Meyer will leave eventually. It just won’t be to Notre Dame. Florida is a better program than ND and has been since 1980. Moron rivals are left playing with themselves over the fact that Meyer will eventually leave…that is what it has come to and its pretty pathetic. Grow some juevos!
TampaGator
July 20th, 2009
11:26 am
Hey, Rebel Ace, it is the day of the National Championship game…I hope the Ole Miss players are enjoying their chips and beer in front of the TV and Tebow wins another National Title!
Sim
July 20th, 2009
11:27 am
Columns such as this have led to the downfall of the sportswriter in favor of the blogger. Putting forth opinions based on no real information, all the while hedging your bet by not explicitly stating any real thoughts is bush league writing. Keep dreaming ‘dawg fans, Meyer will be around long enough.
GatorNation
July 20th, 2009
11:33 am
Dont be surprised if Urban Meyer is still at Florida after Richt is gone.
Bob Costa Nostra Dame-us
July 20th, 2009
11:34 am
Here’s what’s gonna happen, as stated by a previous poster. Richt to Miami next year; Urban to UGA. What better challenge than to elevate the Dawgs that last rung or two ? Dawg fans are gonna LOVE it.
tenn.DAWG
July 20th, 2009
11:35 am
He may be an arrogant,egotistical liar,and not even liked
in the confines of his own institution (uf),but he’s not stupid.If he wants to go out on top he will leave with Teebow.
Me
July 20th, 2009
11:39 am
I know it’s the slow hot summer months but exactly how many times is this “story” going to be warmed over!
GATORPAYER
July 20th, 2009
11:40 am
If he leaves he leaves. Coaches are always moving on to the next job or getting fired. We will hire a good coach and we will win again. My choice would be Bell but we all know that won’t happen.
RJS
July 20th, 2009
11:40 am
Personally, I think Meyer will end up leaving for the nfl after winning another national championship this year, but I find it amusing how Gator college football “fans” have such little knowledge of what college football is all about. College football is about history and traditional. Notre Dame has it in spades and Florida does not. At heart, Urban Meyer is still that kid from Ohio who grew up worshipping Notre Dame football- if you’re not from the North, you will never understand what that means. Meyer would have taken the ND job over Florida the first time around if ND had made a remotely decent offer.
TPA- get your decades straight- ND was much, much better than Florida throughout most of the eighties and into the nineties. I’m no Irish apologist, I relish ever Irish loss- especially the bowl blowouts, but I also live in reality.
G8R8U2
July 20th, 2009
11:40 am
Of course we still feel the same way about Meyer. Most of us already know he said all those things… we’re also bright enough (unlike this and the other “journalists” who’ve posed the question) to realize he said those things before taking better jobs… moving UP in the college football world. Not to sound arrogant or anything, but there isn’t anywhere farther UP for Meyer to go. In the last 2 decades, UF has won more games and NC’s than any other program in the country; and he’s sitting on the best recruiting hotbed in the nation to go along with that. If Meyer leaves, which most Gator fans think he EVENTUALLY will; it’ll be to the NFL, and after his 11-year old is out of school. I’d like for some of you guys to actually come up with some facts and actual sources of all this speculation (other than the same lame quote saying, “Notre Dame WAS my dream job”); and quit just copying and pasting the same article all over the internet… didn’t you guys learn about plagiarism in school? Don’t answer that. It was rhetorical; and I can tell by the efforts that few of you went to journalism school, or at least to a reputable one. Florida State or Miami is probably Mark Richt’s dream job, too; but he’s never going there because he’s got a good thing going where he is… and much less reason to stay put than Meyer, I might add.
the Future
July 20th, 2009
11:46 am
Get ready dawgs for another arce whouping.he will stay at FL.
scott
July 20th, 2009
11:48 am
Holy crap, you Gator fans are some weird-obsessed dudes. I had no idea that Urban issued the typical patented denial less than a week before he bolted in both ‘02 and ‘04, and so it was interesting to read it here. What a tool. No more a tool than so many others, to be fair. But a tool nonetheless.
So wrting this column demonstrates a lack of creativity? lol. What do ya want Schultzie to write about, Gator softball or Gator synchronized swimming?
miles
July 20th, 2009
11:49 am
Why do journalists expect a head football coach to divulge their dream jobs/aspirations prior to any finalized contract and then they call them liars when they accept another job? Jim Mora fell for this and look what happened to him. Hey Jeff Schultz, why don’t you tell us who you really want to work for when you can finally escape the doldrums of the AJC? I’m sure this will help in your current employee reviews and salary negotiations, as well as improve your working relationships (but at least random, unknown bloggers won’t call you a liar). Most head football coaches are smart and they aren’t going to let the media dictate and manage their careers and working relationships for print fodder. Even if Meyer leaves after 5 seasons, he’s taken UF football to unbelievable heights (4 seasons = 2 natl championships, 2 sec championships, 1 heisman trophy player with a 83% winning % overall (77% in the sec)). Instead of calling him a liar, maybe you can call him what he really is: a successful, winning, dedicated coach who owns the SEC (including the dawgs).
alabamadawg
July 20th, 2009
11:50 am
Great column Jeff, Thanks !!