Florida fans: Stop whining about Meyer going to Ohio State
Before Florida fans complain, they should remember Urban Meyer won this thing for them -- twice. (AP photo)
(Updated: 10:35 a.m.)
Urban Meyer just went from savior to Satan in Gainesville. Sorry, but did Florida fans really expect he was going to spend the rest of his life sitting in a climate-controlled studio and planting pansies?
Welcome to reality, Gator fans. You’re apparently the last one to figure out that Meyer is no less disingenuous than any other college coach, and he might be worse.
The former Florida coach reportedly has taken the head coaching job at Ohio State, confirming the worst kept secret in sports. Kudos to the blog sites ElevenWarriors and SportsByBrooks, which were way ahead of this story on Nov. 18.
(For what it’s worth: Meyer’s agent denied to cbssports.com’s Dennis Dodd that Meyer has accepted the job. But at this point, we’re probably talking semantics.)
Gator fans are upset. They believe Meyer betrayed them, and, well, maybe he did just a little. They believe he was dishonest, and, well, maybe he was just a little.
But Meyer won two BCS and two SEC championships. He went 65-15 in six seasons, resuscitating a program that had slipped under Ron Zook following Steve Spurrier’s departure. Urban Meyer owes Florida fans nothing.
My pal, George Diaz, of the Orlando Sentinel had an excellent column on this and he was right on point when he wrote: “In Columbus and other Ohio outposts, Urban is a saint. In Gainesville and neighboring communities, he is a sinner. Labels are funny. If Meyer had quit on Ohio State and was returning to coach at Florida, the sentiments would be flip-flopped.”
Now, about Meyer: My belief is that the health scare he suffered nearly two years ago was legit. It probably freaked out his family more than him but that’s the way most coaches are wired. He resigned one day and un-resigned the next, saying he would take only a leave of absence.
The 2010 season was a mess. Meyer couldn’t be as driven (psychotic?) as he wanted to be. The fact Florida slipped (4-4 in the SEC after going 32-9 in the previous nine years) didn’t help. He was worn down. He wasn’t having fun. He needed a break. So he quit. That’s what I believe.
One popular conspiracy theory: Meyer left because he realized he had made some recruiting mistakes and the Gators would be mediocre this season. That could’ve played a role. But if Florida had been better in 2010, maybe he wouldn’t have seemed as worn down, either.
Regardless, the “I just want to spend more time with my family” excuse never washed with anybody. That’s not to say Meyer doesn’t love his wife and children but that never seemed the No. 1 motivating factor in him quitting.
If he really felt that, he wouldn’t be back now. What, after 12 months, he got all of the hugs out of his system?
Meyer just needed a break. Now he returns to Ohio State, where he was a grad assistant for two years. He is a Ohio native. This is as close to a dream job as he will get. (My guess is “dream job” will be mentioned at his introductory news conference.)
None of this means he is making the right decision. If he starts suffering from chest pains again, you will have your answer.
As far as how this affects his family, that’s between them. But nobody should be stunned that Meyer is going to be back on a sideline next season. And if any Florida fans have hard feelings about it, maybe they should take a walk past the trophy case.
By Jeff Schultz
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
401 comments Add your comment
ViningDawg
November 28th, 2011
10:33 am
Remember, you can’t spell c- ck– cker without OSU!
willie
November 28th, 2011
10:34 am
Urban ain’t got nothing on bill smith. Bill smith you are our only hope.
JRW7
November 28th, 2011
10:34 am
How can BAMA play for a NC whe they can’t even win the SEC and will probably finish 3rd in the SEC?
Cobb Dawg
November 28th, 2011
10:35 am
Agree with your analysis, ARDawg. Hipocrisy is rampant in this sport.
Urban Meyer may not be the same coach as OSU as he was the first few years at UF. It’s possible his main competitive advantage was his maniacal work ethic. And nobody can keep that up forever. We may be about to findo out just how human he really is.
Chuck
November 28th, 2011
10:35 am
The truth is Meyer tooks a scorched-earth policy on recruiting; he said and did whatever he had to in order to sway recruits and had burned the majority of recuriting bridges in the southeast.
Now he has fresh bridges to burn in the midwest. He will be there about 6 years, then move west – with the bridges out there freshly rebuilt from his Utah stint.
sam
November 28th, 2011
10:36 am
Quote from PMC: If I’m a Florida fan I’ll always love the guy who got us there more in Steve Spurrier. Urban is a mercenary, and he did his job really well.
Just wish he would stop trying to sell us on character. It’s all disingenuous. End quote
Spurrier was the HC at Duke and then came to UF. He left UF for the NFL (one of the dumbest moves ever by both sides) then went to the Gamecocks. So how is Meyer a mercenary and Spurrier is not?
Rick Flair
November 28th, 2011
10:37 am
To be the man, you gotta beat the man! Whoooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trojan
November 28th, 2011
10:38 am
Can you imagine having to look at Weiss on the sideline every week? Yikes.
Worm
November 28th, 2011
10:38 am
Gators are suffering from “Urban” sprawl.
Meyer Liar Liar
November 28th, 2011
10:39 am
All praises be to modern medical science and heaven above ! The bed-ridden sickly body of one Urban Meyer has been resurrected and healed. This miracle has allowed Mr. Meyer to collect the paltry sum of $50 million over 10 years. How does a sickly man like Meyer agree to work for 10 years with questionable health ? If Meyer were Pinnochio his nose would be 1,5280 feet long…
Kyle E
November 28th, 2011
10:39 am
@Sam – I hate to be the one to say it, but no, Spurrier did not betray Duke (or UF for that matter when he left for the NFL). Neither did Urban betray Utah. Both moves were promotions – Duke is not a National Title caliber team, and neither is Utah. But more importantly, neither Urban nor Spurrier ever held a press conference at Utah or Duke like Urban did at UF for the single purpose of saying that he would remain at Florida for “as long as they’ll have me.” Leaving for a better job is not a betrayal, but going back on your word is.
Dale
November 28th, 2011
10:40 am
My problem with Urban Meyer stems from his reason for leaving Florida, “… I have two daughters who are entering sports, I want to be there for them…”. Had he said he just wanted to do something else fine, but to use an excuse is dishonest. He has lost my respect!
hard kory
November 28th, 2011
10:40 am
Urban tebow Meyer. Without tebow he is nothing. Matt was right urban should go to Denver.
ARdawg
November 28th, 2011
10:41 am
Heh heh Meyer Meyer pants on fire
joe
November 28th, 2011
10:41 am
Meyer and Patrino joined at the hip. Two of a kind.
Rick Flair
November 28th, 2011
10:43 am
How is Meyer going to coach with a broke leg Matt C.? Whoooooooooo!!!!!!
Anti-Bama
November 28th, 2011
10:43 am
Agreed. The 3rd place SEC team is not deserving of playing for a National Championship. Give Oklahoma State or Stanford a shot. An LSU-Bama rematch is not good. LSU already defeated Alabama !
Billdawg
November 28th, 2011
10:44 am
FLA got what it deserved – Another traitor when it hired Muschamp; who denied being raised in Georgia and stated playing for UGA was a mistake. All but 6 years of his life up to college were in Rome. His family still lives there.
Nothing ike pouring gas on a fire! Heck Spurrier didn’t even show up for a meeting with Muschamp regarding walking on at FLA. For this, Muschamp takes digs at the school that let him walk on and earn a scholarsip! Tasty crow huh??????
.
Liar Liar 2
November 28th, 2011
10:45 am
New movie set for release in 2012. Liar Liar 2 starring Urban Meyer and Kim Kardashian…
St Simons - we're on Island time
November 28th, 2011
10:47 am
If his holiness Tebow and Dan Mullen don’t follow him, he’s gonna
be a flash in the pan there, too.
Its a good first job to get back into coaching, start out slow
in one of the junior flag football leagues, then work your way
back up to major college football.
ATL Fan
November 28th, 2011
10:47 am
Urban Meyer didn’t leave Florida to coach at Ohio State. He left Florida because of health issues and to spend more time with his family.
Couple of questions I would like to have answered:
How is his health now, compared to when he resigned from Florida?
How much more-time did he have with his family?
Does he no longer need to spend that “more time” with his family now?
I suspect that the answers to these questions wil be incongruent with his stated reasons for leaving.
Joey
November 28th, 2011
10:47 am
Laugh AT Myer, UF fans.
He has to live in Ohio!
dawg
November 28th, 2011
10:48 am
UGA fans need to calm down, we are playing in the most insignificant SEC Championship of all time. If LSU wins they play Bama for the National Championship and if they lose they STILL play Bama for the National Championship. Why play the game? We need a playoff bad!!!
RCB
November 28th, 2011
10:49 am
Congrats to the sports casters again. The public position now is that there is not, and should not, be any right or wrong in “big time” (a/k/a big bucks) sports any more. Your “yes” can mean “no” and personal interests trump anything else. In fact character has been redined as leaving as soon as Alabama whips your rear end. And we wonder why we are reading the stories about Penn St. and else where? Memo to sports casters. It may just be about the money for you and some of the highly paid coaches (and the athletes who go pro), but there are a lot of fans (including kids actually young enough to look to people like you for direction) and players who play because they believe in character and morals, and are naive enough to think you can still find these things on a football field on a Saturday afternoon.
Zeus
November 28th, 2011
10:49 am
The party is over, Gators.
ole yeller
November 28th, 2011
10:49 am
Too much money for what Ohio State is getting. I think “UM” left Fla because he saw the writting on the wall. He could handle it, so he left. Now he will have all the santions to cover his “W” & “O”. If he bring Ohio State back maybe I’ll change my mine. But, as of now he is a Hypocrit. That my call, You make your own call. NOTE I’m not a Gator fan.
dawg
November 28th, 2011
10:50 am
And all of this anti-Bama stuff is funny. They lost by a fieldgoal in overtime to the #1 team in the country. Oklahoma St has no Conference Championship and neither does Stanford so WHO is deserving. They did what they had to do, it’s not their fault the BCS is screwed up, get over it.
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
10:50 am
Exactly. Our reward if we beat LSU will be the Potato Bowl. LSU’s reward for losing to us will be the Orange or Sugar bowl to play Alabama (the then 3rd best SEC team) for the National Championship. That’s really dumb !
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
10:51 am
Wrong dawg. Both Stanford & Oklahoma State will play in a conference championship.
dawg
November 28th, 2011
10:54 am
No they won’t, During June 2010, however, Nebraska and Colorado announced that they would leave the Big 12 for other conferences in 2011. Because NCAA rules require that a conference have twelve members in order to stage a football championship game, the conference will not hold a championship game for the 2011 season.
Old Dawg
November 28th, 2011
10:54 am
Downward spiral at Floriduh..
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
10:54 am
Urban Meyer 2 days ago “I have had zero contact with ohio State about their head coaching vacancy.” Today hired as their head coach. Lying somonabiotch !
GatorG
November 28th, 2011
10:54 am
Who’s complaining? I’m lovin’ the National Championships we have. Our mistake was hiring a bulldog.
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
10:55 am
Stanford plays UCLA. Fact.
Destin Dawg.
November 28th, 2011
10:58 am
Tebow left.. Meyer.. left.. no problem.. but then Muschamp was hired a coordinator left Texas sinking… and Weis Sunk a great program like N.D… gator growl is now a whisper echo..
Ben The Independent
November 28th, 2011
10:58 am
Urban had second thoughts about coaching when his ‘Tebow’ machine graduated. Is this point overlooked by all the UF football experts?
Go Denver..
cdpridg
November 28th, 2011
10:58 am
the stench in gainesville was just too much on ol Urbans health…get over it in the jort kingdom….you have your coach for the next decade or so….oh is this going to be fun!
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
10:59 am
the right thing for the BCS to do is reward the teams playing for conference championships with points and move down teams (like Alabama) that don’t play the extra game. That’s just common sense.
Destin Dawg.
November 28th, 2011
11:00 am
GatorG.. I’m not complaining
Bruce Mac
November 28th, 2011
11:00 am
So now the South Eastern Conference Championship is insignificant according to some here? This is the only championship won on the field. It dang sure matters and only LSU or UGA can win it in 2011. GO DAWGS
Bill
November 28th, 2011
11:00 am
I don’t feel betrayed Jeff.Why would I fault a man for wanting to take his dream job? Do you consider this your dream job?
It is interesting that the UGA fans here who were 1-2 against Ron Zook are all worked up about a Big 10 coach
dawg
November 28th, 2011
11:00 am
wrong again Oregon vs UCLA
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
11:01 am
If UGA beats LSU then you could say that they are better than both LSU & Alabama because they played neither but just beat LSU who beat Alabama. Copeche ?
Ben Hill Griffen Citrus Co..
November 28th, 2011
11:01 am
who was responsible for hiring Muschamp and Weis ??
Dawglasville
November 28th, 2011
11:02 am
What makes the guy so Petrino-esk is that he hid behind his family.
krazydawg
November 28th, 2011
11:03 am
I do not blame Florida for being upst.There is one thing that neds to be mentioned here.Can he beat the SEC.I say no he cannot on a regular basis.And another thing is recruits. Can he recruit down south.Maybe some but he will not have te talent from Florida,like he did have.He might last a year before he retires again.And i doubt he will beat Michigan.As far as the Dawgs i hope they win.I am sick of hearing Skip Bayless and ESPN.Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UGA Unrewarded
November 28th, 2011
11:03 am
How is Oregon over Stanford ? Stanford has 1 loss and Oregon has 2.
5150 UOAD
November 28th, 2011
11:03 am
So Florida Fans have their OWN Bobby Patrino just like Falcon Fans.
Bobo is Not the Problem
November 28th, 2011
11:05 am
Guys, this is SO EASY to look up on the internet.
Oregon plays UCLA for the PAC-10 championship Friday. Stanford will be watching on TV.
The Big 12 does not have a championship game.
Look it up.
dawg
November 28th, 2011
11:05 am
Look it up!!! Pac 12 Conference Championship website!!!