Urban Meyer takes the Ohio State job; do Gators feel jobbed?
"Let's see: Where can I land after I retire for the third time?" (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
The second retirement of Urban Meyer lasted 51 weeks. (Up from the first retirement of Urban Meyer, which lasted half a day.) And how, if you’re a Florida fan, do you feel today?
Your team is coming off a 6-6 season and the coach who retired to spend more time with his family is uprooting that family and taking it to Columbus. Yes, the Urbanator won two national championships — one more than all other Gator coaches combined — while in Gainesville, but now he’s back coaching another school after a retirement that was really a nice long nap interspersed with appearances on ESPN, and there’s some reason to believe his successor, Will Muschamp, is in over his head.
Oh, and guess who Florida figures to meet in the Gator Bowl? Ohio State.
When last a Florida coach left of his own accord, Steve Spurrier hopped to the NFL and gave it the ol’ college try for three seasons. Meyer is back doing what we all figured he’d be back doing after 51 weeks. And Florida is in as bad a shape as Florida ever gets. (At least Ron Zook left a reservoir of talent for his successor, who happened to Meyer.)
Urban Meyer is a great coach: On this we can agree. I’m not sure, however, that Gator fans regard him as quite a great a Gator as they once did.
(For the record, here’s what Muschamp said about Meyer last week, courtesy of David Jones of Florida Today: “He’s a first-class guy. But with his deteriorating health and his family, as important as that is to him, I wouldn’t think he would [take the Ohio State job].”‘)
By Mark Bradley
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253 comments Add your comment
Eisendawg
November 28th, 2011
12:24 pm
“There’s no truth to that, “ Meyer said. “I know it’s that time of year. I’ve not been offered any job and I certainly haven’t accepted any job.” Looks like Meyer is honest like Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino. Maybe not a lie, technically, but certainly deception.
SSIgator
November 28th, 2011
12:27 pm
Mark -
Jobbed? Your kidding right? Meyer did what he was paid to do (and he did it very well) which was to rebuild UF after the Zooker disaster. Anyone who follows college sports and thinks that coaches are loyal to a fault to the institutions that hire them were either born yesterday or the day before. And anyone on this site that has had only one job in their work career and did not look for new opportunities to build upon their previous successes is either a government employee or works in a family owned business.
Glock 45
November 28th, 2011
12:30 pm
Wasn’t all the UGA fans screaming for Muschamp to be the next UGA coach?
Boise Dawg
November 28th, 2011
12:30 pm
Florida is going to be fine. Even if Muschamp turns out not to be the guy, they’ll find another great coach. Too good a program in such a talent rich state to be down for very long. I sure will enjoy seeing them struggle for a while though… so I hope Muschamp does struggle.
I do find it interesting that now Ohio State is Meyer’s dream job… that may be the case, but I thought the media was spinning Notre Dame as his dream job just a couple of years ago, so which is it?
No way to know for sure, but it would have been interesting if the health issues / burnout never surfaced at Florida… would he have left Florida for Ohio State if he was still the coach of the Gators?
My View
November 28th, 2011
12:30 pm
One can’t help but wonder what truely caused Meyer to leave UF. I think his health scare was real, but I never heard of any other problems after he “un-retired”. Him being an Ohio native and in the coaching fraternity, maybe he got wind of some of the wrong doings taking place at Ohio State and knew that trouble was on the horizon before the public did. Maybe some big money booster, or high ranking OSU official called to gauge his interest in the job before the lack of institutional control was made public. Know this, he was instructed to step down at UF, let the acting head coach take his lumps for a season, then he could be hired without a buyout, or any backlash from UF. Call me crazy, but I think there is more to this story that we currently know.
Boise Dawg
November 28th, 2011
12:33 pm
SSI Gator.. I don’t think Zook was as big a disaster as Gator fans like to believe. They clearly made the right decision to fire him, but you have to give Zook some credit, the guy can recruit. Heck I wish Georgia could afford to hire Zook right now as a special teams coach/recruiting coordinator.
Senor Coughee
November 28th, 2011
12:36 pm
Jorts.
truth serum
November 28th, 2011
12:36 pm
Does anyone honestly believe this a-hole has a health issue? The issue WAS that he was stressed out, couldn’t take it anymore, and needed some time off. He made up a bunch of other b.s. and blew that up everyone’s rear-ends but the reality is that he was burnt out and it was causing him to have an irregular heartbeat. End of story.
Elliot Garcia
November 28th, 2011
12:36 pm
LSU by 31! book it!
truth serum
November 28th, 2011
12:37 pm
By the way, an irregular heartbeat caused by stress generally goes back to normal once you get settled down. I have little doubt this is what happened.
SSIgator
November 28th, 2011
12:38 pm
Boise Dawg -
You are correct about the Zooker, but that was they only thing he could do well. It doesn’t matter how many good players you get if you don’t know what to do when you get them. I don’t know why it took Illinois seven years to figure it out.
ColumDawg
November 28th, 2011
12:40 pm
Meyer always has had the appearance of a snake oil salesman. He recruited dirty, had more arrests in his 6 years than any coach in any 6 year period of their employment. Something always seemed fishy after he quit then didn’t then did again the next year? I hope he doesn’t have the health problems he claimed, but it’s really hard to buy that story.
Was it the arrests? Was it the depleted talent level and him knowing Florida was in for a couple of rough years? Was there something going on in Gainesville that no one knows about???? I think he may have been looking out for his legacy and overall coaching record rather than his team? Florida is actually a better job but he chose the easier job. Less competition and expectations!
Urban Meyer and George Costanza
November 28th, 2011
12:40 pm
Urban Meyer – “Mr. Foley picked the wrong guy to let retire because he had a fake heart attack!”
George Costanza – “Mr. Thomassoulo picked the wrong man to hire because he was fake handicapped!”
Eisendawg
November 28th, 2011
12:41 pm
Urban left Florida partly because of the stress of competition in the SEC. He should do well at Ohio State when you consider less competition (1 or 2 tough teams per year, instead of 4 or 5), no conference championship to deal with, and ESPN and the pollsters history of putting Ohio State at the top of the class.
Bohgey
November 28th, 2011
12:46 pm
I’ve enjoyed reading all of Atlanta Gator’s posts. Knows what he is talking about and not afraid to tell the real story on his own team.
All of the tears FL fans are shedding must be tears of joy. Let him have his fun in Big 10 country. In the SEC, we like winners and prefer to keep it that way. Check him, no tiger blood in em.
I did hear, probably on Finnebaum’s radio show, that the Weis hire could be contributed to the AD selecting him over Muschamp’s authority. I’m skeptical of that story, but if it be the case, then Muschamp can’t win. He doesn’t even have the luxury of picking his own coaches? I just don’t think Foley had the confidence to let a first year coach run his elite program. Muschamp’s first gig was assuringly watched over by his superiors with heavy scrutiny. What that must do for confidence. Weis is the cancer in that program. As much as I hate to say it because of the sense of betrayal to the Dawg Nation, Muschamp needs a chance to fight without his hands tied.
Rid yourself of the problem and allow Muschamp free roam. If it sucks just as bad next year…then fire him. If Foley made that call, which I wouldn’t dare admit to, he shouldn’t expect any less.
How’d you like to have this conversation with a recruit last year:
“If I committ coach, what about your new offense scheme?”
“Our offense? I just know Chuckles believes he has the premier scheme in football today. He believes in getting everyone the ball. I’m told you’ll be able to run the ball some. Just to open the passing lanes…I guess. Beyond that,all I can say is that the University has brought him on as a control in an experiment testing breaking strength with different alloys on cruches.”
BG
November 28th, 2011
12:46 pm
LMAO! Meyer taking the job is a slap on the face to UF.
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
12:46 pm
Gators….ever wonder if maybe he never liked your program/university/fanbase/town? That maybe he thinks you are a tier 2 program and Duh-hio state is a top notch, never retire type gig? I mean Florida has 4/5 star athletes around every corner and he leaves for 10 months only to take a program that could have post season bans soon?
Just saying. I would be pi$$ed if I were you.
Mad Dog One
November 28th, 2011
12:47 pm
Atl. Gator Lighten up man cry baby has a right to his belief and so do you. If I want to go to church I do when I pray it is a personal thing not for show. If you don’t think God has a sense of humor look in the mirror. We all worship in our own way but if the hungry are not feed and the sick die how could a prayer help a football game?
Dawg Fud
November 28th, 2011
12:47 pm
Spare me the “woe is Muschamp” dialogue. He was set at Texas and did not have to leave.
Atlanta Gator
November 28th, 2011
12:50 pm
“One thing that stings him deep down, is that Tebow and Zook really are the reason he won two(2) national titles.”
You are, of course, entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts. Ron Zook would not have a national championship with the combined 2011 rosters of Alabama and LSU. His record as a head coach speaks for itself: a combined 51-59 at Florida and Illinois, including 23-14 at Florida.
Spurrier’s career win-loss record is 186-73-2, including 122-27-1 at Florida, and winning records at South Carolina and Duke (!). Meyer’s career win-loss record is 103-23, including 65-15 at Florida, and winning seasons at Utah and Bowling Green (!).
Big, big difference.
Spurrier and Meyer are great coaches and will win wherever they go. Zook just ain’t that smart, and was the only available option when no one else wanted to walk in Spurrier’s shoes in 2002.
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
12:51 pm
Another thing: If he had not jobbed UF out of that last year, you could have retained Charlie Strong has your HC…..
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
12:52 pm
And what’s up with FrontA$$’s cane he was sporting at the FSU game? dude was a bad hire, IMO.
Atlanta Gator
November 28th, 2011
12:55 pm
“Atl. Gator Lighten up man cry baby has a right to his belief and so do you . . . . We all worship in our own way but if the hungry are not feed and the sick die how could a prayer help a football game?”
I’m not sure you understood my original comment. I actually believe that praying for victory in a football game borders on blasphemy, but I’m sure we could find plenty of SEC fans who disagree. My point, if it wasn’t obvious enough, was that “cry baby” is one heck of an athlete and a good person, his Broncos teammates respect him and seem to rally around him, and he make things happen. That’s called “team chemistry.”
80sDawg
November 28th, 2011
12:56 pm
Hate the Gators and couldn’t care less. Meyer left when he realized Zooks recruits were going to be gone. Meyer never had the stable of recruits that Zook had. Meyer won with Zooks guys. not his
Douglas
November 28th, 2011
12:56 pm
Believe me…I’m a gator hater and always thought Meyer was arrogant. On the other hand, I do think he quit because he had bad health…but I believe his ego and being away from the game is why he is going back to coaching even if it ends up killing him. Let’s be honest men: haven’t some of us done the same thing — feel overworked, stressed out but we never stop even when we need to?
War Eagle 30082
November 28th, 2011
12:57 pm
@Atlanta Gator
Urban Meyer vs. Auburn?
0-2
Just sayin’.
Columbus Buckeye in the A
November 28th, 2011
12:57 pm
Welcome home, Urban Meyer!!
John Trent
November 28th, 2011
1:02 pm
Whether it is Spurrier moving on to another SEC teams or Meyer and his rehab and sabbatical, they all have it in their blood and are lost if they can’t be on the sidelines…He brought UF two National Championships and I for one wish him well..
Gatorbait
November 28th, 2011
1:07 pm
Urban was always a northern/Big 10 guy at heart. Those are his roots and Gator fans understood that he was a hired gun. He left a mess for Muschamp to clean up, but he also left two crystal trophies. I’m happy to make that trade. Wouldn’t Dawg fans take the same deal if it meant two national championships??
El Lobo del Rio
November 28th, 2011
1:08 pm
Boy, the state of Georgia has some really dumb, petty, and childish know-it-alls… This Dawg fan realizes that Meyer is a terrific coach and is glad that he is coaching in the Big 10 instead of the SEC (bet Mark Richt is, too)… How can anyone call Muschamp a traitor because he got a good job? What idiocy… you dumb crackuhs play that loyalty thing just a little too far, don’t you? What a bunch of fools… take a big gulp of reality one day, you bunch of insignificant twits… SO WHAT IF MEYER CHANGED HIS MIND??? He’s now the head coach at HIS school, making upwards of 6 million… I’m sure he could care less what some hayseed dipsheet from Georgia thinks about his character… You p-heads don’t know your behinds from a goal post… Don’t know the difference between your and you’re, either, but that’s not surprising…
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
1:10 pm
@Gatorbait
Yes. Give me the crystal. Do I have to hire Weiss afterwards though?
Tell The Truth
November 28th, 2011
1:10 pm
There were three factors in Urban leaving UF:
He did have a health issue. Treatable
Urban grew disgusted with the way the S E C and Mike Slive handled the Cam Newton case and he had dirt on the Newton stuff as well as his own alumni. Dirt.
He quickly found out that Les Miles and Nick Saban could coach and outwork him while shutting sown his spread offense with big fast athletes on defense.
Senor Coughee
November 28th, 2011
1:10 pm
Does he now have to turn in his jorts?
Paul in NH
November 28th, 2011
1:11 pm
No surprise that Meyer is going back into coaching – it’s in his blood. He should find things easier in the B1G – the other traditional power in his Division is about to go through years of turmoil meaning he’s only going to have 2 very tough conference games every year (Wisconsin and Michigan). Even with sanctions (assuming the NCAA actually does something meaningful to OSU), Meyer will have OSU winning the conference within 3 years and in the discussion for the BCSCG.
Gatorbait
November 28th, 2011
1:13 pm
Yeah, Nom. Unfortunately. But that’s part of your deal with the devil, er, I mean Meyer.
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
1:13 pm
Also, Gator fans enlighten me on the mess Urban left. Your D line is 2 deep in NFL talent that gave up 39 yards of offense in the first half against FSU. I’ll take it.
Again, though, tell me what I am missing as far as the mess. You mean like a mess in that you are not winning a BCS every other year?
CHDawg
November 28th, 2011
1:13 pm
As one of the few in either fan base who roots for the other team when they don’t play UF/UGA (lived among them a long time), I think it is time to move on and not worry about it. Meyer could have been sick, but that is water over the dam. UF has a lot of great talent, and they just need an offense to be nationally competitive; the D is young and very tough already. Time to concentrate on the future, and wish him the best…until the next meeting.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
November 28th, 2011
1:13 pm
Hey Florida fans
Congrats on losing your best coach
Keep up the arrogance your fanbase shows every year; hopefully your program falls into shambles for decades to come
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
November 28th, 2011
1:14 pm
Mark Bradley
Fix your filter
MLP
November 28th, 2011
1:14 pm
His health “issues” strangely coincided with Tebow’s eligibility running out. Then his health rapidly got worse as losses began to come with more frequency. Strange malady.
Plainly said, it seems to me he bailed when the going got tough. Definitely sounds like a heart problem.
Not sure his offense is well suited for Big Ten football anyway.
slydog
November 28th, 2011
1:15 pm
Don’t worry about it, Florida fans. A 3 year probation and 2 year bowl ban is coming. OSU is even arrogant enough not to skip a bowl this year. They really feel untouchable. Hence the 7 year, 6 million dollars they will pay Meyer. I hope it’s worth selling your soul to the devil.
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
1:15 pm
Again, not being a jerk….just don’t think you guys are that bad off.
You lost your starting QB and backup in a brand new complicated scheme. Your OL is also adjusting to the I-form set as well as your RB’s having to block (as a UGA fan, the RB blocking thing sucks).
Just saying, your recruiting class a couple of years ago had 5 5 star DL…..steep.
pb
November 28th, 2011
1:16 pm
Let Urban go to Ohio State… Maybe he will like it better there, being close to home. But Florida fans have a right to be a little miffed. Don’t think the man was totally honest about his “retirement” issues. And what person retires when he is in his forties? If really had heart trouble, would not be back in coaching. But bet he will be a winner at Ohio State.
Skeezix
November 28th, 2011
1:16 pm
I can’t ever take this man at his word again. It isn’t worth spit.
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
1:16 pm
filter check
Dawg Gummit
November 28th, 2011
1:17 pm
The reality is that Urban Meyer is a great coach and no matter why he left UF, he won two NC’s in a short time. He has proven he can coach going undefeated at Utah. As a Dawg fan I am sure glad he is gone from UF for sure. I hate Florida but also feel like Muschamp could still be a good coach. Using the first year as a barometer when switching from spread to Pro Style offense is going to take some time. Kind of lack going from 4-3 to 3-4 defense like UGA last year.
It is impossible to judge a man’s character based on retiring and taking another job in a year. Only Coach Meyer knows the whole story.
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
1:17 pm
You guys have brand new Offensive and Defensive Schemes along with losing your starting QB and backup…..If I were you, the only thing I would fret about is the OL play.
Gatorbait
November 28th, 2011
1:17 pm
@ Nom – part of the “mess” is the result of serious holes/misses in recruiting (check out our offensive line, wide receivers and DB’s) and a lack of depth (under 70 scholarship players), the other part is just the transition from the spread option, particularly Meyer’s inability to recruit a starting RB who weighs more than 180 lbs (not his fault, but still part of the current mess in Gville).
IL Jacket
November 28th, 2011
1:18 pm
Hard to see why anyone should feel jobbed. I don’t think Urban Meyer did anything that any one of us faced with the same opportunity wouldn’t have done. It is the nature of job security these days. Not like UF offered him to be coach for life. Sounds like he may be the highest paid coach in college football now-wonder if that means a raise for Nick Saban, Les Miles and Bob Stoops?
Atlanta Gator
November 28th, 2011
1:19 pm
“I don’t think Zook was as big a disaster as Gator fans like to believe. They clearly made the right decision to fire him, but you have to give Zook some credit, the guy can recruit.”
Boise Dawg, one of the Gators’ non-football head coaches from 2004 is a personal acquaintance of mine. My acquaintance said that the consensus among the other Gators coaches (non-football head coaches, that is) was that Zook was just not that bright, and sealed his own fate when he got into a Sunday morning verbal altercation at the Pi Kappa Phi house after a particularly ugly loss to Mississippi State. Zook was a “player’s coach” who stood up for his players, but had no ability to discipline them. That didn’t sit well with Jeremy Foley or Bernie Machen. His inability to win big games didn’t help, either.
I also have the luxury of a second acquaintance who knew Zook when they were both graduate assistants at Miami University (Ohio) in the mid-1970s. My acquaintance said Zook was a nice guy, had a great rapport with the players, but engaged in very stupid public behavior like smoking dope with the Redskins players at fraternity parties. Maybe it’s a little unfair to hang that albatross around Zook’s neck 30 years later, but the anecdotes of both acquaintances, plus his record at Florida (on and off the field), leave me with no warm and fuzzy feelings about the Zooker.
BTW, at Florida, you’re supposed to recruit well, dagnabbit. The state of Florida is one of the three most fertile high school football recruiting grounds in America. Even Zook couldn’t screw that up. Once you recruit them, then you have to coach them. Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer can recruit and coach. Ron Zook? Not so much.