Muschamp doubts Meyer to OSU, cites health issues
From Jason Lieser of Gatorbytes Blog (Palm Beach Post):
"Rumors of former Gators coach Urban Meyer signing with Ohio State have been flying ever since Jim Tressell resigned.
Will Muschamp, Meyer’s successor at Florida, would be surprised if that happened.
Despite volume of that speculation getting louder as Ohio State nears the end of the regular season, Muschamp does not think Meyer will get back into coaching that soon.“I think it would be great for college football,” Muschamp said after his team beat Furman 54-32. “I think Urban is an outstanding football coach who does it the right way. He did a phenomenal job at Bowling Green and Utah and obviously here at Florida. And just a first class guy.
“But I just — with his deteriorating health there and his family, as important as that is to him, I wouldn’t think he would. But, again, that’s just my opinion.”
November 19th, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^
Meyer could very well be using this the same way Miles agent uses "Mile to Michigan" to get bigger contracts. Maybe Meyer is demanding he get on Gameday or a few extra million a year and using tOSU/PSU as leverage.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:38 PM ^
"To get more money out of ESPN, I'll threaten to coach OSU"
I hope it isn't like that actually - it's like when my daughter threatens to hold her breath.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^
would be a nice add to the Urban Meyer thread 4 below this one.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
Almost killed him in Florida, then he is as good as gone if he signs on in C-bus if all places
November 19th, 2011 at 8:42 PM ^
I have a friend who is an Ohio booster, and judging from his reaction, I don't think Meyer is going to happen any time soon. It sounded like it was going to have to be a blockbuster contact and OSU was going to have to wrangle some money and/or figure out the NCAA sanctions first.
November 19th, 2011 at 9:04 PM ^
That's the issue I have with the rumors. Meyer is pretty young as far as HCs go and tOSU is looking at sanctions. I'd imagine he'd sit in the booth for a couple more years while tOSU did its time in the penalty box and then jump on them if he wants. He has little incentive to risk anything by taking on a crippled tOSU.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:47 PM ^
November 19th, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^
Meyer never said that he hadn't talked to OSU about the job or even that he hadn't talked terms. He said that he hadn't been offered or accepted the job. That could just mean that he hasn't gotten a contract formally put in front of him. His terse answer left a lot of wiggle room for him should he wind up taking the job.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:50 PM ^
muschamp really was saying: "the coeds in ohio dont hold a candle to gainesville girls, so no way is he going to cbus."
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<br>of course, as i think about it, he DID turn down the arizona job. so maybe he's turned a new leaf.
November 19th, 2011 at 9:02 PM ^
Makes you wonder who else was on the plane when it was met at the airport by the recruiting hostesses.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:52 PM ^
After seeing how this team has improved over the course of the season, I have complete faith in this coaching staff. This program is back - there is no longer any question about it. Because of this, I could not care less who coachs next year at ohio. Luke Fickell, Urban Meyer, or anyone else - it doesn't matter. I have faith that whoever steps in will lose to us more than they beat us.
In an unrelated note, constantly talking about him and reporting every rumor makes us look scared of Meyer. And, all of these threads are getting annoying. Let's wait until a legitimate source (11 warriors does not count) reports something.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:54 PM ^
Muschamp is too busy playing with his equipmunk to care about someone elses oscar Meyer...
November 19th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^
I think people make too much out of the "health issues" comment.
I'm not saying he's lying, actually I know for a fact he has health issues. However, a lot of people do, a lot of coaches do...and do I think he could still coach? Yes.
There are a lot of things that planned into the decision, I'm not Urban Meyer (shocker) so I'm not going to speculate on how much each of these weighed into his choice...but it's clear the biggest factors were.
1. Health
2. Family
3. ...and I lied, I will speculate because from everyone at UF and around UF that I've spoken to this is the REAL reason he left. The pressure to win was going to be too much. What I mean is he almost set the bar TOO high. We here at Michigan expect championships, but Michigan fans as a whole are pretty rational. Florida? No way. He won those championships and they seriously expected to never lose again. It just became too much...especially without a certain Mr. Tim Tebow.
Coach Meyer is/was a workaholic...you'd hear about him working for 4am to 12am. You'd hear about how hard he recruited and the countless hours he put into his job. IMO, it wore on him and THAT'S where the health issues came about. But he knew if he took more time off, he's loose that edge. He knew he couldn't give his all, be healthy and win at the level UF fans expected.
A lot of people forget what it was like for Florida in 2007-2008 when they lost to MICHIGAN in the Capital One Bowl. Meyer took some heat even after he'd just won a NC. He turned around and won it again the next year and then everyone started to take notice of a certain Crimston Tide team and it was clear they were here to stay (and they have been). I'm not so sure Urban wanted to compete with Bama year after year with his offense, the SEC started to catch on and that became clear in 2010 when they went 7-5 without Tebow.
That 7-5 year KILLED Urban. The fans were on them, the team wasn't great...and I truly think he knew that he couldn't take the time away from the game he wanted AND meet the crazy expectations. He took that leave of absense before the season, during the year you'd here about him working a little less because of his health. I think it became clear to him, the bar was too high, he wasn't going to be able to live life AND meet those expectations. On top of that, his kids are in college, and the doctors are telling him to chill out or it could get bad. He knew chilling out wasn't an option at UF.
Spin it forward...as crazy as OSU fans are. I don't think there is near the pressure to win at OSU as there is at UF and I've lived in both places for an extensive amount of time. You say "what about the probation?" I think that even lessens the pressure. OSU fans are defeated...ESPECIALLY after we beat them next Saturday. I know all fans won't, but as a whole, 9-3 and a win over Michigan would be acceptable for a few years...especially on probation. I mean look at us for example. Every person on this board would've taken 9-3 and a win over Ohio if asked in August. Many would take that next year too considering the schedule and it's still only Hoke's 2nd year. 9-3 and a win over FSU wasn't cutting it for Urban when he was at UF. They wanted National Championships every year, period.
November 19th, 2011 at 9:05 PM ^
I have a friend who is a friend of Urban Meyer's daughter's volleyball coach at FCGU. She says Urban's wife was on a plane that flew from Gainesville to Columbus earlier this week so she could pick out curtains for the house Urban secretly bought in Upper Arlington earlier this fall. It's definitely a done deal. Put all these rumors to rest. /s
November 19th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
What is that like 4 degrees of separation? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I find it amusing that you're trying to thwart rumors with 3rd hand hearsay.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
Oh, I'm 99.7% certain.
November 20th, 2011 at 11:54 AM ^
It would give them a decided schematic advantage.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
Check your sarcasm meter. It appears to be broken.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
I have a friend whose husband's girlfriend's next door neighbor is an English teacher, and she says EJG's post was fourth-hand sarcasm.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
Who wants to be the new captain on a crippled ship about to sink?
November 20th, 2011 at 12:45 AM ^
Where have I seen ESPN screw up rumors about a big time coaching hire? Then the school was forced to hire their 3rd choice?
We'll see if history repeats itself...
November 20th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
how scared are we of urban meyer really!?
i mean, ohio state's going to get a great coach, that's a given. and meyer is one with a lot of flaws...
one, he runs the running zone read option, which has already failed immensely at a major program in the big10, and shown to take a lot of time to put together, and shown to have a very negative impact on team defense. sure, he'll recruit better than rich rod. he'll probably get at least half of ohio's greatest players. he'll get a lot out of PA. he'll probably still get some out of FL. and he'll have a lot more support than rich rod did here. and he'll have enough money to sign a great defensive coordinator. so it'll basically be rich rod, if everything on the administration side of things went well. but, as we all know, that offense has a lot of big weaknesses even if everything goes right. it most definitely hurts your defense, "playing basketball on grass," as hoke says. it's very very hard to run effectively without a once in a generation-type player like tim tebow or cam newton (see john brantley last season). and it's probably going to be very hard to succeed with without the greatest fastest strongest biggest players that the southeastern united states has to offer. and remember, the last time a medicore michigan team met a mediocre florida team, it was total and utter lloyd carr domination.
two, he burnt out at florida. he quit bc he couldnt compete with nick saban anymore. think he's going to be able to out work brady hoke!? think that's going to be any easier!? please.
three, he's a cheater. everyone knows it. much of his success throughout his career has been the result of cheating. and there's going to be a microscope on columbus unlike anything they've ever seen before.