OT: Great piece on Urban Meyer
Sports Illustrated has some very interesting videos on the private life and behind the scenes of Urban Meyer. While I was not a fan of him at Florida, these videos have definitely changed my view on him in a positive way. Hopefully he stays out of coaching (and away from TSIO) and gets to enjoy life with his kids and family.
Here is the link to the videos. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/urban.meyer.videos/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t12_a1
August 8th, 2011 at 11:55 PM ^
August 9th, 2011 at 12:01 AM ^
Totally agree. I've never understood why Meyer gets so much crap from college football fans. The price of winning, I guess.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:02 AM ^
Of course.
I was a student at Utah during Urban Meyer's tenure there. During that time, Urban and Kyle Whittingham (current Utah HC and former DC under Urban) would regularly grab lunch at the Student Union and eat at tables with random students. They sat with my group of friends a few times, and they both seemed like excellent people. They asked a lot of questions about our lives, majors, goals after graduation, etc., and seemed geuinely interested in what we had to say. I've been a huge Urban Meyer fan since those days. I'd really hate to see him take a job with a conference rival or with ND.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:09 AM ^
My wife's family is from U of FL, my Father-in-law went there for undergrad and med school, so they are Die Hard fans. So much so that my wife went and graduated from FSU and is still a Gator fan. I've warmed up to the dramatically in the past 5 years, and part of the reason was Urban Meyer. Yes, he let "criminals" play, there was always something smelling bad from the campus, but he was always a solid guy behind the scenes. It's evident from his Indy interview after he "retired." I really think there was so much pressure to win at all costs in the SEC, that he got sick of it and couldn't handle the corrupt pressure. He even said he tried to rally the coaches to change the way the conference conducted business and all the coaches and ADs were with him when it was just the 2 of them, but when he talked about it in front of everyone, they all thought he was crazy. I'm not buying the reason he "retired" is to spend time with his family, he's trying to come back to the midwest with his family and coach a school with rich history and a clean record (sorry OSU). I know I'll probably get some negative feedback from this post, but do some research folks, he's an excellent person that was forced to do some questionable things and you have to give him credit for standing up against it and getting out before it got out of hand. As fans of a school that prides themselves on character and integrity, he would fit that bill in my book.
Go Blue!!
August 9th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^
But lied about his health and desire to spend time with his family. I think I'll believe his character when he shows he's staying retired.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:25 AM ^
If I were his daughters, I would probably hate football.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^
Except that not one of us has any idea how women really think...
August 9th, 2011 at 12:28 AM ^
August 9th, 2011 at 11:11 AM ^
I hope you're right. All of tosu fans here in Columbus think he's coming to tosu without a doubt. They cant get this season over fast enough so that he can take the reigns. There are rumors flying around everywhere here about him buying a house in Columbus. I dont believe that he'll come for the reasons you mentioned and I could see PSU as the logical destination if he truely desires coaching again.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:44 AM ^
You said it all.
pretty hard to argue with turd ferguson!
Go Blue!
If Fickell wins the Big Ten or has an 11-win season he's keeping the job at OSU. Otherwise, if Meyer wants the OSU job, it's his. He's an Ohio native and I think he'd take it.
Then folks around here should get ready to hear even more of the "he plays criminals" stuff already widely used against Dantonio.
Because if we lose the opponents are evil and we are victims. It's never bad coaching and bad players on our part.
Have you ever read anything Brian has written about a single game the last three years? I think there might be more than 100 examples of him talking about bad play calls, as well as bad execution of the plays. Simplified: We call out bad coaching and players who don't execute all the time.
that RR is the greatest coach to step foot on a field since Lombardi.....I mean he put up tons of yards didn't he?
bringing RR into this discussion.
If Urban Meyer wanted to be out of coaching for only one season, he would still be at Florida. He was given the "leave of absence" option, but he ultimately chose to leave, likely for health reasons.
The crap about him taking the OSU job because he's an Ohio native is just that -- crap. He had ties to Notre Dame and it was a dream job for him but he spurned them for Florida, showing he makes career decisions based on practicality, not sentiment.
I just hope he doesn't end up in Columbus.
...at PSU, but I'm not sure he'd relish the unenviable task of following a legend. Don't discount OSU, especially if a new administration is installed. Meyer may cotton to the challenge of "bringing OSU back from purgatory" (if indeed that's where they're sent by the COI).
all the hate the man received from opposing fans. Sometimes good people can play/coach for rival schools (or schools you just hate in general). In sports we often paint people associated with programs we don't like with the same brush without really knowing anything about them. Sometimes it turns out that our blind assumptions are correct (in terms of JT at OSU) but sometimes they don't (like with Meyer).
August 9th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
After winning the SEC Championship, going to the press and actively campaigning for Florida to get voted into the national championship was directly contrasted to Carr's "it's bad for college football if coaches campaign for their own team to get voted higher" approach. Even if it turned out to be correct, it looks horrible for the game when it appeared to sway BCS voters.
Excellent video. But when he said "It's all good" at the end, I did not believe him. Our poor wives.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:06 AM ^
Sorry, can't forgive him for throwing UM under the bus after the 2006 season (two teams from the same conference that have already played each other should not play again for the NC).
GO BLUE!
August 9th, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^
He had a point. I know that after the loss our place at #2 didn't change, but after Florida's dismantling of OSU, and our losing the last two games can you legitimately say we deserved a title shot?
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<br>Even without hindsight, he has a point that we already had our shot, away game or not.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
Whether he had a legitimate point or not is up for debate. To me, the problem with that situation was the fact that he went so crazy going out and trying to make the point publically to anyone who would listen.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
most if not all coaches in the same position would do the same thing
August 9th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
Lloyd Carr did the exact opposite thing, saying "I'm not going to campaign for the team because it would be bad for college football" and "Our play on the field was good enough to get us this far, so the play on the field should decide who plays for the national championship." Sadly, it may have costed Michigan a chance at a national championship.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
Man, I forgot about that. Ok, I hate him again.
August 9th, 2011 at 11:02 AM ^
Nicki Meyer.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:31 PM ^
2008 Capital One Bowl.
August 9th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^
Nice mustache
I met him when he coached at Bowling Green. He is very nice and a great coach. I have heard from people who know him that he doesn't plan to go to OSU, at least yet.