Urban Meyer Florida vs Ohio St similarities
With Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class shaping up to be an absolute monster, I started putting some research behind a creeping suspician I had about Coach Urban Meyer.
Urban Meyer's time at Ohio State has been similar to his tenure at Florida in some interesting ways
On the field
First four years at Florida: 2 National Titles, 2 SEC Titles
First four years at OSU: 1 National Title, 1 B1G Title + 1 undefeated season with a postseason ban
Around the conference
Midway through the tenure, an elite coach joins the conference from the NFL to take over a struggling traditional power.
Prior to Meyer's third year at Florida, Saban is hired at Alabama.
Prior to Meyer's fourth year at OSU, Harbaugh is hired at Michigan.
In recruiting
After recruiting well for the duration of his time, year six is the year that the class hits the stratosphere.
Meyer's 2010 class at Florida features five 247C 5 stars and another seventeen 4 stars on the way to 324 total points
Meyer's 2017 class at OSU currently features three 5 stars and ten 4 stars out of an initial 14 commitments
Does this mean that we can expect things to flame out in dramatic fashion in Columbus in a year in a half. It does mean that we can hope. For all the talk of Harbaugh being restless, he's left three jobs, two for massive ugrades in position, one for ownership ineptitude. Meyer lef the comparison job as the weight of pushing ahead his program's problems finally crashed down.
As I recall, the theory that Meyer was something of a douche was confirmed while he was still at Florida, and I believe he carried that tradition with him to Ohio State, where among other things, he once made accusations of recruiting violations against his former employer a couple years ago, which seems like a douchey thing to do.
His inability to just tell Florida he wasn't interested in coaching anymore (at least at the time he left) was pretty douchey too.
Then again, Dennis Franchione gave his goodbye speech to his players at Texas A&M via teleconference, which is pro-level douchey. At least Meyer bowed out under the guise of health problems, which on the surface one might understand.
Not sure anyone can beat Lane Kiffin for the modern award in this category though.
The exact same could be said about Harbaugh.
Right. Because no sports figure (coach or player) ever said something to ignite the fan base in regards to saying things like that, ony to leave after the next phone call. I am not saying it can't happen because I think Harbaugh is different. But the reality is the NFL is hard to resist, especially for a coach who has been successful at that level. There are so few good NFL coaches.
I don't disagree. But if the point is "Urban bailed on Florida because he got burned out, thus it's possible he leaves OSU under similar circumstances" then I could say "Harbaugh bailed on the 49ers because his grating personality wore out its welcome, thus it's possible he leaves UM under similar circumstances."
I'm not betting on either coach leaving as their past would indicate, (in fact, I have 3 internet bucks on Urban seriously contemplating leaving OSU for the NFL once his son graduates high school in two years), but if the past is all you're basing the present on, there is plenty of material for the Harbaugh-will-wear-out-his-welcome-in-Michigan crowd as well.
Big difference on this one.
In the NFL - Billionaire owners clash with millionaire coaches who have grating personalities. Billionaire owners win everytime.
In college - Millionaire coaches are considered living legends if they win. If they have personality flaws to go along with the winning they become living idols. See Bobby Knight, Nick Saban, JoPa, Bowden, etc. Multi-millionaire donors make sure coach stays as long as possible.
So I guess that helps my point. If someone wants to use Meyer's past as their excuse for why he'll leave OSU, there are reasons the same can be done for Harbaugh. Doesn't make either guess right or wrong.
Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. Harbaugh left his first two jobs for huge promotions. He left San Fran because the owner is an idiot who didnt want to share the spotlight evidenced by the fact he hired Tomsula. Really he preferred Tomsula to Harbaugh. Harbaughs personality had nothing to do with the first two moves and where it did at his third stop it was more the owners problem than Jims unless your all in on San Frans laughable excuse. We just watched something similar happen at Michigan with the former AD whose name I will not mention when he passed over a willing Harbaugh for Hoke.
Urban otoh just up and quit on Florida where he had great success and if you buy his health excuse I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you.
The two situations couldnt be more dissimilar and to suggest otherwise is being deliberately obtuse.
Why are you talking about Ohio State?
but as long as you got something out of it. Personally, and inasmuch as its a Buck that wants to know, I suspect maybe a little intimidation and the stress that comes with maintaining the status as "Top Dawg," did play a role in Urb's meltdown. However, I feel, as much as he attempts, like Saban, portraying a person that the importance of simple common decency escapes him, that might not be true with Meyer. And if so, I am certain he was more than a litle disgusteded at allowing his competitive nature - needed for any elite coach - to get out of hand and felt, for awhile anyway, that "Hey, this is SEC territory. Any and everything is is play." I'm not so sure that is really what Meyer is all about.
If that is true, repeating what he did in SEC land is going to haunt him. The only thing, imo, is whether or not Saban could suffer from tunnel vision to the degree he does not try to hide, such as stepping over an injured player because he felt if was necessary that the message he had for whatever player he was headed to was of far more importance than the health of one of his players. If this is, atucally true, that would indicate a troubled mind, not merely narcissistic, but somewhat sociophathic as well, if unable to distinguish the difference between what is acceptable and what is not. I cannot see Urban going to such extremes.
If this bothered him about Saban, he will not have the same worries about Jim because although he possesses the competiveness of the other two, he has been able to stay grounded in this respect and does hold the young men's welfare under his charge of paramount importance. As Nico said, "Michigan is special. It actually has a plan for you after you play football." I thought Oh wow!!! Does the SEC and the rest of the country vary to such a degree this could be true. I'm hoping it's not true of the entire conference, but we do know it holds true in T-Town.
If Urb decides to call it quits prematurely, and I don't think it will, I think it will be the stress he places on himself, not any external factors.
did you see how many negs he had to endure ? I don't want to talk about Meyer going or OSU unless it is the week of the game and by the looks of the negs not many do either. I read the title and wanted to know if this was found in the paper but to my dismay a fan brought it up and I personally don't care what he thinks Meyer will or will not do.
Then you caught my eye by trying to compare excellence to douchery. You can call Harbaugh whatever you want but he was coached and raised by men who lived by integrity and I know you can expect that from Jimmy. Integrity.
another of your ilk lurking on the site? No one else would have upvoted that comment.
Not my internet points!
.Can you say Mgo Points? Sure, I knew you could.
If he was burned out at Florida 5 years ago, this will be a for sure burn out. He's only getting older. The rising giant up north, all of this effort recruiting and then losing all of them good players and coaching new ones up will catch up to him. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Man I love being a turtle. I mean...Book it!!
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The coeds at OSU are not as hot as those in Florida. Plus Urban's wife knows all this tricks this go-around.
money talks
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he was a psych major
The Brantley family and a powerful group of alums at UF wanted Meyer to change his offense for double legacy John Brantley IV. That contributed a lot to the pressure on Meyer at UF. He knew JBIV wasn't great and definitely not worth scuttling the offense that had won him two National Championships.
I can't imagine anyone at OSU suggesting that Meyer change anything right now. Another difference: schools have a lot more experience defending the spread than they did during Meyer's tenure at UF. Both pro and con, the situation is different than it was.
Since OSU cheats in recruiting and Michigan doesn't, I expect OSU to stay near the top, even with Harbaugh's obvious superiority as a coach. This era is probably going to be another "Bo vs Woody," but with a National Championship or two in Ann Arbor.
Tell me more about OSU cheating at recruiting
Good insight.
I'm half with you. As someone who wasn't around during the ten year war, I could appreciate what it would mean to go into THE GAME every year with both teams ranked in the top five and sooooooo much on the line, just like it was in the 70's.
But then I think about that joke of a fan base they have and I really wish they could go through a decade of RichRod and Hoke like results. It's not just about having futility against us but battling for their lives against the likes of UConn, UMass and giving up 65 points to Illinois. That's what they need to go through. Not winning a national championship behind their 10th string QB ala two years ago.
F*ck those guys. There isn't a more undeserving fan base in the country that's gotten the results they have this past decade.
correct. I hope they go on a 12 year down period where they struggle to beat IU and Maryland.
If anything, it'll get rid of all the 40 year old bandwagon fans who were wearing Cincinnati gear in the late 90s
I'll tell you what I would want--Harbaugh beating Urban handily over 4-5 years (winning 3 of 4 or 4 of 5), thus driving him out of Columbus.
I want us to be the CAUSE of his departure, not simply inherit the Big Ten because he put OSU on an unsustainable path and left town when it came crashing down from it's own weight. Then, yes, I want to see them wander in the wilderness for a decade with a few botched coaching choices.
Being left to fill the void is nice, but being responsible for creating the void would be even better.
I don't think the Buckeyes are going to suffer through that; however, a replay of the John Cooper era would be incredibly sweet. Win a bunch of games, choke up against Michigan almost every time. Drove the Bucks fans nuts.
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Yeah but our defense had only allowed 45 points through regulation v. Illinois. That makes it SOOOOOO much better!
Man I still remember that game, and Scheelhaase and Leshoure and another RB whose name I don't remember shredded us on the ground.
Unfortunately Meyer is probably more calm than Woody, Bo, or Harbaugh and we won't have any fun Ohio sideline tirades.
But I do hope Harbaugh owns the series and knocks Urban out. Then they can hire Cooper 2.0.