What Urban Meyer would mean for Ohio and Michigan, both immediately, and in terms of the future.
I think we all know it’s inevitable. Not Meyer taking the job, I still have a minimal amount of unrealistic hope that he’ll turn them down, and that I get to laugh at my OSU acquaintances. But they’re going to offer, if they haven’t already. They aren’t going to handle things in a businesslike manner, waiting until after the season wraps up in January, getting together with Fickel for a few chats, and sleeping a few nights on it. No. They are moving now, in season, and reminding us that a metaphorical discipline bomb could be dropped at the 50 of the Horseshoe and this organization’s immediate response would be : “Well, what can we do to keep winning football games at any cost?”
Should Urban Meyer take the job, what would it mean for Ohio State and Michigan both in short terms and a few years from now? Here are my thoughts:
IMMEDIATELY:
Do you remember when you were a child, and did something very bad? Do you remember a disciplinary figure giving you hell for it? Do you remember the day your father, or older brother, or mentor, or person that everyone in the room loved and respected, stepped in on your behalf and told those in charge of keeping order that “they’d talk to you about it”?
If Urban Meyer takes over at OSU, put your popcorn carts away. He’ll intercede for them. With Tressel at the helm the Buckeyes would have suffered the long dick of the law. With anybody else, they’d still get nailed for pulling off and covering up a scandal rivaled only by the past three decades at Miami, but not with Meyer.
Just like a pastor, or a youth care worker, he’ll step in, have a short chat with the NCAA board and say exactly this, or something like it, “I’ll talk to them about it.” At this point, everyone in the room will put on their bedroom eyes, and look fondly on Meyer as though he is a returning vet with a purple heart. Someone might even say “You go get em’ TIGER!”
Meyer will save Ohio the slap on the wrist. Write this down.
THE YEARS AHEAD:
This is going to end in one of two ways. Both of them will benefit Michigan.
Option 1: This whole thing blows up in their face. We’ve beaten Urban Meyer before. We will continue to beat him. The recruiting momentum is in our favor right now, and with this Michigan team rising to the current occasion, I don’t see it changing any time soon. Even if Les Miles showed up in Columbus with a scarlet hoodie and a headset. And remember, while Meyer is one hell of a coach, he’s a quitter. When the going got tough in Gainesville, he left, for health reasons. I am not going all conspiracy theorist on this. He probably had shit going on. But then he came back, swept in and took his Castle back a la Jay Leno, and when the ratings didn’t go back up, it was all of a sudden “family-time” for the Meyers. He proceeded to bail on Florida once more, and then proceeded to spend considerable amounts of time with his family travel around the country producing editorial segments and calling games for ESPN. Now that college football season is winding down and he will finally have that valuable time with his kids and wife, he is settling in at home, and making plans for vacations and down time with his family talking about and addressing rumors about a return to Columbus as if he were waiting on the phone call. If he takes the job this winter, and we’re looking at an 8-4 buckeye squad in 2013 and 2014, will he stick around? The only thing more entertaining than Braxton Miller’s attempt at passing the ball fourteen yards will be Meyer’s newest excuse. Grandchildren? Erectile Dysfunction? Time to spend a few months responding to fan mail?
Option 2:
It works. Two years from now, the Buckeyes are looking at 10-3 post bowl game, and as a result are ranked #3 in the preseason polls for the next year. Don’t get me wrong, while I wish we Beat Ohio every year, instead of rolling a squad that can’t put a decent drive together, I’d rather take a big old piss in their chicken noodle soup. I don’t just want Michigan to beat them, I want them to ruin Ohio’s season. And as a result, our path to a National Championship just got a little straighter. We need our #1 rival to be a top ten team. It’s just how it is. Texas-Oklahoma Alabama-Auburn-LSU, Michigan-Ohio State. It’s rare that any one of these teams makes waves in the annual run at the BCS championship when their (or one of their) corresponding rivals don’t have a decent shot at 10-11 wins.
Meyer may mean we go from taking the Buckeyes 9 times out of 10 to maybe 6 or 7, but at least with him at the helm, we’ll not only get beat by a clean, talented program, we’ll have the opportunity to do it to them, just after thanksgiving, every year.
Either way, bring it on! Whichever one of our rivals (Notre Dame. Lolz) (Michigan State. Perpetual dream state that I’m confident will end soon. Very soon.) (Ohio. A big fat mess right now) wants to try and derail us….I say let them in.
In one year, Hoke and Co. have taught this team to play like Michigan again. But they’ve only gotten the job halfway done. Last off season, the fundamentals were laid in place. Last off season, they learned (and are finally showing it) how to play the game right. But his spring and summer, these athletes learn the other half of what Michigan football is: The toughness, the swagger, the Tremendous Tremendousosity. We’re only at the summit, friends.
And whether he’s in the media booth, or on the opposite sideline, Urban Meyer won’t change that.
November 21st, 2011 at 4:56 PM ^
I don't give a damn.
November 22nd, 2011 at 8:33 AM ^
The Hegelian dialectic requires that Communist Football triumph in Columbus, to our eternal dismay.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:07 PM ^
We have Hoke. That's all that matters. I'm extremely excited that we are heading in the direction we are.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^
we beat Ohio this week and then start to muse about this?
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:39 AM ^
I agree, we have a real OSU game to play this week, I am not intrested in speculating on anything bowl games, HC changes, mythical NC games, nothing but the OSU game this week.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:15 PM ^
1- Meyer will have no affect on the NCAA. They are under increasing scrutiny and the coach will change nothing. 2- While you say that Meyer is a hell of a coach, you then dismiss the idea that this hell of a coach will have any impact on us. If Meyer coaches there, there WILL be an impact on us. On the football field, a coach matters. Meyer is the best available coach out there, that is just a fact based upon record. Hiring Meyer versus hiring another coach means that success will be more difficult against him than it would be against another coach. 3- I disagree with your "quitter" assertion. Why is it difficult for people to actually believe that he had medical problems? People always seem to disbelieve that aspect of his leaving. I choose to believe it was true.
I don't like Meyer, so I'm not here to apologize for him. But I believe it's pretty factual that, in the college game, that he is easily, of all the coaches out there, in the top three. Regardless of what we think about him, the challenge of the rivalry will be greater than if they hired almost any other coach. I'm NOT saying that this means they will surpass us with him as the coach, just that our job will be more difficult.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^
While I disagree with you, i give you an upvote. It is nice to see adults discussing ideas in length on this blog, not just waiting for the next post and opportunity to feel good about themselves via the internet...
November 22nd, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
Plus, beating Meyer once when he was at Florida has little to no bearing on beating him if he takes the Ohio job.
Go blue!
November 21st, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^
November 21st, 2011 at 5:21 PM ^
Over/Under: How long will it take Urban to tell a recruit that God came to him and said he should be a hairless nut?
November 21st, 2011 at 5:22 PM ^
I think that him making our job more difficult is more in line with what hail was trying to point out. Michigan's win over a average OSU is far less satisfying then one over a respected foe with one of the top coaches behind the helm. A rivalry game should be between two well matched teams in any sport. That gives it the true rivalry feel and that is what he was trying to point out.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:27 PM ^
Any guesses? I'm very interested to see what happens with recruiting should Meyer go to Ohio. Obviously Hoke and Co. have done a tremendous job, and the state of ohio has tons of talent, but Hoke hasn't put in the pipelines yet.
I think Urban would have an immediate effect. And sure we would be recruiting different types of kids because of our offensive differences, but there will be some overlap.
Also, someone suggested in another post that Urban's spread won't fly in the Big Ten. I don't know enough about the details of his offense. Can anyone enlighten the rest of us?
November 21st, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
is that Meyer is going to have an immediate impact on recruiting (not much of a limb there). He may even be ultimately better than Tressel if he can pull in FL commits regularly. Hard to do because many of those kids don't want to live in the snowbelt but playing for Meyer will get some of them to commit. UM's recruiting has obviously improved in MI and OH and I think Meyer will have some effect on that in OH but I hope not this year with regards to Dunn. With continued success on the field UM should be able to get it's fair share of OH recruits and an increased amount of MI recruits compared to the previous staff. That also means it's likely we'll see success in places where Hoke/Mattison have ties like TX and Socal. So Meyer will cause recruiting issues but winning could offset some of that.
November 21st, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^
that the spread offense won't work in the B1G.
November 21st, 2011 at 9:08 PM ^
Urban's spread is RR's spread. In a interview a few years back I remember him saying he used the WVA playbook from a prior year for the basis of his offense. That was part of the reason I was so exicted about RR coming, and ultimately disappointed. When a coach of as high a reputation as Urban admits to copying you, that is a compliment indeed.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:36 PM ^
Last time I checked, Tebow didn't have any eligibility left. Bring Urban and his stache on!
Go Blue!
November 21st, 2011 at 5:31 PM ^
Maybe this would finally be the driving force that would put the top teams in the Big Ten into the discussion with the top teams in the SEC on an annual basis. Good coaches and top recruits raising the level of play in our conference is a good thing in the long run. The Big Ten has become very mediocre in the last decade. I like the fact that Hoke will be able to out recruit Ohio for players that care about going to an outstanding all around institution and not just for a football factory.
I'm pretty sure someone awesome once said: "They can throw out all those great backs and quarterbacks and great defensive players across the country and in this conference but there's going to be one team that's going to play solely as a team. No man, is more important than the team, no coach is more important than the team, the TEAM, the TEAM, the TEAM."
I think we have a guy at the helm who wouldn't be worried if they replaced Fickell with Vince Lombardi, we'd still go about our business the same way the next day and you know what? We'll still dominate. Michigan football is back and it's a pretty damn good feeling.
November 22nd, 2011 at 1:06 PM ^
As nice as that speech was, you know damn well the coach is who molds the team. A great coach is supremely important in cutivating success. And Urban being at OSU as opposed to Luke is going to have a huge impact on us.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:33 PM ^
One thing that could play a huge role is how Meyer would recruit if he were at Ohio. Based on the system he runs and his established ties, it seems likely that the bulk of his classes would be coming out of the South. Leaving Michigan as the only major recruiting force going after the state of Ohio.
Dantonio would be there to, but if this year's recruiting battle in Michigan suggests anything, he'll lose.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:45 PM ^
Unfortunately I think Meyer could find plenty of talent to run his system without having to leave Ohio. Guys like Troy Smith, Braxton Miller, and Ted Ginn were all from Ohio. Pryor was from western PA. Plus Meyer used to coach at Bowling Green, so he presumably has plenty of Ohio connections.
Don't matter, we'd still beat his ass though.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:55 PM ^
It's not that I think Meyer couldn't recruit Ohio, I just don't think he would.
I don't have any hard evidence of this point, but I think that's what he'd be most comfortable doing, especially in his first few years.
I suppose it would also make a difference if he kept on some of the current staff, since they would still have relationships with high school coaches etc.
November 21st, 2011 at 11:38 PM ^
as associate head coach/head coach in waiting, along with a few other assistants. I think Fickell is still the coach of the future, but he needs a functional offense before he takes over.
November 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 AM ^
So you make a bid for arguably one of the top 3 coaches in college football...and then you tell him he has to keep your current head coach on staff (didn't they drop the term interim)? What if Urban would like to stay beyond 5 years? I would think they would want to distance themselves as far from the current staff as possible if the NCAA bombs the program.
November 22nd, 2011 at 1:07 PM ^
of midwest ties. He would most definitely recruit Ohio very heavily.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^
Did Harbaugh end up here? The guy with the most buzz is almost never hired. Let me guess it's between Meyer, Gruden, and Dungy. The same names pop up everytime there is an opening. NCAA sanctions are coming down which no big name coach with a big ego wants to deal with. We will beat their ass on Saturday and I won't think much about them until this time next year.
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^
Dungy is not interrested in any coaching position and for a change that is what it means. Unlike Urban's Q&A on the air last weekend.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:39 PM ^
I am not sure I agree with the assertion that hiring Meyer will better enable Ohio to avoid the worst of the NCAA sanctions. While it unfortunately appears Ohio might be headed for that outcome anyway, IME hiring Meyer could actually increase Ohio's exposure. That is because, in essence, Ohio's punishment for cheating will wind up being that they replace a very good coach with one of the game's absolute best coaches. While I doubt the NCAA would explicitly penalize them for hiring Meyer, such a development could conceivably influence members of the infractions committee to err on the side of stiffer penalties.
On the other hand, to date the NCAA has shown no inclination that it intends to get tough with Ohio, so i would kind of be surprised if their next coach hire affects the outcome at all.
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:52 AM ^
November 21st, 2011 at 5:40 PM ^
Am I competely wrong on this or have we just beaten Meyer the one time in the 2008 Capital One Bowl?
November 21st, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
Michigan beat Utah 10-7 at the Big House in 2002, but I am not sure whether that was before or after Meyer started at Utah.
Edit: Meyer's first season at Utah was 2003.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:46 PM ^
The actual health thing is a controllable esophogial issue, not a big deal. The underlying root was that he was sick of having to rebuild a staff every year. It's hard to take less of a role when you are the one constant year to year and recruiting never stops.
<br>
<br>Other than that, he is a good coach, a poor tv guy and given the opportunity to set up his children's children for life, he will likely coach again. That is all we KNOW.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:53 PM ^
i'd think they are set up for life already
November 21st, 2011 at 5:51 PM ^
Michigan is 1-0 against this mope.
It is beyond tOSU's most wishful thinking that hiring Meyer will hold any sway to the NCAA--that type of bootstrapping is totally meaningless. In fact, I imagine this is the single-biggest factor in any negotiation.
November 21st, 2011 at 10:05 PM ^
November 21st, 2011 at 11:43 PM ^
or Bowling Green while Urban Meyer was head coach.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:55 PM ^
First of all, Meyer will have no effect on the NCAA's ruling. Mark Emmert and Gordon Gee's BFF relationship has already taken care of that.
If Meyer is hired, and I still consider that to be a pretty big "if," there is going to be one main question: will Ohio be getting the Meyer who won two National Championships at Florida or will they be getting the one who tried to get the job done in less than a hundred hours a week and found out he couldn't do it?
Another question: how bad is Meyer's health? If you believe the MSM story, he can't handle a job like that anymore. If you believe rumors from UF alums that a lot of his stress was the lobbying of a large group of alums led by the Brantley family, who wanted Meyer to scuttle the spread that made him successful so that the table could be set for double legacy QB John, then Meyer might be healthy enough to do the job.
Just like a healthy Denard Robinson makes Michigan "go," a healthy and focused Urban Meyer would make Ohio "go." On the other hand, an unhealthy Meyer, or one who no longer wants to put in the insane amount of hours it takes to do the job at the elite level, would be a disaster for Ohio.
I used to think Meyer to Ohio would be our worst nightmare. Now, I'm not so sure anymore. That being said, I am still hoping for Saint Dantonio to get his "dream job" and tell everyone how he would "crawl to Columbus on his hands and knees" for the opportunity to coach there.
Ohio is always going to be a decent program. Sparty's odds to find a coach who can continue the Saint's success, though, are 50-50 at best. I think it would be great for Michigan if Sparty got crushed like a bug again on a regular basis. Therefore, Dantonio to Ohio would probably be great for Michigan, just because it would suck for Sparty so badly and probably make them return to their rightful "little brother" status for another decade or so.
A decade with no bragging from EL would be great after the last one.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:56 PM ^
I would like to know what Urban Meyer knows about the recruiting of Cam Newton.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:00 PM ^
and a thorn in our side. I think if he comes in, the NCAA will be less harsh than anything we think is appropriate and he puts a blanket over the state of Ohio recruiting-wise. He'll get the best backs and QBs in the state and get some lineman too.
He will stay about five or six years and "retire" again. He will probably go 3-3 against Michigan. His first year would be 9-3 or 10-2 and then 11-1 or 10-2 from there on out. He might contend for one MNC. OSU would be found guilty of something along the way, crime issues or many more minor NCAA violations.
ESPN will bow down to Ohio and Saint Urban only to find out he's a ruthless peckerhead that gets any media members fired for looking sideways at his program. All the Ohio media will again have all reports funneled thru the AD at Ohio and they will perfect and sinatly for everyone else to "envy."
Personally, he could just go away quietly, never to be heard from again and it would be too soon.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:05 PM ^
I work with a guy who is a huge buckeye fan and today he told me that he absolutely does not want Urban Meyer to coach his team. He also said that he had polled fifteen or so of his buckeye buddies and not a single one of them was in favor of hiring Meyer.
He listed a couple of reasons why he did not want OSU to hire Meyer, most of which were of the general "he is kind of a dirtbag" variety.
But the biggest, and most interesting, reason that he listed was that it would feel like a slap in Tressel's face if OSU were to hire the guy whose team gave Tressel the biggest beating of his career.
When I heard this, I asked him "You're still worried about the idea of a perceived slap to Tressel's face????" His reply was: "Yes. I'm still hoping he's going to come back." Obviously he doesn't actually expect Tressel to return. But I don't think he'll ever stop wishing for it.
November 21st, 2011 at 11:47 PM ^
And in the minority of Buckeyes fans with whom I've spoken. Tressel's nepotism is responsible for the shitshow that is our offense this year. He skated away and is rumored to be in line for the Colts' head coaching job, while we've had to sit through a full year of Walrusball.
I will always appreciate Tressel's 9-1 record against Michigan, the Rose Bowl win, and the 2002 MNC. But I will never forgive him for the damage he did on his way out.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:12 PM ^
After reading an ESPN piece this afternoon, I still have questions about Meyer taking the job and if he were to go that route, how long would helast.
"Meyer, whose resignation from Florida a year ago was fueled in part by health and family concerns, still has those concerns, he told the Sun. But in the past year, he's learned that a balance between the demands of coaching and home life can be found.
"I've found that it is possible to have balance between your job and your family, that there are coaches out there who are doing it," he said, according to the Sun."
If he thought there was pressure in Florida, I can't imagine there would be any less as coach of Ohio. As far as balancing things go, it might be easier when you are a color commentator than being responsible for a major program. I would have my doubts that he can change the level of committment that made him a good coach, but also compromised his health. If he really had health problems that were stress induced, lose a few games in Columbus and see just how relaxed you find the fanbase, and the pressure there is to win, particularly if you have to do it with considerably fewer scholarship players for the next few years.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:15 PM ^
I am not sure that I agree with your take on the NCAA investigation. Ohio completely fucked up this entire tatsituation and how does a purportedly clean new coach make the devious deeds of the past several years less of an offense? Further, I recall that he had a bunch of thugs at Gatorland and I am not so sure how that equates to the clean coach concept that you referred to.
Urban Meyer is a very good coach, certainly in the top ten in the NCAA FBS, but having a Tim Tebow for several years certainly helped out. Tressel was a great recruiter, but was his dominance over UM a function of (1) Carr winding down his commitment to excellence and (2) the total fubar of the RichRod years?
If, and this is a big if, Hoke can continue with his recruiting success, then we should be competitive notwithstanding who coaches Ohio.
How long might Meyer last at Ohio? Who can say, but something was going on at UF and he seems to have a history of short stays at every coaching stop. Why might Ohio be any different?
November 21st, 2011 at 6:27 PM ^
" but at least with [Meyer] at the helm, we’ll not only get beat by a clean, talented program"
I'm not sure if somebody has already brought this up, bought Meyer had anything but a clean program at Florida. He had so many players get in trouble off the field that it's difficult to count them all. In most cases, Meyer gave them a slap on the wrist and let them play shortly there after.
If Meyer goes to Ohio, it will be more of the same.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
It's a sticky situation as Urban would be a great hire for OSU, but more important, for the whole conference. Sticky because I like Urban Meyer a lot and I hate OSU, and also it looks as if Michigan may be on the biggest rise in the conference.
THE REST OF THE CONFERENCE WILL PROBABLY GO AS FOLLOWS THE NEXT 10-20 years.
MSU has hit it's ceiling and will begin to lose recruits to Michigan and probably be an 7-6 to 10-3 on any given year.
Wisconsin has also hit it's ceiling, but will probably remain in the 9-4 to 11-2 range most years because they have the same winning formula they have had since as long as I can remember, and I don't see it changing and they pull the same kind of recruits as always.
Nebraska could for sure get better, and also Iowa to an extent, but I don't see them having the same pull as Michigan in the recruiting field, especially to kids that want to play in the Big 10. But don't count them out as serious Big 10 and Nat'l title contenders in the future
Penn State is probably going to be in decline at least for the next 5 years given their awful situation.
Illinois will be off and on decent, as well as Minnesota.
Northwestern will compete for bowl eligability every year, and the very occasional division title, but never be awesome unless someone the likes of Harbaugh steps up.
Purdue is Purdue and will never really be good, but sometimes decent.
And Indiana will always suck.
That leaves us with OSU and Michigan who's ceilings are nat'l championships (maybe Nebraska too, but now that they are in the BIG 10, i don't see them overcoming Mich and OSU too often once they are hittin stride). OSU will get back to form, no matter what even with a bowl ban, and it could happen quicker rather than later depending on if they get Meyer. Meyer's hire would make the coaching situation in the Big 10 pretty awesome and attract more talent to the conferece, hopefully putting us up to the level of the SEC, but it would also mean a quicker rise to relevance for OSU just as Michigan is obvuiously getting to that point. The real stickyness for OSU and Michigan is the fact that they will probably be running the table in their divisions most years, meaning they may have a number of seasons both being undefeated or one loss in conference play coming to play each other at the end of November. This could easily mean that we could UM-OSU rematches one week later.......If that does end up happening, even if it is only once or twice I'm wondering if they will have to make some scheduling changes. Possibly moving OSU to earlier in the conference schedule, or even moving OSU to the Legends, or Mich to the leaders by switching them out with another team (such as NEB or WIS). I just think the Big 10 knows how important the OSU-Michigan rivalry is to the conference, and I don't think that they want them playing lots of rematches one week earlier...
How long do you think it will be before we have to play them in a rematch?
November 21st, 2011 at 7:47 PM ^
I can only say that I'm really impressed with your ability to forsee the future in such detail!
Could you do me a favor and check with your crystal ball, because I need to know:
Where are my lucky socks? I can't find them.
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:59 AM ^
November 21st, 2011 at 8:04 PM ^
Are you from Jamaica ms.... Aw Corso it. Who wins the Super Bowl this year?
November 21st, 2011 at 7:43 PM ^
There should be a 1000 point minimum on diary posts.
November 21st, 2011 at 8:10 PM ^
It means they can't pay players anymore to choose them at the last minute. Aka a mobile quarterback choosing to play for them over RiCH Rod! He is the f'n Mecca for mobile quarterbacks! It would be like turning down a chance to play soccer for Brazil to play for Canada. So who gives a shit who they get? I hope he does well, but he has been lying to his family big time if he takes it. Tons of bullshit of how he is happy to be with his family and wants to stay at ESPN for a few years. Ohlio!
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