The Expectations of Urban Meyer
I was thinking about Urban Meyer yesterday, and today has only compounded those thoughts with every random article or thread post.
Urban Meyer. Ohio Head Coach.
No pressure there, right?
Here's a guy whose body couldn't handle the stress of the expectations he created at Florida, the expectations of greatness and regularly performing at champion-caliber football.
Today he'll arrive in Columbus as the most heralded man ever to set foot in that cesspool of a town, praised and worshipped for what every slack-jawed Buckeye native is absolutely certain he'll bring: National titles, and several of them, in as little time as possible.
"Jus' y'all wait 'n' see-- 'Rbin's gon' take US all da way!"
They are all telling us, ever since Saturday-- just wait. Just wait til Urban gets here. He's going to win so many dang football games they'll be saying 'Woody Who?'
Urban will do it. Urban can do anything.
And, interestingly enough, we haven't even learned of their fate from the NCAA. If the governing body of collegiate sports actually grows a set and gives these hooligans what they deserve, the noose will grow tighter as every diehard Buckeye swears that 'it won't matter, Urban will win it all for us anyway."
The demands that will be heaped on Urban Meyer will be as ludicrous as the boasts being proclaimed about him this very minute by every scarlet and gray "football fan." Every ridiculous thing we read about what he'll accomplish or what he'll do to us will add to the weight of what is expected of him.
And if he fails to meet those expectations... well, just ask Jim Bollman what those dedicated wagon jumpers are capable of saying.
Can he meet what is expected of him in Columbus?
Could anyone?
Today he is the Scarlet and Gray messiah, and Heaven help him should he not be able to produce what the Senator did under a blanket of corruption and deceit. Heaven help him if he isn't able to walk on water they way an entire fan base is today testifying him as being capable of.
Stressful? Are you kidding me?
I guess, in short, my point is that for a man who feared for his own health enough to walk away from the stress in Gainesville... this is a very curious choice. The pressure on him is already mountains more than anything he'd ever sufffered in Florida.
I think he'll win, plenty. Yes, he may bring them a national championship. But I just can't see the guy there more than four or five years top.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^
I expect at least 3 retirements in the next 5 years
November 29th, 2011 at 1:15 AM ^
WIN THE INTERNETZ!
November 28th, 2011 at 3:05 PM ^
Meant to make this a Diary post. Also-- I formatted all of the above pics to be small and compact at the top of the page... and Drupal laughed at me like I was a peasant boy at the foot of the king.
Stupid Drupal...
November 28th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^
I've said this all along, Meyer will do a great job for them while he's there, but there is absolutely no way he replicates Tressel's success there. Buckeye fans are going to expect him to be even better than Tressel, but no one could live up to that hype. The Buckeye dominance of the past decade or so will not happen again for any team for a long, long time.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:07 PM ^
are getting married in the first picture. And Meyer doesn't scare anyone. We're ready.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
I looked at that first picture and saw all the lovely yellow and blue confetti and I laughed as it looked like Michigan rain on the Urban parade.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:07 PM ^
I have a very neutral opinion of Urban Meyer. Good coach, seems like a nice guy.
I expect for him to say something to make me hate him very soon.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
What seems nice about him?
His behavior the last few years has been egomaniacal and his demeanor beyond smug.
November 29th, 2011 at 1:19 AM ^
HE'S A COCK.....trust me, i know.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
Then he won't be winning any MNCs. The bowl ban they SHOULD get will be 2 or 3 years plus scholarship reductions. I don't care who the coach is. He ain't winning any MNCs within 4 or 5 years from now with what osu has coming down the pike.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:10 PM ^
I'm actually worried the spectacle that is Ohio+Urban Meyer will push the NCAA to go soft. Hypothetically speaking, of course, the bandwagon will be loaded up again tonight and the NCAA will feel the pressure of revenue generated by an Urban Meyer.
This marriage is good for college football, and I'm worried the wrist-slap will be on to make sure they'll stay front-page Yahoo news for years to come... There, I said it.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^
hard to say wether the lane kiffen hiring had any effect on the ncaa sanctions at USC but you could draw a parallel there to ohio
November 28th, 2011 at 6:26 PM ^
but I think the fact that the LOIC charge came down the pike right before the Ohioans thought that their self-imposed wrist slap would be rubber stamped may mean that the NCAA did not like being made to look like the fool in the leadup the bowl game last year.
My prediction is loss of 15 scholarships over 3 years and 2 year bowl ban.
November 29th, 2011 at 12:24 AM ^
the NCAA Infractions folks to action or inaction, but I don't see how it could be football revenue. The NCAA gets the lion's share of its revenue from the huge Div I BBall TV contract, as shown in the leaked (or not leaked) financial statements.
November 28th, 2011 at 7:43 PM ^
I don't see any hard evidence of this being the case. I'll believe all those well deserved sanctions when I they happen...and I'll be celebrating too.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:10 PM ^
He'll be successful and leave the school in better shape than when he got there. I'm assuming that they'll get a pretty lame slap on the wrist from the NCAA, so even with a two year bowl ban, I see them being in the same position that USC is in now.
He'll be able to recruit kids in Ohio on three things:
1. Tradition
2. Us against the world (RE: Weak NCAA sanctions)
3. Success putting players in the NFL
The only thing that can hurt Urban is if they hit them with scholarship reductions. If that happens, he might only last four or five years because I don't think he has the patience to rebuild a program.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:20 PM ^
I expect a full-court press of negative recruiting from all corners of the Big Ten based on his own extreme flakiness and failure to discipline players.
November 28th, 2011 at 6:31 PM ^
Dantonio: "Why would go to OSU? Sure, you can commit crimes and only miss 1 half of a football game, OR, or you can come to MSU, commit crimes, and not miss any time at all. How does that sound?"
November 28th, 2011 at 8:36 PM ^
You know right now, off the record and in the privacy of his own home, he's furious that he didn't get that job. And he'll never be able to express any frustration about it because Sparty would have a fit.
It's like not even being able to win the Jerk of the Year Award. Mark Dantonio, Runner-Up to the Jerk of the Year.
November 29th, 2011 at 5:42 AM ^
they're running out of you!
Quick, somebody call Dantonio and tell him! It'll be the best comeback ever!
November 28th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^
It is tough to leave and then come back. Will he work 100 hours a week now that he knows how a lucrativve 9-5 job looks and feels like.
Let's not kid ourselves. Short of JT staying at OSU, this is the worst news for UM. At least in the short-run he could sell recruits on hope and tradition. If he does not deliver, then the story may not have a happy ending.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:22 PM ^
It is tough to leave and then come back. Will he work 100 hours a week now that he knows how a lucrativve 9-5 job looks and feels like?
Let's not kid ourselves. Short of JT staying at OSU, this is the worst news for UM. At least in the short-run he could sell recruits on hope and tradition. If he does not deliver, then the story may not have a happy ending.
November 28th, 2011 at 7:46 PM ^
As we have learned from Hoke. Good competition only makes you better.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
November 29th, 2011 at 12:14 AM ^
Yeah, that "you get a pass because you are in a tough situation that's beyond your control" thing worked out so well for Fickel.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^
My expectation is that tOhio will lose to Michigan regularly.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
That Saban has done it prompts a lot of us to forget how hard it is for college coaches to walk away from programs they built and then reenter the coaching ranks a year or three later. Everyone talks about Meyer having that oil painting of Woody in his house. He might want to put another one of Saban up next to it. Because the alternative scenario is Steve Spurrier (who's having an admittedly good year, but after a bunch of 8-4 mediocrity). Or Lou Holtz. And look at the NFL: Parcells isn't sporting a bunch of Super Bowl rings from his stint with the Cowboys, nor Holmgren with the Seahawks, or Gibbs with the 'Skins the 2d time around. I'm sure there are a zillion other examples. We all care about this game so much -- too much? -- and that prompts us to look for ready-made super saviors. But the legends, the guys with statues and stadiums named after them, they tend to be the guys who start with nothing, or near nothing, and put something special together brick by brick. Your move, Coach Meyer.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:36 PM ^
What is it about the BIG attracting coaches ill-equipped to handle the stresses of the job (Dantonio, Meyer, Kill)?
November 28th, 2011 at 3:40 PM ^
I think he's just doing it for personal reasons. Has a losing record as a coach against Michigan. He promised he would avenge St. Tebow's bowl loss.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:43 PM ^
Todd McShay just got on ESPN and said he expects Ohio to win the Big Ten next year and compete for a national championship the year after.
All of this in the face of upcoming NCAA sanctions (I don't expect much, but still), a 6-6 team, an underwhelming (compared to the Tressel years) incoming recruiting class, and a Michiganesque Michigan. I think Meyer is a good coach, but come on.
Also, he's never beaten Michigan.
Also, he quit on Florida twice in one year.
Also, his heart and/or head might explode from all the stress.
Chill out, Ohio. Congratulations, but chill out.
November 28th, 2011 at 9:30 PM ^
I would agree, there's no way that OSU even wins the Leaders division next season. 9-3 would be a reasonable prediction for next season, but they won't be competing for national championships for at least three years, once they regain their footing in recruiting under their new coach.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:57 PM ^
He'll have to beat the Michigan twice.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:51 PM ^
Ohio is going to get a lot of media love. It's just the nature of the beast. We are building something here at Michigan. At Ohio, they don't care about building anything, they just want to win. It'll be harder than they think. I'm not sold on that offense playing an entire Big Ten season.
November 29th, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^
For the record, I care none for "building something here at Michigan".
Our program is built -- on the backs of 132 teams -- very well, thank you.
I "just want to win". I mean, do it cleanly (all of the losing the past 3 years hurt less than the NCAA investigation), do it respectfully, but win.
This is my problem with a small section of Michigan fans: why should we be excited by "rebuilding"? That seems to be what a lot of people like about the hiring of RR. Isn't that disrespectful to the teams that have come before, that made Michigan the winningest program in the history of history?
November 28th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^
He'll win a bunch of games because virtually every OSU coach wins a bunch of games. He'll beat UM a couple of times, and vice-versa. I do think that he'll be out within 5-6 years, especially if his spread offense (funny how OSU fans killed RR for running a type of spread offense while openly rooting for Meyer's new system) fails to ignite the Big 10 and he loses a couple of games. Meyer's Florida teams won with defense, and so his DC choice will be huge. If it winds up being Stoops from Arizona, that will hurt the OSU unit that has been the bedrock of that team for over a decade.
He'll be successful, but we've seen big-time coaches coach at elite programs before and struggled, and Meyer may be no different.
November 28th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^
Meyer has been in line for the OSU job for the past 3 years now. He knew what was going on at OSU, and knew that Tressel would be done shortly. All that health/family time BS was just that - BS. This was his dream job and he did what it took to get that job.
Meyer has lost one bowl game - to Michigan. He does not scare me at all.
All the 'experts' thought Rich Rod would bring UM to new heights. All the 'experts' thought Tressel was not the right hire because he didn't have enough experience. All the 'experts' thought Hoke was in over his head.
Bottom line - finding the right coaching fit is very hard to do. Let's just see how this plays out before we panic.
November 28th, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^
Word.
Experts don't know shit.
Today, all of the experts are talking about him being able to recruit Florida. That's all well and good, but he now coaches Ohio. If he doesn't create an in-state juggernaut a la Tressel, he will fail.
I also suspect he will not live up to expectations simply because he is a big-name coach. Those seem to never work. Other than Saban, I can't think of another coach in recent memory that has built more than one great program. Some guys (Hoke, Meyer,etc) have a reputation for turning smaller programs around before landing their one big gig. Almost no one succeeds, however, at their 2nd big gig.
November 28th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^
But how will this affect male grad students at Ohio? They just got some serious competition
November 28th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^
scene!
November 28th, 2011 at 5:24 PM ^
I am also concerned with the NCAA becoming lax with OSU due to Meyer's arrival.
Presser is on ESPNEWS/ESPNU now.
November 28th, 2011 at 7:59 PM ^
original link: http://menofthescarletandgray.com/2008/01/04/good-coach-bad-coach/
excerpt:
So, you’re the head coach of a team that just played its last game. You’re asked to say a few words to (or about) your seniors – your captains – that have sacrificed so much for your program. Young men that have worked hard for you. Men that could have played for other coaches, but chose you to be their mentor, to be the person that honed their skills, the one they trusted to prepared them for the future.
How do you handle it?
Like Lloyd Carr?
<embedded video of Carr's post-game speech at the Capital One Bowl (YTC1B)>
…or like Urban Meyer?
“Well, for those [seniors] who just put in their time and didn’t make any real contributions, it’s time for you to go. It won’t be hard to say goodbye to some of those guys who just went through the motions.
Now for those kids who actually bought into the program, and who made some sacrifices and contributions — you know, like Bubba Caldwell….he’s a graduate of UF and had a great career — you’ll really miss those guys. But just because you’re a senior doesn’t mean you have any value.”
The differences in coaching couldn’t be more black and white. “Thank you for everything, I’ll always be here for you, I encourage you to finish your degrees,” vs. “You only won one title, and didn’t win enough games, so don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Oh, the cognitive dissonance.... it hurts. It hurts so bad....
November 28th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^
First time I've seen that quote. "Just because you're a senior doesn't mean you have any value." What a scumbag... perfect fit for Ohio.
December 2nd, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
November 28th, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
The only thing he walked away from in Gainsville was not being nearly as good as he was with Tebow. He knew that run was over. We also know he wasn't taking the ND job without significant exceptions to their admissions standards. He looked around and picked the place most likely to let him skirt the rules and succeed. Let's see if he NCAA has it in them to rein him in. If he has to play fair Ohio is in for a big disapointment.
And oh yeah, that's JMO :)
November 28th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
It’s been 1427 days since Michigan last beat Urban Meyer.
November 29th, 2011 at 8:28 AM ^
it has been an infinite number of days since Michigan lost to Meyer
November 28th, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^
Actually the best that could be said about the tOSU situation is that we have a short time frame to take advantage of this situation for recruiting, and to give Hoke a chance to get us in the (good) news instead of them. So far he's done all that can be expected. Hes done a great recruiting class, given us a 10-2 season, and attracted a lot of attention. He should be the leader in the " Coach of the year" award. The only thing he has yet to do is win a bowl game, but that would be asking a lot. We've made as much hay as possible here while tosu has sufferred. Given the incredible advantages any coach has at tosu, we must assume Meyer will be successful. Given the NCAA's inconsistency ( USC vs how they treat the SEC ), I expect NO meaningful punishment.
November 28th, 2011 at 9:56 PM ^
The Axis power must be defeated. So go rent the movie "Patton" and take from it your instructions. I'll personally shoot that paper-hanging sumbitch Urban Meyer if the troops have enough gasoline to get me there. Hell, I'll grease the treads of my tanks with the Borens if they let me. And there is plenty of grease down Columbus Way. Trust me on this latter contention, it's why WhiteCastle headquarters down there - abundant grease. Urban Meyer will absorb the greasiness and get relegated down to his paper-hanging greasiness by the rest of that institution. Now, Wolverines, go and make Patton proud.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:02 PM ^
while we've all heard whisperd rumors about Urban Meyer's affairs with grad students at the University of Florida, there in no substantiated evidence that URBAN MEYER CHEATED ON HIS WIFE WITH 5 COEDS WHILE AT FLORIDA.
November 29th, 2011 at 1:43 AM ^
yeah.. that's a good point. we hear a lot about his 2 national championships, and BCS bowl wins.. those are proven facts. However, you are basolutely right that it hasn't been proven that URBAN MEYER CHEATED ON HIS WIFE WITH 5 COEDS WHILE AT FLORIDA
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