Urban Meyer regrets the way his Florida tenure ended, said Alabama should have lost three games

Submitted by Cold War on

         Meyer regrets the way his Florida tenure ended

“I didn’t at first. I thought we did a good job. We did our best. I look back now, the way it ended was certainly a regret. Does that mean it haunts me? Not at all. I’ve always felt our job is to do a good job and do it the right way, do it ethically and for the best interest of the student-athlete — check, check, check. I’ll always be associated with the school, and my great friends are there and all that. Absolutely none with that. It just wasn’t a normal way to move on. There would have been if I would have stayed out. I was worried about survival for a little bit.”

Meyer said there’s no question he’d still be at Florida if the health issues hadn’t surfaced

“I realized not too long after [around February 2011]. I called Jeremy [Foley] and said, ‘I made a mistake.’ Once I felt like everything was under control, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I do?’ I just told Jeremy as a friend in conversation. The talk was more about one day getting back into it. He was very supportive. Then I started at ESPN and had a ball with that, but is that enough? Is that what I was called to do? I planned to take more than a year [off] though.”

Meyer said Alabama should have lost three games in 2012.

“You look at [2012], [Alabama] should have lost three games. Georgia had them beat. LSU, I watched that one, it was over. Obviously they ended up beating them. I thought they’d be really good. I think there are some really good teams in the conference.”        

                                                                                                                      http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2013/urban-meyer-left-florida/                              

Leaders And Best

May 25th, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^

Ever since Bama dominated him in his last 2 matchups at Florida, he has obsessed nonstop with Saban. You could see it when he was a broadcaster on ESPN and even now.

With Bama winning 3 of the last 4 BCS titles and Saban with 4 total, he has dwarfed what Urban did at Florida big time especially with how Urban left Florida as mediocre. Saban left LSU with a roster Miles won a title with.

Danwillhor

May 25th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^

I've been screaming since he "became ill" that it was clearly his fear and ego being kicked in by Saban and not some BS illness. I have it capped but you might be able to find another who has a great picture from week 1 Gameday set last year. In the background a Bama fan had a sign of Meyer that said "halftime heart attacks". Google that and I'd bet someone else caught it and saved it. He keeps saying how clean he was and the illness and yet the AD called him out as he signed his osu deal while still technically under a contract with UF. Just bad manners, really. Then the "illness" hits during a Bama bashing of his great Tebow team. He quits and then comes back (ego.....the notion of "I can do this if I buckle down") only to get walked on by Saban and a stronger SEC. So then he retires but retires still under contract at UF despite UF being able to get a new HC. He says it's to spend time with family. So, he promptly takes a job with ESPN traveling the country to do games and in one game he candidly, laughingly slips that he "only sleeps in his bed about twice a week" when lightly ribbed about his generally young retirement. He also several times mentions that he is "absolutely done coaching for a while as he just isn't ready yet health wise". He claims he "hopes to coach again but he knows his body and he needs time and will know when it's right". He then does about 3 games with Spielman and is all but recruited. osu job officially opens up and he is suddenly cured of said "illness". LMAO.....what a douchebag. What a coward, snake, lying douchebag. His ego could not handle Saban kicking his ass on the field and in recruiting (his real personal pride). Saban was ganking kids Meyer previously would have in the bag and despite good classes all it took was not being top dog anymore and ONE near .500 year and he bolts. Not a string of bad years. ONE. One year of losing 3+ games and he runs off to a weak B10 where he knows even the other power is rebuilding so he can sleepwalk to 10 wins a year. I absolutely believe he fears Saban. Yes, fear. He'd play Bama and it was another guy on the sideline. He looked scared and unsure of himself. It was amazing to see and so obvious the path he took to get out. First retirement I swear I called it 100% how it would go down.

meechiganman14

May 25th, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^

The only thing you left out was the "Circle of trust" he had at Florida and all the character and legal issues he left for Muschamp to clean up. 

What's unfortunate is that the rest of the B1G is too weak to knock down his house of cards and expose him for what he is. And its too bad because I'd love to see Ohio fans reaction and justification if he flames out there. He has that whole fanbase eating out of the palm of his hand right now.

Danwillhor

May 26th, 2013 at 2:55 AM ^

I just truly do not like the guy and a simple timeline makes it so obvious why/how he backed out. He then has the balls to take credit for being something he absolutely wasn't at UF?!? MANY there strongly dislike him now due to feeling he was dishonest with them and the general poor taste of how he took the osu job while still under UF contract. He absolutely was NOT running a clean program, etc. How people fall for his self-righteous BS is amazing to me. "Higher powers" granting him dreams that said a kid should play for him?!? LMFAO.....he is ego crazy. I'm glad the quick word was that Peppers saw right through his BS, regardless of if he chooses us or not.

LSAClassOf2000

May 25th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^

The Orlando Sentinel, just before his final season in Florida, published this article listing all of the players in Meyer's tenure at Florida to that time who had been arrested, their charges, and the team punishment. The most interesting aspect of it to me is the very inconsistent team punishments in several cases, but I suppose that was part of doing things "the right way".

I suppose it burns him a little as well that, despite this mammoth effort, he still never beat Saban even in the Fulmer Cup standings, at least to my knowledge. No wonder he left the SEC. 

The entire CBS interview (HERE) has a few questions on some of the changes he claims to have made to his approach, including his efforts to change his "overreaction" to various things in the day-to-day running of the program

xxxxNateDaGreat

May 25th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^

25 players arrested 31 times in 6 years. That's an avg of 5.17 arrests per year.

I don't believe Urban is he devil (I actually think he seems like an okay dude), but you can't preach integrity and doing things the right way when an entire class worth of students went to jail during your tenure.

Perkis-Size Me

May 25th, 2013 at 1:40 PM ^

Focus on your team and not Alabama, Meyer. But I guess when Saban has wiped the floor with you in your last two meetings, you can start to develop a little bit of an inferiority complex.



Saban knows exactly how to game plan for a Meyer-coached team. I see no reason for different results should they meet again.

WolverineInCbus

May 25th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^

To talk about "should have been" losses. Ohio almost lost at least 4 games last year. Including Cal, michigan state, INDIANA and Wisconsin. Not to mention michigan.

Danwillhor

May 25th, 2013 at 2:05 PM ^

This. As I said in the Mark May thread, they will be a legit top 10 team this year but last year saw the two worst undefeated teams in history (nd & osu). Both teams eeked out wins over some really average teams on top of any decent team somehow giving the game away. Purdue has osu's number lately and lost last year in shockingly imploding fashion even by Purdue standards. Both teams were so similar. Not terrible but just......not "undefeated" good. Yet, there it was. It was so strange to watch.

Don

May 25th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^

Banging a pretty young assistant can be bad for your health, like it was for former VP Nelson Rockefeller in 1979.

MidnightBlue

May 25th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^

He got word the Tressel was gonna get taken out in the future. And heknew the only way he could get the OSU job was to leave Florida early and not pull a RR. Dont believe for a second the crap Meyer recently said...for it was all contrived.

denardogasm

May 25th, 2013 at 2:50 PM ^

Not a chance. Don't believe the stuff he's said more recently about Ohio being his dream job. He didn't care whether he was coaching at Florida or Ohio. His family made him quit and he just decided to get back in the game. He said while he was at ESPN that his dream jobs were ND, Ohio, and Michigan. Basically he just wanted to be at a big time school where he'd be famous, could get recruits easily despite his disingenuous behavior, and win championships. His loyalty and love of Ohio is not nearly what he says it is or you suggest above.

Sione's Flow

May 25th, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^

It's my belief that once Hoke and staff have overhauled the roster from the RR era, were going to see a team with alot of similarities to Alabama and then Urban will probably want to focus spending more time with his family again.

 

Leaders And Best

May 25th, 2013 at 4:07 PM ^

I don't think we will ever reach the level Alabama has the last 5 years. Alabama has certain advantages that Michigan does not (access to fertile recruiting territory, oversigning, junior college players, and win at all cost mentality). I think the junior college aspect is huge factor that is overlooked in the rise of the SEC

Perkis-Size Me

May 25th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^

I think he's just saying we're going to have a lot of similarities, not that we're going to be as dominant as Alabama. Hoke might win several national championships. He might win none. But he's building a football team similar to Alabama's, at least in its style of play and the personnel being recruited to play up front.



But like you, I'd be shocked if we ever attain the level of Alabama, at least on a year in, year out basis.

Tater

May 25th, 2013 at 8:48 PM ^

Every coach "overhauls" his roster every year due to graduation.  And, until it becomes "legal" in the NCAA for boosters to pay players, Michigan will never compete with Bama on a yearly basis.  Bama cheats and Michigan doesn't.  

Michigan will have some great classes, but everyone will be fighting the Bama illegal perks machine, whether it comes from golden handshakes or ho-stesses on recruiting visits.

MGlobules

May 25th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^

vagisil? Grow up, guys; women come to this site, too, or some of us might like them to feel welcome here. Besides, the whiny nature of some of your posts sounds a lot like the kind of attitude you indict. 

Crime Reporter

May 25th, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^

One of my favorite moments as a Michigan fan was beating Urban Meyer's Gators in 2008. After the whining he did in 2006 to get in the national championship I have disliked him. Guy just strikes me as a snake. Remember what he told Stonum when he was a recruit?

If you're ever bored, type "Urban Meyer dirty recruiting." Fun times.

snarling wolverine

May 25th, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^

I’ve always felt our job is to do a good job and do it the right way, do it ethically and for the best interest of the student-athlete — check, check, check.

He just sounds like a smug asshole here. Hoke would be more like "...and I hope we were able to do that."

TrppWlbrnID

May 25th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^

But I don't really think that Meyer quit because he was scared of saban. I think that Meyer at Florida face some of the same structural inequalities against other teams like bama and lsu that Michigan and nd sometimes run into. Not only is Florida a decent academic school, but he had been there long enough for some of the shine to come off, he wasn't the new fun guy anymore like saban was and he was having to take some risks with players. His staff was getting plucked dry every year, leaving for head coaching gigs (strong, Mullins) or the nfl (mattison). After reading the borges thing this week, i realize what a huge team the coaching staff is.



In coaching nowadays you have a window and you have to be able to recognize when that window is closing and get out gracefully, which he did definitely not do. I look forward to UM playing OsU tough in the future, with him or without him, but the circumstances of he and saban and anybody else are pretty much ancient history.

Leaders And Best

May 25th, 2013 at 6:20 PM ^

Florida at a disadvantage? There are only a handful of schools that have a better advantage than Florida. He was in the heart of the most fertile recruiting ground at the flagship school in the state. Florida dips in the JC pool just like every other SEC school. The only major difference is Florida and Georgia do not engage in oversigning, but Florida had the pick of the litter instate while Meyer was there.

As for staff turnover, Saban and every other high profile head coach deals with that. It isn't going to be any different at Ohio State. Especially with the type of coaches he employs (younger and more recruiting focused assistants).

As for the "window" argument, I think that has more to do with Saban than anything else. Coaches almost never leave traditional powers with strong recruiting bases unless they are going to the NFL because it is inherently easier to win at those programs. You almost never see what Meyer did at Florida. Mark Richt has been at Georgia 12 years and counting. Les Miles has been at LSU 8 years and counting. Saban has been at Alabama 6 years and counting. Bob Stoops has been at Oklahoma 14 years and counting. Mack Brown has been at Texas 15 years and counting.