Urban Meyer

Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American sportscaster and former football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons from 2001 to 2002, the Utah Utes from 2003 to 2004, the Florida Gators from 2005 to 2010, and the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2012 to 2018. He retired from coaching in 2019 at the end of the Rose Bowl, and stayed at Ohio State as an assistant athletic director and was also an analyst for Fox Sports, appearing weekly on their Big Noon Kickoff pregame show. In 2021, Meyer came out of retirement to take his first National Football League (NFL) job as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but was fired 13 games into his first and only season, after going 2–11 and being involved in both on- and off-field controversies. He then went back to Fox Sports to resume his broadcasting career.

Meyer was born in Toledo, Ohio; grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio; and attended the University of Cincinnati, where he played football as a defensive back. While at the University of Florida, he coached the Gators to two BCS National Championship Game victories, during the 2006 and 2008 seasons. Meyer's winning percentage through the conclusion of the 2009 season (.842) was the highest among active coaches with a minimum of five full seasons at a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) program.

Following his temporary retirement in 2011, he worked as a college football analyst for the television sports network ESPN before joining Ohio State to become their head coach. In 2014, he led the Buckeyes to their first Big Ten Conference title under his tenure as well as the program's eighth national championship. Meyer is one of four coaches, along with Pop Warner, Howard Jones, and Nick Saban, to win a major college football national championship at two universities. Meyer was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2025.

Early life

Meyer was born on July 10, 1964, in Toledo, Ohio, and was raised in Ashtabula, Ohio. He graduated from Ashtabula's Saint John High School in 1982.

Weeks after graduating high school, Meyer was selected in the 13th round of the 1982 Major League Baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves as a shortstop. He spent the '82 and '83 seasons playing in 44 minor league games in the Braves organization, before an arm injury ended his baseball career. He walked on as a defensive back at the University of Cincinnati in the autumn of 1983, lettering in 1984, before earning his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1986. During his undergraduate studies, Meyer was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity (Zeta Psi chapter).

Meyer earned his master's degree in sports administration in 1988 from Ohio State University.

Coaching career

In 2004, Meyer was recognized as the college football coach of the year by both sportswriters (Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year) and television commentators (Home Depot Coach of the Year Award). He then had twenty years of college coaching experience, including nine as a head coach. His overall record as a head coach through the end of the 2009 season was 96–18, and he was 49–14 in conference play. His winning percentage (.842) through the end of the 2009 season ranked first nationally among active college football head coaches. By winning the 2009 BCS Championship game on January 8, 2009, Meyer moved past Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops into second place on the list of active Division I coaches ranked by winning percentage.

Meyer is Catholic, and on several occasions has referred to the head coaching position at the University of Notre Dame as his "dream job", leading to speculation that he would someday wish to coach there. However, according to a July 2009 newspaper report, Meyer insisted he would never leave Florida for Notre Dame. And when the employment status of Irish coach Charlie Weis came into question in November 2009, Meyer held a press conference to dispel rumors linking him to the possible opening, stating that he would remain at Florida for "as long as they'll have me". The University of Cincinnati's Brian Kelly was eventually hired for the job.

On December 26, 2009, Meyer announced he would resign following the team's bowl game against Cincinnati, citing health concerns. However, the following day Meyer announced that he would instead take an indefinite leave of absence, and he resumed his coaching duties in time for the beginning of the Gators' spring practice on March 17, 2010.

Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley announced Meyer's resignation on December 8, 2010, but stated that Meyer would remain as the head coach through the Gators' appearance in the Outback Bowl on January 1, 2011.

On November 28, 2011, Meyer accepted the head coach position at Ohio State University.

Early coaching career

After playing as a defensive back and placeholder for the University of Cincinnati, Meyer spent one season interning as a defensive back coach at Saint Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1985, under the mentorship of legendary St. Xavier head coach Steve Rasso, where he met members of the Ohio State coaching staff. His first collegiate coaching position was a two-year stint as a graduate assistant coaching tight ends at Ohio State under head coach Earle Bruce. He spent the next thirteen years as an assistant—two at Illinois State, six at Colorado State, and five at Notre Dame.

One of the talents he coached at Colorado State was WR Greg Primus (3,096 yards and 17 TD in 3 years). He put up over 1,000 yards receiving from 1990 to 1992 under Meyer's tutelage. At Notre Dame, he coached WR Bobby Brown who would finish his career with 1,521 yards and 12 TD receiving. At Notre Dame in 2000, he coached WR David Givens who would later be drafted by the New England Patriots.

In 1990, while still the linebacker coach at Illinois State, he called Toledo head coach Nick Saban's home and spoke to Saban's wife to inquire if a position was available. Saban, however, never returned the call. Saban later said "I was so kind of caught up and busy with what I was doing, I never really followed up on that. Obviously, that was a huge mistake on my part because the guy's a fantastic coach."

Bowling Green

In 2001, Meyer took his first head coaching job at Bowling Green. In his first season there, he engineered one of the greatest turnarounds in the NCAA football history, going 8–3 and capping off the season with a 56–21 victory over Bowling Green's rival, the University of Toledo Rockets. He also earned Mid-American Conference coach of the year honors. The next year, Bowling Green finished with a 9–3 record. After a 17–6 overall record, Meyer left for the University of Utah.

He helped turn around a team that had gone 2–9 in 2000 in large part due to QB Josh Harris, a player tailor-made for Meyer's scheme. In a part-time play in 2001, Harris passed for 1,022 yards with 9 touchdowns and ran for 600 yards and 8 touchdowns. The next year, he passed for 2,425 yards with 19 TD and ran for 737 yards with 20 TD. Meyer would later use such quarterbacks as Alex Smith and Tim Tebow in a fashion similar to the way Meyer used Harris.

Utah

After two seasons at Bowling Green, he took the job at Utah in 2003. In his first year there, Meyer was named the Mountain West Conference's Coach of the Year with a 10–2 record, the best ever for a coach's first season at Utah. He also earned honors as The Sporting News National Coach of the Year, the first Utes coach to do so. They also won the program's first outright conference championship since the 1957 team won the Skyline Conference title.

Meyer's success can be attributed to his unique offensive system, which is an offshoot of Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense, relying on short pass routes. Meyer's base offense spreads three receivers and puts the quarterback in shotgun formation. Then, he introduces motion in the backfield and turns it into an option attack, adding elements of the traditional run-oriented option offense.

In 2004, Meyer led the undefeated Utes to a Bowl Championship Series bid, something that had not been done by a team from a non-automatically qualifying BCS conference since the formation of the BCS in 1998. He remained at Utah long enough to coach the team to a Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh, capping off the Utes' first perfect season (12–0) since 1930.

In 2003, Utes quarterback Alex Smith threw for 2,247 yards and 15 touchdowns and ran for 452 yards with five touchdowns. In 2004, he threw for 2,952 yards with 32 touchdowns and ran for 631 yards and 10 touchdowns. His production in Meyer's offensive scheme was a large reason why Smith was considered a first-round pick entering the 2005 NFL draft.

Florida

In the wake of his accomplishments at Utah, both the University of Florida and the University of Notre Dame vied for his services. Meyer chose to become Florida's head coach for the 2005 season, signing a seven-year contract worth $14 million. He later signed a six-year contract extension with the Gators on June 7, 2007; the extended contract paid an average of $3.25 million per year. On August 3, 2009, Meyer received another contract extension that made him the SEC's highest-paid coach during the 2009 season; his 2009 extension was worth $24 million over six years. At the time of the latest contract extension, Meyer was the third highest-paid college football coach, behind only Pete Carroll and Charlie Weis.