Whenever Urban Meyer is asked about a return to college football, he denies it but always gives that little opening to get everybody buzzing. Well I’m writing about it, so it worked. Meyer says he’s done but never fully commits to saying never. I tracked down three quotes from him over the last few months when asked about a possible return to coaching.
“All I’m going to say is I believe I’m done (coaching). I think I’m done.” - The Columbus Dispatch
“I believe I’m done but I’ve also learned to just live in the moment.” - The Los Angeles Times
“That’s a complicated question. I believe I will not coach again. Fairly certain.” - Ohio State press conference
He always leaves that door open juuuust a little bit to keep everyone on their toes.
Meyer announced a resignation from Florida, then retired at Florida and retired at Ohio State. And by the way, when did we start using the term “retiring” so loosely? From now on in any profession, we should police ourselves and make a rule we’re only allowed to retire once in our lifetime. You should not be able to retire and months later land a job in the same field.
The point is the first two times he stepped down, he came right back.
I absolutely hope Meyer coaches again because he is a top-three head coach the second he step back onto the sideline. He also brings another power to college football. Without him, we may as well schedule Alabama-Clemson in the national championship for the next decade.
Regardless of all the jokes made about Meyer faking his health issues over the years, I believe him for the way he looked on the sideline last season. The man has a cyst on his brain. That sounds like it sucks. If he’s healthy, he’ll be on the sideline in 2020. If he’s not healthy, he’s probably still coaching in 2020 even when he probably shouldn’t.
Meyer is only 54 years old and if he does get back into coaching next season, here are five of the most likely destinations.
USC
This is easily the favorite. Clay Helton is a dead man walking and is only still employed because the university is a complete mess and doesn’t have time to deal with a head football coach transition. There may not be a hotter seat in college football history than Helton in 2019.
The Pac-12 is there for the taking, and this is the premier college football job in the conference. After a few years, Meyer should have USC in a position to be expected to run through the regular season undefeated. USC would absolutely dominate with Meyer, working in a state that has the most blue-chip recruits in the country.
Meyer will be in Los Angeles this fall working with USC stars Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush for Fox Sports 1’s new college football pregame show. Bush already said he and Leinart will recruit Meyer if things don’t go well for USC.
And remember how Bush’s recruitment went at USC? Meyer is about to get himself a house.
Notre Dame
NFL teams expressed interest for Brian Kelly over the past few years, and another successful season with the Irish could send him up a level to the pros. Maybe he’s not interested in the NFL and prefers to stick with a program that continues to embarrasses itself when it reaches the highest stage.
Remember, Meyer referred to Notre Dame as his dream job in the past. He was the team’s wide receivers coach for five years, and the Irish went after him hard to be their head coach after the 2004 season. Meyer ultimately chose Florida where he won two national titles. Poor Notre Dame.
Meyer will only come back for a big-name brand. College football brands do not get much bigger than Notre Dame.
LSU
Ed Orgeron is a fine coach and makes for an entertaining interview with the greatest voice in college football, but does anybody believe he could lead a team to a national title? Aside from a wrestling match at the Orgeron family reunion, Coach O isn’t winning anything.
This one might be a dirty, underground deal that would make everybody feel bad for Orgeron, just a good ol’ boy trying to coach a little pigskin. It would be surprising to see him get fired, but if LSU’s athletic department receives word Meyer would join them if asked, it’s hard to say no to becoming a legitimate threat to win a national championship.
And what a moment it would be for Meyer’s legacy if he can be the one to dethrone Nick Saban and Alabama in the SEC. With the recruiting talent he would have to work with, Meyer could go on a run.
Oklahoma
Lincoln Riley will coach in the NFL someday, it’s just a matter of when. The pro game is trending in college football territory with the offenses teams are experimenting with. When he goes, Oklahoma will be the hottest job on the coaching carousel.
Oklahoma is a regular in the College Football Playoff despite putting out the worst defense imaginable. Meyer would certainly find a way to fix that.
Texas is on the rise and dare we say - back? We’ll see. But the rest of the Big 12 is nothing to be afraid of if you’re Oklahoma with Meyer as your head coach.
Ohio State
Wait, what? Yeah, that’s right. Many people think Ryan Day is ready to be the man in charge of the Buckeyes, but this is a high-pressure job especially for a first-year head coach. A big topic during spring practice was the struggle of the Ohio State quarterbacks. What if this doesn’t get fixed, and the Buckeyes somehow find themselves with a 7-5 record? That’s completely unacceptable at Ohio State.
Meyer is already working as an assistant athletic director or whatever his title is at Ohio State, so It would be pretty convenient for him and his wife to not move anywhere. This would be quite a turn of events if Meyer went right back, but when you have the chance to bring back one of the best head coaches in college football history, why not do it?
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