In the end, too much stress and those wicked headaches did Urban Meyer in. But one of the greatest college football coaches of all time says he is “at peace” with his decision to step down.
The three-time national champion will lead Ohio State (12-1) into the Rose Bowl today to face Washington (10-3), and then he will retire from coaching at just 54 years old.
Meyer can’t help noticing the symmetry in closing his career in a game and a stadium representing the pinnacle of college football for millions of Midwestern kids with a dream.
“I dreamed a lot about Ohio State, the rivalry game, the Rose Bowl,” Meyer told reporters yesterday. “Seems like every year in the ‘70s, when I was at that age where everybody is watching it, the parade, the game, and then watching Archie Griffin score touchdowns in the Rose Bowl. … This has been a bucket-list item for as long as I’ve been coaching.”
He will step down as the third-winningest major college coach by percentage, behind Notre Dame legends Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy.
That 186-32 record is impressive however you slice it.
But earlier this year, Meyer was censured by university president Michael Drake for his handling of former assistant coach Zach Smith, whose wife had accused him of domestic violence though no charges or arrests were ever made, and for tolerating some acts of malfeasance by Smith on the job.
Meyer was put on leave for all of preseason camp, suspended the first three games and forfeited more than $500,000 from his $7.6 million annual compensation.
That led to additional pressure during the season that led to massive headaches that were noticeable during games.
Meyer suffers from an arachnoid cyst, which is non life-threatening but not treatable with surgery.
Urban Meyer dropped to his knees in pain during a game on the road against Indiana.
With the end near, Meyer tweeted a picture showing him looking out at a throng of OSU fans gather in Los Angeles for the big game.
Thank you Buckeye Nation!!! pic.twitter.com/XznXRjHnSp
— Urban Meyer (@OSUCoachMeyer) January 1, 2019
Meyer told reporters at a press conference that had Ryan Day not emerged as such a capable replacement, it would have been tougher to walk away from his job as the head coach at Ohio State.
“Yeah, I don’t think I could,” Meyer said at Rose Bowl media day. “Because there’s too many — there’s head coaches here but you also have these teammates, support staff and everyone has made — I dare to say one of the best, if not the best, top-to-bottom program.”
For Meyer, it was important that his decision had a limited impact on the people he has surrounded himself with in Columbus for the past several years.
He saw how Bob Stoops went out at Oklahoma, by leaving the program in the hands of a rising coaching star, Lincoln Riley, and wanted to implement a similar transition at Ohio State.
“Stoops was the model; he handed it off,” Meyer said. “Support staff and everybody never lost their jobs, the program is extremely strong. And more than that, you’re handing off to a guy that can make it stronger. And so I’m very much at peace about that.”
Dating back to their year together at Florida in 2005, where Day was a graduate assistant on his staff, Meyer figured it was only a matter of time before Day would become a head coach.
That belief was strengthened in 2015, when Meyer visited Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles staff. Day was the quarterbacks coach on that team, which featured former Florida star Tim Tebow, and Meyer sat in on meetings.
“I walked away and took a lot of notes on how he ran the meeting,” Meyer said. “I watched them on the field, and obviously it was much different being a quarterback coach at the Eagles than GA at Florida, and I just saw you could tell right then.”
For today, though, it’s still Meyer’s show.