Meyer refutes Ohio State rumors for “this fall”

By Adam Silverstein
May 30, 2011

Former Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer, now a college football analyst with ESPN, released a statement Monday refuting rumors that he is currently in the mix for the Ohio State Buckeyes coaching job left vacant by Jim Tressel.

“I am committed to ESPN and will not pursue any coaching opportunities this fall,” Meyer said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the people at ESPN this spring and remain very excited about my role with the network this fall.

“Jim Tressel has been a respected friend and colleague for a long time. I wish Jim and his family the very best now and in the future.”

Though Meyer’s statement will should quiet the talk of his taking over the Ohio State program this year, its specific usage of the words “this fall” on two occasions will no doubt allow rumors to continue swirling that he could be in line to be the Buckeyes head coach in 2012. Ohio State, incidentally, has said publicly that it does not plan to hire a permanent head coach this year and will stick with interim coach Luke Fickell for the duration of the season. Meyer coached tight ends and running backs at OSU from 1986-87.

Photo Credit: ESPN

17 Comments

  1. Tractorr says:

    Meyer is no idiot. He is gonna wait and see what sort of penalties Ohio State gets. I think that had Tressel been let go (not resigned) earlier then the OSU may have escaped any major sanctions, but the NCAA is currently on the warpath and the OSU tried to punk them.

  2. Marc Mac says:

    I hope Muschamp has already called Curtis Grant……..

  3. joey says:

    If he takes the OSU job his family speech is bs. One year off to spend with family and see kids grow up is bs. He had nothing else to do at UF and 10-2 every year isn’t good enough. And he knows it. Meyer if you want to coach then coach of you want to be family man then do that. End of story.

  4. gatorade7 says:

    Typical Meyer doublespeak…guy can’t make a declarative statement or a decision to save his life. Still not sure his health conditions will allow him “back in the bunker” but his ego certainly won’t pass this up easily.

  5. YeahRight says:

    Meyer is already packing,. he wont let this job go by … let the ones who are at Ohio State stay there.. dont call any one of them….. let’em burn as well……

  6. YeahRight says:

    I agree.. he really cant tell the truth … Im one of those that was glad to see him leave Florida.. his days of success are over in my view.. look at last year … he will never have the staff he once had

  7. Many of you are overreacting. Meyer is not taking a job while the NCAA Committee on Infractions is looking into it. They could be suspended for multiple bowls, lose a ton of scholarships and face many other sanctions. It is not a job a top-tier coach would take unless all of that is cleared, which it won’t be.

  8. SaraGator says:

    Karma to Stan Drayton!

  9. gatorade7 says:

    It doesn’t matter if Meyer does not accept the job. Do you then believe the health and family issues were all a facade and he would take the Ohio State job if it were under no NCAA scrutiny? I doubt Meyer’s problems have corrected themselves so quickly…yet again. Personally I believe Coach Meyer resignation reasons and think he’s further away from coaching than many of you may think.

    I think his ego (or his agent) thought he needed to comment because of all the swirling rumors but its just another wishy-washy statement by Meyer that came out.

    • Tractorr says:

      His issues may not have sorted themselves out, but anyone who is alpha male enough to win at the level that Meyer has won is not going to be able to walk away easily. If I were an OSU fan I would be praying that they find someone else because I don’t think that Meyer is ever going to coach at the same level again.

      I said it before and I will say it again: Meyer is a workaholic micro-manager and he has burnt out.

  10. Ken (CA) says:

    Wow! I can’t believe all the negative comments about Urban here on this. He was an incredible coach, and took UF to heights never seen even under Spurrier. I would be shocked if he goes to tOSU anytime soon even though that is “home”.

    On the flip side, everytime he has moved on he has made the same politically corect comments, just look at what he said at Utah before coming to UF.

    That said, no matter what he chooses, I wish him the best, he was a great asset to the Gators while he was here, and will always have an incredible legacy here. Even take the words of Coach Boom “you are always loyal to your current employer”.

    I was more annoyed with Spurrier going to USC than I would be to Meyer going to tOSU. At least tOSU isn’t a direct competitor, not only in conference, but in division. I never did understand why Spurrier wanted to directly compete against the school that gave him everything.

  11. Ken (CA) says:

    On a personal note, I would love to see them take away the Sugar bowl victory now with even more information and another investigation into Pryor going on, just so we can keep gloating about how tOSU can’t beat the SEC in bowl games!

  12. Mr2Bits says:

    Of course Meyer rumors were going to turn, thats what ESPN gets paid the big bucks for. You can guarantee ANY open coaching position will have Meyer’s name attached to it just like Gruden and the NFL. Will he take one, who the hell knows and who the hell cares. He gave us some great years at Florida and that’s all I can ask for.

  13. joey says:

    Don’t get me wrong I am a big supporter of Meyer but just tired of him saying one thing and doing another. Plus once you leave GatorNation I am done with you only root for south Carolina when I helps us ansd never for the redskins.

  14. Jesse C says:

    Once a gator, always a gator.

  15. John S says:

    It would bother me a little for Urban to be in Ohio in 2012, but he would have a a hell of a time assembling a staff. unless by then some of his offshoots have failed as head coaches. The pickings were pretty slim for him while at UF last year and the on again off again thing will hurt him.

    At this point it, it’s his life, he gave us great years and was not prepared to keep up the pace here, maybe somewhere else will recharge him. It is a hell of a lot easier to win regularly in the Big Ten.

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