Today in the afternoon, the whole country was let known that Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer was stepping down as the Head Coach. This comes after Florida's worst season with Meyer as their Head Coach. This season, even though Meyer won his 100th game on September 25th against Kentucky, was the worst he had at Florida. They went 7-5 this year, Florida's first five loss season since Ron Zook's last year in Florida in 2004. They lost all their games against the SEC West, the better half of the conference and lost to in-state rival Florida State, the first loss to Florida State in the five years Meyer was there.
This is the second time Meyer said he would step down.After the SEC Championship Game last year which they lost 32-13, Meyer entered a Gainesville hospital with chest pains and dehydration. The day after Christmas, Meyer revealed his medical scare and announced his resignation from Florida. The next day, he announced he wouldn't resign, but would take a leave of absence. Then on March 17th he went back to coach the Florida Gators. He said he will coach in this year's Outback Bowl against Penn State and then leave after that.
Urban Meyer has one great coaching career. He is 103-23 since becoming a head coach in 2001. His first two season's were at Bowling Green in which he went 17-6. Then he went on to Utah in which he went 22-2, he won the 2004 Fiesta Bowl 35-7 over Pittsburgh. While there, he coached NFL Players QB Alex Smith, who went on to be the #1 overall pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2005, Jets NT Sione Pouha and Chargers Safety Eric Weddle and Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End Jonathan Fanene. He then went on to Florida in which he became one of the most successful coaches in Florida's history. He won two National Championships in 2006 and 2008, and made a bowl game in every season there. He coached great players there like QB Chris Leak, WR Chad Jackson, DB Reggie Nelson, DE Jarvis Moss, DE Derrick Harvey, WR'S Percy Harvin and Andre Caldwell, TE'S Cornelius Ingram and Aaron Hernandez, LB Brandon Spikes, CB Joe Haden, DE Carlos Dunlap, Center Maurkice Pouncey and most notably QB Tim Tebow. He was 64-15 and had the second best winning percentage in Florida history with a 81% Winning Percentage. The only coach better was Steve Spurrier, who went 122-27-1 with a winning percentage .8167. In my mind even though Spurrier had more wins in more season's, Meyer had a better tenure with the Gators because he won two championships with two completely different teams. The first team was mainly players recruited by Ron Zook(22 of the 24 starters were recruited by Zook) and in 2008 it was a team that was recruited mostly by Meyer himself. He won his first National Championship against previously undefeated Ohio State 41-14 and then in 2008 against #1 Oklahoma 24-14 to win his second Championship in three years.
Urban Meyer has a record of 6-1 in bowl games. The only one he lost was in Tim Tebow's Sophomore Year when he lost to Michigan 41-35 in the Capital One Bowl in Lloyd Carr's final game as a college coach. He has won 4 BCS Bowl Games, 3 at Florida and 1 at Utah. Even though he has only coached for ten years he has been the best coach in College Football in those ten years. You can argue with it, but in my mind he was the best coach of the 2000's. This is coming from a person who didn't even like Tim Tebow and the three years he was there. I think Urban Meyer won't be retired for long. He's only forty-six and what is he going to be doing for the next ten years. I think he'll be retired for two years and then come back. He is to good of a coach and I believe some university will offer him a contract he can't refuse. The only thing I hope is if he returns to coach, he will be as good as he was. He's a great coach and a great person. I hope the best for him and hos family and whatever decision he makes in the future. I just hope whatever decision he makes is the best for him and his family. I know I'm speaking for a lot of Florida Gators fans when I say that Urban Meyer will be truly missed as the Coach of the Florida Gators.
No comments:
Post a Comment