Take Two: Will Urban Meyer ever coach again?
Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.
MORE: Ohio State among teams capable of winning national title
THE STORYLINE
Urban Meyer is no longer coaching college football, but he remains in the forefront of the sport because he’s such an interesting and divisive character and because he’s also on the FOX college football show, so his face is still plastered all over everyone’s television.
Meyer stepped down as as Ohio State’s coach after last season because of a brain cyst that was causing excruciating headaches. It was well-documented - and seen - last season on the sidelines and drove one of the game’s best-ever coaches to leave the Buckeyes.
In an interview with Cleveland.com, Meyer said he misses the “fight” of college football, a battle he was engaged in for more than three decades. No more recruiting wins and losses. No more games against Michigan. No more preparations for winning another national title.
It’s not lost on anyone that Meyer does the FOX college football show from Los Angeles and it’s not lost on anyone that USC coach Clay Helton is clearly on the hot seat. Every other day, a story about Meyer and the potential to coach at USC comes out.
Every one of Meyer’s sentences is now studied for hints on his potential coaching return: He called Tennessee a top-10 job recently. Does that mean he would take the Vols’ job if offered?
Meyer has won three national championships. He’s won 187 games and lost 32. He’s only 55 years old.
Will Meyer ever coach in college football again or will his medical issues - and the opportunity to still be a part of the game but still have time for his family and other pursuits - keep him away from the sidelines?
FIRST TAKE: KEVIN NOON, BUCKEYEGROVE.COM
“I am asked this question often and I still have no clear answer. Let’s not forget that Urban’s headaches were severe and surgeries to drain the cyst were no longer really an answer. The medication that was available was not allowing Meyer to maintain the focus he needed to stay on top of his game, so he would skip it and endure the pain.
“While I have no doubt he misses coaching dearly, I really don’t think his family is quite ready to sign off on a return to coaching without a major medical advance. He will be linked to every premiere opening, but his work for FOX will keep him close enough to the game for now while he has more time to play the role of grandpa for his family.
“If medical things change, there is no doubt in my mind that he will return, maybe even without a medical breakthrough. But I don’t see it happening in this next wave of impending openings.”
SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM
“He’ll consider it but I don’t think he’ll come back. You never know with these guys. I don’t think Bob Stoops is going to come back to college football, but he’s left the door open a little bit as well.
“The USC job is interesting. It’s not nearly as high pressure as an SEC job, or at Ohio State. He could go in there and win the Pac-12 every couple of years and everybody would be happy.
“I don’t know if he really wants to hurt his legacy at all by messing around with another program. I would say he doesn’t return, but he will continue to think about it. Once you’re a coach, you’re always a coach and you can’t take that away. I can see him thinking about it constantly.”