There's vital business at hand, which requires him to leave the football bunker on a summer afternoon. In the car, he turns right out of his new office, heading some two hours north. On one side, the past 18 months of searching, and on the other, the test of that search. Years from now, when Urban either succeeds or fails in remaking himself, he will look back on these two days in June as a dividing line. He doesn't like himself, which is why he wants to change.Įyer strolls through the Ohio State football parking lot with his 13-year-old son, Nate. Both of these people are in him - are him: the guilty father who feels regret, the obsessed coach who ignores it. His daughter's words ran through his mind, troubling him, and yet he returned to the shifting pixels on his television, studying for a game he'd either win or lose. Then - and this arrives at the guts of his conflict - Urban Meyer went back to work, pulled by some biological imperative. Moments later, Gigi high-fived her dad without making eye contact, then hugged her coach. Her heart broke for Urban, who sat with a thin smile, crushed. She'd been nervous all day, and with a room of eyes on her, she thanked her mother for being there season after season, year after year. Urban and his wife, Shelley, joined their daughter at the front table, watching as Gigi stood and spoke. Meyer's secretary, a mother of four, insisted: "You're going."Įighty or so people filed into the school cafeteria.
His beautiful, athletic, earnest daughter would have to sign her letter of intent without him. Some now-forgotten problem consumed Meyer, and he told his secretary he didn't have time. As the hour approached, she waited at her high school, wanting much, expecting little. It was football season, so she checked her dad's calendar, scheduling her big day around his job. A few years ago in Gainesville, his middle child, Gigi, planned a celebration to formally accept a college volleyball scholarship to Florida Gulf Coast University. Subscribe today!Įfore you join Urban Meyer, who is walking toward the exit of the Ohio State football office, there's a scar you need to see. Jacksonville fired Meyer as the team had a 2-11 record and the No.1 pick in the 2021 draft, Trevor Lawrence, was struggling under center.This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's Aug. Reports of Meyer being abusive to his coaching staff and making odd decisions with player roles began to surface in December. Meyer was caught on social media in a Columbus bar in October dancing with a woman who was not his wife, and the team was struggling mightily on the field.
Once the season started, it was a disaster on and off the field. Tebow, unsurprisingly, was among the first cuts. Meyer was fined by the NFL for using COVID-19 vaccination status as a factor for roster cuts and he used one roster spot to sign his former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow as a tight end. Meyer hired a strength and and conditioning coach, Chris Doyle, who had been fired at Iowa for accusations of using racist language. Urban Meyer at OSU: 'I kept thinking I let these players down': Urban Meyer on his OSU exit and new challenges
Urban Meyer at OSU: 'I had no idea what was coming': Urban Meyer still amazed at the 2014 Ohio State team Urban Meyer at OSU: ‘Do I have anything in my contract that says I don’t have to do this?’: Why Urban stayed We’re going to do all we can not to, but the reality is that will happen and probably more frequently than I’ve ever experienced.” I’m training myself because it will happen. To say I’m going to enjoy it and accept it? No. The expectations are at Ohio State that you can’t lose one.
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