Two weeks after stunning the college football world — again — by stepping down as the head coach of the Florida Gators, Urban Meyer appears to be eyeing a new position that would allow him to remain a part of the game.
According to the Gainesville Sun, Meyer met Wednesday with officials from — naturally — ESPN to discuss the possibility of landing a gig at the network. It’s unclear in what capacity he would be utilized at the Worldwide Leader; perhaps a clue could be gleaned from his work this evening as he appeared on both SportsCenter and the Las Vegas Bowl pregame show.
As it has been for more than a handful of coaches, the move into television is a natural segue for Meyer, albeit a temporary one if you listen to the behind-the-scenes chatter.
Meyer has continued to maintain after his latest resignation/retirement that he will not coach in 2011. The coach seems resolute in sticking to that, although nothing as far as a return to coaching has been ruled out. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as Meyer is expected to return to the sidelines sooner rather than later.
Of course, the same was said about coaches like Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden, and they remain firmly ensconced — for now — in their cushy TV jobs even as they’ve had multiple opportunities to returning to the coaching game over the years.
Could Meyer find that his niche is in front of a camera instead of the day-to-day rigors of leading a major college football program, especially given the health concerns that reportedly led to his retirement? Stranger things have happened, but a full-time, long-time TV move would surprise the hell out of us at this point in time.
Please no.
Then again, if that keeps Herbie under the desk when Urban is on air, I guess it’s a wash.
That wasn’t him! C’mon, that was a card board cut out of Coach Meyer. Nice try ESPN, but you have to get up preeety early in the morning to fool the Cubano!
Please – that way would could hear endless stories of him and Timmie Teabow. Last night was so unbelievably exciting that after throwing up – I changed the channel.
I thought he was excellent. He’s a vast improvement over people at ESPN like Lou Holtz, Craig James, Turd Herbstreet and others.
Seriously , he brings tremendous insight to discussions of strategy, defensive and offensive schemes.
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Surprisingly positive comment from an Alabama fan? Thanks WingT.
I’m biased. I’m a Gator fan, and an Urban Meyer fan. The constant references to Tebow were a bit much… actually, a LOT too much. Meyer doesn’t need them. He had to answer them because, well, it was LIVE TV.
WingT is right, his insights are awesome… once he actually got to share them. Get past the “he’s the new guy on the block” stuff, and Meyer would make an excellent commentator. I especially like him in the studio. Personally, I like Herbstreit. I think he’s one of the few that easily can crossover from the studio to the stadium booth, and handle each job very effectively. Sometimes he’s too “nice”, never criticizing a team/player/coach/whatever, even if deserved, but he does know the game.
Good luck, Urban. Hope to see you often on ESPN’s GameDay…
he was so dry
@florida727
I have always respected Urban. The man obviously knows football – his record at Florida over 6 years is remarkable. Name me a coach that has ever achieved what he has in such a short period of time.
But I haven’t always liked him. It has been hard to like him when he beats your team in the SEC Championship game.
I hope Urban stays on TV as a commentator and never coaches in the SEC again ( unless he takes over at Bama, lol) .
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