At least publicly, Urban Meyer has yet to give any definitive indication as to whether or not he will return to coaching, although most assume that he will return to the sidelines after recharging his batteries for a year or two.
You can count Meyer’s current boss among those assuming there’s still some coaching left in the soon-to-be-former Florida coach’s future.
By way of Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post, UF athletic director Jeremy Foley says he’d “have no problem with him coaching again” even if it’s as early as 2012, and that a return to the game almost seems inevitable for the coach he plucked from Utah nearly six years ago.
“I think (Meyer) realizes three days from now is the last time he’s going to line up for the Gators,” Foley said of the Outback Bowl game with Penn State Saturday. “I don’t think it’s the last time he lines up in his life and I’ve told him that.”
There is one stipulation for a return, though. “Yeah, as long as he’s not at Georgia or something. ... I’m just kidding.”
To be technically correct, we believe that should be “half-kidding” when it comes to Georgia or any other SEC school when/if Meyer returns.
As for Meyer’s immediate future, all signs are pointing to the coach moving to television and an unspecified role with ESPN. Meyer received generally favorable reviews for his on-air “audition” last week, and Foley thinks it’s something Meyer needs right now and would be good at.
“Urban’s got to do some things in his life — I know him,” Foley said. “He’s not just going to sit around and go fishing. That’s not him. I think he’d be very good at (television). I think he really enjoyed what he did the other night. Time will tell. I hope he gets those opportunities. I think he’d be good at it and I know he’d enjoy it.”