Craig Carton thinks Urban Meyer’s meeting with Pennsylvania senator is about Penn State job

Craig Carton knows exactly why Urban Meyer was having breakfast with a Pennsylvania senator recently.

Meyer, the former Ohio State and Florida coach who hasn’t worked in college football since 2018, just happened to be meeting with Senator Dave McCormick right after the Nittany Lions fired James Franklin and kicked off one of the biggest coaching searches in college football.

According to Carton, that’s not a coincidence.

“Unless he’s handicapping Bucknell’s game this week, my gut is he’s talking to Penn State,” Carton said of Meyer being spotted on Capitol Hill. “Which would make complete sense and be totally on brand for Urban Meyer to immediately insert himself into the most attractive college football opening in the land. Like, that is the job to get. So, I would not be surprised if Urban dusts off the old resume and convinces Penn State, ‘I’m the answer.'”

Penn State fired Franklin after three straight losses dropped the Nittany Lions to 3-3, including back-to-back defeats as more than 20-point favorites against winless UCLA and Northwestern. Franklin went 104-45 in 11-plus seasons at Penn State, made the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, and got within one score of playing for a national championship last season.

Penn State is paying Franklin a $49 million buyout — the second-largest in college football history behind Jimbo Fisher’s $76 million exit from Texas A&M. Athletic director Pat Kraft isn’t spending that kind of money unless he knows he’s getting someone better. Meyer himself said as much on The Triple Option podcast earlier this month.

“When you fire a coach that his record was 104-45, was in the Rose Bowl, the Peach Bowl, and was a score away from playing for a National Championship, and 16 days ago could possibly be the No. 1 team in the country — I don’t think you make that move, with a $75 million expense coming, unless you know who you’re going to hire,” Meyer said.

So if Kraft already knows who he’s hiring, and Meyer suddenly shows up in the nation’s capital with a Pennsylvania state senator, Carton’s theory doesn’t require much of a leap.

“Because Penn State needs to make a deal with the devil if they want to win a National Championship,” Carton continued. “You can already recruit there. He comes with National Championships. He’s done it at multiple schools now. Urban Meyer goes to Penn State, the Penn State cult members go crazy.”

Meyer won three national championships across two programs. He went 187-32 overall in 17 seasons as a head coach. He’s one of the greatest college football coaches who ever lived. He’s also 61 years old, hasn’t coached since 2018, and his last attempt at returning to the sidelines was a spectacular disaster in Jacksonville that lasted 13 games and included multiple scandals.

None of that would stop Penn State from writing the check, according to Carton.

“Nobody goes to Central Pennsylvania because they want to, right?” Carton said. “I’ve answered the question, because he wants people to think he’s in the running for the Penn State job. I think he’d be on a very short list. If he’s like, ‘I’ll give you five years. I can’t promise you six, but I’ll give you five. And I want $15 million bucks a year to do it.’ Penn State will say, ‘Thank you, sir. You got it.'”

Meyer’s track record suggests he’d win big at Penn State. His track record also suggests there’s a reason he’s been out of coaching for seven years. Whether Kraft is willing to make that trade — and whether Meyer actually wants the job or just wants people thinking he does — remains to be seen.