The last time Urban Meyer coached a football team in Florida, it was an unmitigated disaster.
The time before that, however, worked out pretty well. In six seasons as the head coach of the Florida Gators, Meyer went 65-15 and won two SEC championships and two national titles. Not everything during his time there was golden, but there’s no denying that it was one of the program’s best eras.
Following his disastrous stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the three-time national champion now spends his weekends working for Fox Sports as a college football analyst on Big Noon Kickoff. Of course, whenever there’s a high-profile college football opening, he remains at the top of the list for potential suitors even though he’s made it pretty clear his coaching days are behind him.
With Bill Napier’s days as Florida’s head coach numbered, Meyer’s name is once again on the wind as a potential replacement.
ESPN’s Matt Barrie recently floated the possibility that Florida could bring him back as emeritus head coach for the remainder of the 2024 college football season to help stabilize the program while they look for their next long-term hire.
“Let me throw something completely asinine at you… because you’re right if and when you get rid of Napier because you realized it probably wasn’t the best hire, why don’t you call your old buddy Urban Meyer, who’s doing TV, and say, ‘Hey, for this season, we need you to come in and act as an emeritus head coach to stabilize the program, get us through the season, lead the team. Nothing’s expected after the final game of the year against Florida State, and thank you for your service,’ a la, Bob Stoops, what he had to do at Oklahoma when Lincoln Riley bailed,” said Barrie on his show.
However, Meyer has once again made it clear that he has no interest in returning to the sidelines.
“That ship has sailed,” Meyer said on The Triple Option. “I want that program to do well, so bad. I know so many people there and we gave a big part of our life to that program. But that ship has sailed.”
That won’t stop people from floating the possibilities, just as they did for Texas, Notre Dame, and other schools before this one. But with nothing left to prove in college football, it’s hard to imagine the 60-year-old coming out of retirement.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.