Urban Meyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Urban Meyer | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Title | Head coach | |
| College | Florida | |
| Sport | Football | |
| Conference | SEC | |
| Team record | 44–9 | |
| Born | July 10, 1964 | |
| Place of birth |  Ashtabula, OH |
|
| Annual salary | $3.25 million[1] | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 83-17 | |
| Bowls | 5–1 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Championships | ||
| 2 National Championships (2006, 2008) 2 SEC Championships (2006, 2008) 2 MWC Championships (2003, 2004) |
||
| Awards | ||
| The Home Depot Coach of the Year (2004) Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2004) |
||
| Playing career | ||
| 1983-1986 | Cincinnati | |
| Position | DB | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990-1995 1996-2000 2001-2002 2003-2004 2005-present |
Ohio State (TEs) Ohio State (WRs) Illinois State (OLBs) Illinois State (QBs/WRs) Colorado State (WRs) Notre Dame (WRs) Bowling Green Utah Florida |
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Urban Meyer (born July 10, 1964) is the head football coach of the University of Florida Gators, best known for coaching that team to two BCS National Championship Game victories in three years. He is also known for leading the University of Utah Utes to an undefeated season in 2004. Meyer started his head coaching career at Bowling Green State University, where he led the Falcons to 17 wins in two years.
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[edit] Coaching career
In 2004, Meyer was recognized as "Coach of the Year" by both sports writers (the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year) and television commentators (the Home Depot Coach of the Year Award). He has 20 years of college coaching experience, including eight as a head coach. His overall record as a head coach as of the 2009 season is 83-17 and he is 41-13 in conference play. His winning percentage (.830) ranks third nationally among active college coaches.[2]
Meyer has repeatedly expressed an interest in coaching at the University of Notre Dame once all of his children were headed to college.[3] However, according to a July 2009 report, Meyer insisted he would never leave Florida for Notre Dame.[4]
[edit] Early coaching career
Meyer's first collegiate coaching position was a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Ohio State (he had spent one year as a defensive backs coach at Saint Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio). He then spent the next 13 years as an assistant—two at Illinois State, six at Colorado State, and five at Notre Dame. In 2001, Meyer took his first head coaching job at Bowling Green; in his first season there, he engineered one of the greatest turnarounds in the NCAA that year,[5] earning Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honors in the process.
[edit] University of Utah
After two seasons at Bowling Green, he took the job at Utah in 2003. In his first year there, Meyer was named the Mountain West Conference's Coach of the Year with a 10–2 record, the best ever for a coach's first season at Utah. He also earned honors as The Sporting News National Coach of the Year, the first Utes coach to do so.[6] Meyer's success can be attributed to his unique offensive system, which is an offshoot of Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense, relying on short pass routes.[7] Meyer's base offense spreads three receivers and puts the quarterback in shotgun formation. Then, he introduces motion in the backfield and turns it into an option attack, adding elements of the traditional run-oriented option offense.[8]
In 2004, Meyer led the undefeated Utes to a Bowl Championship Series bid, something that had not been done by a mid-major program since the BCS' creation in 1998.[9] He remained at Utah long enough to coach the team to a Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh, capping off the Utes' first perfect season (12–0) since 1930.
[edit] University of Florida
In the wake of his accomplishments at Utah, both the University of Florida and the University of Notre Dame vied for his services. Meyer chose to become Florida's head coach for the 2005 season, signing a seven-year contract worth $14 million.[10] Meyer later signed a six-year contract extension with the Gators on June 7, 2007. The contract pays an average of $3.2-million per year, making him the fourth-highest paid coach in college football—behind only Nick Saban, Bob Stoops, and Charlie Weis.[11]
[edit] 2005
In 2005, his first season at Florida, Meyer's Gators team finished the season 9–3 (5–3 in the Southeastern Conference). The season included an undefeated record at home and a bowl victory against Iowa in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida. The Gators would have faced LSU in the SEC Championship Game,[12] but they lost to South Carolina and former Florida coach Steve Spurrier in the SEC regular season finale. Instead the Gators' rival, the Georgia Bulldogs, took the SEC Eastern Division title to the championship game, ultimately defeating LSU.
[edit] 2006 - National Championship Year
In his second season at Florida, Meyer coached the Gators to a 13–1 (8–1 in the SEC) record, with the one loss coming on the road at Auburn, and SEC wins at home against South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, and LSU; on the road at Tennessee and Vanderbilt, with another win over rival Georgia. After clinching the SEC East, the Gators won the SEC Championship Game on December 2 over Arkansas by a score of 38–28. Despite losing to Auburn earlier in the season, Florida was ranked 2nd in BCS standings, with Ohio State ranked 1st. The Gators beat Ohio State 41–14 in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game to win the national championship. It was the first BCS bowl berth for the Gators since the Orange Bowl that capped off the 2001 campaign, and Florida's first national championship appearance and victory since winning the 1997 Sugar Bowl.
Meyer has been known for winning big games. In addition to his 5–1 record in bowl games (as of 2008), at Florida, Meyer has an 11–1 record (through the end of 2008) against three of the Gators' biggest opponents—Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida State—and a 14–2 home record.
[edit] 2007
Meyer's Gators managed a 9–3 regular season record in 2007, including blowout wins over rivals Tennessee and FSU. Quarterback Tim Tebow also became Coach Meyer's first Heisman Trophy winner. The team led the conference in scoring,[13] but struggles on defense made it difficult for the Gators to reach a BCS bowl game.[14] The Gators lost the Capital One Bowl to Michigan 41-35 on January 1, 2008. Meyer served as a pre-game and halftime analyst for the 2008 BCS National Championship Game.
[edit] 2008 - National Championship Year
In 2008, Meyer led the Gators to a 13-1 regular season record and the BCS National Championship over Oklahoma, including wins over six ranked teams. Meyer's lone defeat came at the hands of Mississippi on September 27, 2008, a game in which Florida led in time of possession and passing yards, but turned the ball over three times. Eleven of the twelve Gator wins in the 2008 regular season were by 20 points or more. On December 6, 2008; Meyer led the Gators to a 31-20 victory over then ranked number one Alabama in the SEC title game. Leading in time of possession, rushing yards, and passing yards, the Gators would come from behind after a third quarter deficit to score two touchdowns and hold Alabama scoreless in the 4th quarter. The victory would vault Florida to number one in the AP Poll, number two in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, and number two in the BCS, setting up a showdown against Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game on January 8, 2009 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Gators won the National Championship 24-14.
[edit] The spread offense
Meyer is widely considered the one of the most accomplished practitioners of the spread offense. When Meyer got his first head coaching position at Bowling Green, he took trips to visit John L. Smith and Scott Linehan at Louisville, Randy Walker and Kevin Wilson at Northwestern, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, Joe Tiller and Jim Chaney at Purdue, and Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia, all of whom ran some version of the spread offense[15].
Urban Meyer's teams at Bowling Green, Utah and now Florida have all run the spread, chiefly utilizing a run-first variation with tweaks to fit the offensive personnel (for example, Meyer's first two years at Florida skewed toward a drop-back passing attack led by Chris Leak, while Alex Smith and Tim Tebow led an option run-based spread). Using this offense, he has won two BCS titles, became the first coach to lead a non-BCS conference team (Utah) to a BCS bowl, has coached a Heisman trophy winner (Tim Tebow), and has graduated a player who became a number one overall draft pick (Alex Smith).
While several other coaches run the spread offense (such as Joe Tiller at Purdue or Rich Rodriguez at Michigan) none have been as successfull as Urban Meyer in terms of national title's won.
[edit] Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green Falcons (Mid-American Conference) (2001–2002) | |||||||||
| 2001 | Bowling Green | 8–3 | 5–3 | 2 | — | — | |||
| 2002 | Bowling Green | 9–3 | 6–2 | 3 | — | — | |||
| Bowling Green: | 17–6 | 11–5 | |||||||
| Utah Utes (Mountain West Conference) (2003–2004) | |||||||||
| 2003 | Utah | 10–2 | 6–1 | 1 | W Liberty | 21 | 21 | ||
| 2004 | Utah | 12–0 | 7–0 | 1 | W Fiesta † | 5 | 4 | ||
| Utah: | 22–2 | 13–1 | |||||||
| Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference) (2005–present) | |||||||||
| 2005 | Florida | 9–3 | 5–3 | 2 - East | W Outback | 16 | 12 | ||
| 2006 | Florida | 13–1 | 8–1 | 1 - East | W BCS NCG † | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2007 | Florida | 9–4 | 5–3 | 3 - East | L Capital One | 16 | 13 | ||
| 2008 | Florida | 13–1 | 8–1 | 1 - East | W BCS NCG † | 1 | 1 | ||
| Florida: | 45–9 | 26–8 | |||||||
| Total: | 83–17 | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. °Rankings from final AP Poll of the season. |
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[edit] Awards
- 2001 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year
- 2003 The Sporting News National Coach of the Year
- 2003 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year
- 2004 The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award
- 2004 George Munger Award for the Collegiate Coach of the Year presented by the Maxwell Club
- 2004 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (presented by the Football Writers Association of America)
- 2004 Pro Football Weekly National Coach of the Year
- 2004 Woody Hayes Trophy Award (Presented by the Columbus Touchdown Club)
- 2004 Victor Award
- 2004 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year
[edit] Personal life
Meyer was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, and graduated from Ashtabula's Saint John High School. He went on to play defensive back at the University of Cincinnati before earning his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1986. During his undergraduate studies, Meyer also became a brother of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and met his wife at Sigma Chi's Derby Days philanthropy event.[16]
Meyer went on to earn his master's degree in sports administration at Ohio State University in 1988. Meyer was also selected in the 13th round, as a shortstop, by the Atlanta Braves in the 1982 major league baseball draft. Meyer spent two seasons playing minor league baseball in the Braves organization.[17]
Meyer married his wife, Shelley, in 1986. The Meyers have three children: Nicole, Gigi, and Nate. His eldest daughter Nicki is an incoming volleyball player for Georgia Tech.[18]
[edit] Philanthropy
On October 2008, coach Urban Meyer and head University of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan were named co-chairmen of an effort to raise $50 million to support the Florida Opportunity Scholars Program.[19][20]
This scholarship was designed for First-generation students that have unique needs and financial challenges. The Florida Opportunity Scholars Program was created by President Bernie Machen in 2006, and is intended to increase the opportunities for academically prepared first-generation students.[21][22]
In December of 2008 Urban Meyer and Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham were the first people to donate money to the Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin Family Scholarship, an endowed scholarship which will benefit the Utah football program.[23][24]
[edit] References
Specific references:
- ^ Fowler, Jeremy (May 30, 2009). "UF president: Urban Meyer should be highest-paid coach in SEC". Orlando Sentinel. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-sportsmeyer-machen-florida-contrac053009may30,0,7800090.story.
- ^ "Meyer, Stoops taking fast track to greatness". SI.com. 2009-01-08. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/wires/01/08/2060.ap.fbc.t25.bcs.championship.coaches.1074/. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ Fowler, Jeremy (2008-12-12). "Florida Gators Coach Urban Meyer continues to say Notre Dame is his dream job". Orlando Sentinel. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/gators/orl-sportsfbcurban12121208dec12,0,6803292.story.
- ^ Dooley, Pat (13 July 2009). "Urban Meyer: 'I'm not going to Notre Dame. Ever.'". Gainesville Sun. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090713/ARTICLES/907139947/1136/SPORTS?Title=Urban-Meyer-I-m-not-going-to-Notre-Dame-Ever-.
- ^ "Utah hires Urban Meyer as its new head coach". University of Utah News Center. 2002-12-12. http://www.unews.utah.edu/p/?r=031706-8. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ "Player Bio: Urban Meyer". UtahUtes.com. http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/meyer_urban00.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ Kelley King (2004-11-01). "Running mad in Urban Meyer's radical spread-option attack". SI Vault. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1108611/1/index.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ Chris Brown (2009-12-02). "Smart Football: The Florida Gator/Urban Meyer Offense". Smart Football. http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2008/12/florida-gatorurban-meyer-offense.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-17.
- ^ "Efficient Smith leads dominant win". 2005-01-01. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=250010221. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ "Florida, Notre Dame both talked to coach". ESPN.com. 2004-12-04. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1937879. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ "Donovan welcomed back with college basketball's highest salary". Palm Beach Post. 2007-06-07. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/sports/epaper/2007/06/07/0607ufsalaries.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=46. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
- ^ "South Carolina derails Gators' SEC East hopes". ESPN.com. 2005-11-12. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=253162579. Retrieved on 2009-01-12.
- ^ "2007 SEC Football Leaders". Southeastern Conference. http://www.secsports.com/new/sports/fbc/07stats/confldrs.htm. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
- ^ "Gators to alter style of play with loss of nine defensive starters". ESPN.com. 2007-08-07. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/news/story?id=2964388. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
- ^ "The Florida Gator/Urban Meyer Offense". Smart Football. 2008-12-02. http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2008/12/florida-gatorurban-meyer-offense.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-05.
- ^ http://florida.scout.com/2/583172.html
- ^ Player Bio: Urban Meyer :: Football
- ^ Daughter of Florida’s Meyer to play for Jackets, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Nov. 18, 2008
- ^ Meyer & Donovan to raise funding
- ^ Gainesville Sun article about the scholarship
- ^ About the Scholarship Program
- ^ UF Coaches lead the charge
- ^ "U. Athletics Establishes Joseph B. Wirthlin Scholarship". University of Utah. http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121808aaa.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
- ^ Lee Benson. "Elder Wirthlin's goodness now a legacy at U.". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705277921,00.html?pg=1. Retrieved on 2009-07-07.
General references:
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This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
- "BGSU Football History". 2006 Bowling Green Football Media Guide. Bowling Green State University Athletics. http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/bgu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/fb-06-mg-football-history.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- "Ute Record Book". 2006 Utah Football Media Guide. University of Utah Athletics. http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/utah/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/06-mediaguide-l.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- "Head Football Coach Urban Meyer". 2006 Gator Football Media Guide. University of Florida Athletics. http://www.gatorzone.com/football/media/2006/pdf/45-52.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- "2005-2006 Athletic Year in Review". 2006 Gator Football Media Guide. University of Florida Athletics. http://www.gatorzone.com/football/media/2006/pdf/197-200.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
