Urban Meyer's freak out not his best move

Urban Meyer didn’t scream his age or declare his manhood like Mike Gundy, but the Florida coach certainly made waves when he confronted an Orlando Sentinel reporter earlier this week.

Jeremy Fowler quoted Gators’ wide receiver Deonte Thompson in his blog as saying “You never know with Tim. You can think he’s running but he’ll come up and pass it to you. You just have to be ready at all times. With (New quarterback John) Brantley, everything’s with rhythm, time. You know what I mean, a real quarterback.”

Meyer didn’t take too kindly to the story, and during the post-practice confrontation, told Fowler “If (Thompson) was my son, we’d be going at it right now.”

Obviously Thompson has been embarrassed by the remarks, saying he did not mean to take anything away from Tebow.

It’s no secret how close Meyer and Tebow’s relationship became by the end of Tebow’s career, so it’s no surprise that a quote involving the former Heisman winner has Meyer fired up.

Throughout his career, I have been a huge fan of Meyer, dating back to his days as the Bowling Green head coach in 2001.

I even gave him a pass when his retirement-turned-leave of absence-turned-glorified vacation unfolded this winter.

But this time, Meyer may have overstepped his boundaries.

I applaud Meyer for protecting his player, who was obviously disturbed by the situation.

However, Fowler did nothing wrong by using Thompson’s direct quote in perfect context.

Fowler’s blog was supposed to be about Thompson hopefully breaking out after a couple of disappointing seasons in Gainesville.

Where Meyer should have directed his frustration is obviously with the player, and giving the kid a tutorial on word choice.

After Meyer nearly retired due to health concerns stemming from dangerous levels of stress, he doesn’t seem to be pulling any punches already.

This really brings about the question of just how much Urban truly cares about his health.

Whether he admits it or not, getting so frustrated and visibly violent in a situation as petty as this one doesn’t exactly say, “I’m handling my stress issues really well.”

What began as a simple misuse of words by a underachieving junior wide receiver has blown out of proportion, and will turn the eyes of critics far and wide directly to Meyer.

On the Docket - Sugar Bowl: Florida (12-1) vs. Cincinnati (12-0)

Synopsis:

We all saw the tears of Gators’ quarterback Tim Tebow as the final seconds ticked off the clock in the loss to Alabama, and we either cried with him, or laughed in his face. Love him or hate him, the career of one of the most decorated players in the history of college football will come to an end in this game. The Bearcats could very well be without its head coach by the time of the game, as Brian Kelly has been closely tied to the opening at Notre Dame. If so, it could make life difficult on the Bearcats, who would love to pull off the upset and spoil the final chapter on Tebow’s time as a Gator.

Player to watch: Tony Pike could have been a serious Heisman contender had a broken arm not sidelined him for a month mid-season. His tall frame and strong arm means lots of touchdowns, which is exactly what he delivers each time he hits the field. This will be a great chance for Pike to showcase his skills against a defense littered with future professionals.

Who has the edge?

Florida is obviously the Goliath in this matchup, even after the Crimson Tide rendered them mortal in the conference championship game. Tebow is a true warrior, and will not allow the final game of his college career to be a disappointment.

Prediction:

Florida 35, Cincinnati 28

Affection, sincerity mark Meyer's legacy in shocking announcement

It’s quite an accomplishment to shock the world once; it’s another to do it twice.

Urban Meyer shocked the college football world Saturday night, announcing that, at age 45, he was resigning as head coach at the University of Florida, citing undisclosed health conditions.

Following what must have been the most chaotic night of his life, he experienced a change of heart midway through the Gators’ practice Sunday morning. Within 24 hours of deciding to leave Florida forever, he accepted an offer from Athletic Director Jeremy Foley to take a leave of absence instead.

After seeing the way his players reacted to his announcement to leave, which consisted of an emotional team meeting and inspired practice session, Meyer realized his attachment to the program was worth more than a flat-out resignation.

When asked what factored in to his new decision, he responded with a simple answer: “My players,” Meyer said.

What Meyer displayed in his press conference Sunday afternoon was a new outlook on the important aspects of his life.

“Many coaches can sometimes put their priorities in the wrong order, and Urban is not doing that,” Foley said.

Meyer showed the deepest affection for what he called his ‘two families’ – the one with which he shares blood, and his players at Florida.

Many coaches tend to use their players as pawns, treating them as objects to gain glory for the program, the team, and the coach himself.

Tim Tebow, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback of the Gators, whose tight-knit relationship is well publicized, proved that was not the case with his coach by sharing a story from Sunday’s practice.

“During practice, I ran up to coach Meyer after a play, and he just looked at me, and told me that he loved me,” Tebow said.

Bingo. Meyer’s words, both to his players in practice and to reporters at the press conference, were as sincere as possible. Too often do coaches and athletes seemingly manufacture statements that seem to be the right thing to say.

Meyer was honest and expressive, but he was still able to have discretion when necessary, keeping the details of his health issues private.

To all the cynics and pundits out there who take amusement to poking fun at Tebow’s passion for the game, and more specifically his coach, get a clue. The entire purpose of coaching any sport is to develop players as people first, then as athletes.

Meyer has clearly accomplished that, and Tebow’s commitment to his coach is simply a representation of the rest of the team.

“After coach Meyer told us the news (that he was resigning) last night, many players cried,” Tebow said.

That’s impressive. There are plenty of coaches across the country that jump from jobs every few years, using success at one place to land a more lucrative deal somewhere else.

Most of those coaches, if placed in Meyer’s situation, would stay resigned from the program, and simply look for new work elsewhere if the health problems were resolved.

But not the Gators’ coach.

“I want to coach at one place: the University of Florida. It would be a travesty…to throw other colors on my shirt,” Meyers said, “I have too much love for this university, for these players, and what we’ve built.”

It was obviously difficult enough for Meyer to walk away from football, albeit for about 12 hours. It was apparent that leaving Florida was something he couldn’t do.

After taking time off to attend to more important matters, returning to football won’t be too far in his future.

“I have a gut feeling I’ll be back next year,” Meyer said.

To be honest, if he’s not back - headset in tow, scowl fixated upon his face – for the Gators’ season-opening game next season, that is simply all right.

If one offseason is not enough time for Meyer to adequately attend to the top of his priority list, he’s earned enough respect from the administration and fan base at Florida to be allowed the time he needs.

That said, it sounds like Meyer is a man determined to be back on the sidelines as soon as the time is right.

When talking about his family’s reaction to the emotional whirlwind this news has created, Meyer’s message was clear.

“We’re an extremely close family… that’s the most important aspect of my life. To put them in jeopardy, I won’t do that,” Meyer said.

Immediately following that statement, he sent a wink towards his wife, Shelley, and their three children, sitting just off-stage. The press conference lasted almost 37 minutes. That wink lasted about one one-hundredth of a second. He could have spared everyone the time with just the wink, because the message it sent was clear.

Urban Meyer is going to be all right.

Breaking Point: the resignation of Urban Meyer

Stress can eat away at the soul. With talent comes success, with success comes prominence, with prominence comes pressure, and with pressure comes stress.

To say Urban Meyer was stressed would do his legacy so little justice it is almost disgraceful.

The man was a victim of the sports media revolution, and his body was ill equipped to handle it.

A series of health problems has led Meyer to resign as head football coach at the University of Florida after five seasons.

After nine seasons as a head coach and 15 more as an assistant, Meyer had reached the pinnacle of his profession faster than maybe anyone before him.

Two seasons was all it took Meyer to completely revamp a football program. In his second year at Utah, the Utes finished the regular season 11-0 and earned the first BCS bowl bid from a non-qualifying conference since the system began. In his second season at Florida, the Gators obliterated the favored Ohio State Buckeyes in the national championship game, putting Meyer at the head of the class in terms of this generation’s coaching greats.

Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated reported that Meyer has an arachnoid cyst on his brain that while not life-threatening, could become more dangerous if subjected to high levels of stress.

Heck, next to politicians, try and find a profession with a higher demand for success than a football coach in the SEC. College football coaches deal with so many outside factions ready to criticize their every move.

How about a little role play for a few moments. You are now the face of a program that, over the course of the last century, has built a reputation for being one of the most successful in the business.

You have over 75,000 living alumni of the school for which your program represents, and they are not afraid to remind you.

You have every media outlet in the country - bloggers, writers, reporters - on both the national and local level following you everywhere, stopping at nothing to tell the country what you had for breakfast if they can acquire such knowledge.

Your competition includes some of the other most elite programs in your field. You are also fighting non-stop on a daily basis to lure potential prospects to your program rather than theirs; if they choose your rivals over you…well, go ahead and pack your things and make room for your replacement.

Meyer deals with the scrutiny associated with each and every one of those tasks, and then some. And Doc told him he has to avoid stress.

Recent developments in the story report that in addition to complications with the cyst, he has developed a chest condition that caused him to be hospitalized just hours after his Gators were knocked from their perch as the nation’s top-ranked team, losing the SEC championship game to Alabama. That condition appears to be more serious than the public was originally led on to know, and it has caused Meyer to leave the program he has come to love.

Meyer was a legend in the making: the “Next Bear Bryant” as many television experts seemed to think. He won 95 games in his nine seasons at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida; an average of 10.5 wins per season.

Even the Bear didn’t win like Meyer did. In 38 years as a head coach, Bryant won 323 games, or an average of 8.5 wins per season.

To make the comparison is some pretty simple math.

The question now becomes: is this the end of the road for Meyer, or is he simply pulling off the highway for more gas? The speculation concerning his future will reach Brett Favre-like levels of frequency in the media, but it’s a topic well worth debating. Tiger Woods and his publicists can start sending Meyer thank-you cards immediately.

In this generation, the only comparable scenario to this development is when Barry Sanders stunned everyone by retiring at age 30, way before his time should have come.

Still, Sanders had no health concerns to speak of and no family trouble to keep him sidelined, he simply wanted to walk away.

When a player, coach, or icon in general relieves himself of duty at an age far too young to be commonly acceptable, it sends shockwaves through the landscape of his or her domain.

A month after Bryant retired from the game of football, he passed away. It seemed almost fitting that as his career on the sidelines came to an end, his life nearly simultaneously went along with it. He had simply run his tank too low, and there was nothing left for him to live for.

Maybe we can all take a page out of Meyer’s book; “re-prioritize,” as he put it in a prepared statement Saturday evening. This is an example of a guy who understands what’s important, and understands the situation at hand.

Maybe, just maybe, that tank of his will be full in a few years. If it is, he’ll have only himself to thank for not running out of gas entirely.