Urban Meyer to step down as Florida head coach (or not)

Breaking news on ESPN right now.

Citing health reasons, apparently. Only 45 years old.

 

Just saw this on another site. Probably going to be something very serious to make him go public now.

 

Now they're saying its a "heart valve muscle defect" and that Meyer will stay in Gainesville in a non-coaching role to be determined later.

 

Figures...I do hope it is nothing extremely serious for his sake more than the Gator Nation's. My thoughts go out to him and his family as well as thanks for some great years at Florida.

I only hope there won't be too many nasty comments about this- I know people will say Tebow's departure will be another factor behind Urban's decision, but that's just plain silly.

 

DP; see below

 

Hmm..this is interesting. Although I don't like Florida, I wish him a speedy recovery.

 

I'm still looking for the pieces of my jaw that shattered when it hit the floor when I saw the breaking news on si.com. I had to double check my computer's calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st. Glad he's smart enough to put his health ahead of football.

 

Obviously this isn't set in stone since the press conference hasn't happened yet, but this is somewhat interesting. I honestly hope he does what's right for him and doesn't cave in to the pressure of the higher-ups and the alumni:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-t25-florida-meyer&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

Yeah, now they're talking about making it a leave of absence instead of him actually resigning/retiring.

This isn't directed just at Meyer, but I've gotten a bit tired of the whole "Oh, I'm retiring" "Oh wait, I'm not" "Yes, I'm retiring" "No, I'm coming back again" spiel (yes, Brett Favre, I'm looking at you) and I hope this doesn't go down that well-traveled road.

 

Meyer returning prevents recruits from potentially bailing, but won't his leave of absence affect recruiting as a whole?

 

Who knows.

And apparently its just going to be a leave of absence for the offseason, and Meyer will be coaching again come the 2010 season.

 

I read someone comparing this to Coach K's leave of absence from Duke in the 90's. Not in terms of the individuals, as K's problem was able to be cured, and it seems like Meyer's will degenerate as he coaches, but in terms of how it effects the program. Remember, Duke had a REALLY down year followed by a very mediocre year, followed by some growing seasons that weren't up to Duke standards. I don't doubt for a second that Jumbo Fisher, Randy Shannon, and Lane Kiffin aren't using this to a serious recruiting advantage already.

 

Jimbo*

And while I get your comparison, I think its also worth noting that, as it looks right now, Meyer won't actually miss any games, but just the off season.

 

But that is a big deal, for the reasons DI outlined. Selfishly, as a U sympathizer, I'd love it if they could make South Florida the State of Miami again, and Meyer's absence can't help recruiting.

 

Its significant, yes, but not NEARLY as significant as him taking an entire year off, let alone stepping down completely. His assistants can still tell recruits that he'll be back in just a few months, and while that won't be as effective as Meyer doing things himself, its not as big as it could have been.

 

I heard that Coach Meyer does have a cyst on his brain that can cause him headaches during stressful times but it's supposedly nothing serious. What I fear is that he has high blood pressure because he could take a LOA lasting five years and not get it under control to the point where he can run around yelling like all coaches do.

 

lots of people have super stressful jobs. most of them don't pay $4 mil. a year. i have a hard time feeling bad for this guy.