In many ways, Urban Meyer’s career and life came full circle when he accepted the job to coach Ohio State. As many know, Meyer’s roots began in the Buckeye state.
Urban grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio and attended St. John High School. From there he played defensive back at the University of Cincinnati. Not many know that Meyer was also an excellent baseball player, garnering the attention of the Atlanta Braves, who drafted him in 1982. Urban spent two years playing A ball before finishing his psychology degree at Cincinnati in 1986.
During this time, he also received his first coaching experience.
In 1985, Urban spent a season coaching defensive backs at Saint Xavier High School, a Cincinnati powerhouse led by Steve Rasso. It was there he began to network with Ohio State’s staff. This led to his first college job at Ohio State where he was a graduate assistant under Earle Bruce. It was also during this time Urban went to graduate school at Ohio State where he earned a master’s degree in sports administration.
After two seasons at Ohio State, Meyer left to accept an assistant coach position at Illinois State. For the next 13 years Urban was an assistant at Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame. In 2001, he accepted his first head coaching position at Bowling Green.
The transition from assistant to head coach was a quick adjustment for Urban. In 2001, he led Bowling Green to the best turnaround in the NCAA, leading them to an 8-3 record and earning him MAC coach of the year honors. It was a huge deal as it was the first time since 1994 that Bowling Green had a winning season. In two seasons at the helm, Meyer won 17 games. His performance raised his coaching profile considerably.
Meyer went on to have a stellar coaching career at Utah then Florida. He won two national championships at Florida before retiring for family and health reasons. Then in November, the call came he had been waiting for his whole life, the opportunity to coach the Buckeyes.
Many were unsure if he would take the position. Meyer had health issues in the past and many question whether this would play a pivotal role in his decision to coach the Buckeyes.
On November 28, Meyer made his decision.
When Urban stepped up to the podium after accepting the head coaching job his passion, his love for the Buckeye state came through in one quote.
“If not for the coaching position at Ohio State, I would not have coached this year.”
With that decision, Urban returns home. He brings with him many fond memories of Ohio and a fierce determination to turn around Ohio State’s program. If he is able to replicate his past success, he’ll be do so in his own backyard and bring pride to his home state.
Photo by Getty Images/Jamie Sabau
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