Urban Meyer will take Ohio State further than Jim Tressel |
Meyer, the former Florida coach and native Buckeye, was officially hired Monday by Ohio State, a program with a glittering past that has suffered through a difficult year of NCAA violations.
"If not for the coaching position at Ohio State, I would not have coached this year," he said.
Meyer resigned as Gators coach after last season, citing health concerns and a desire to spend more time with his family.
"A year ago in my mind I was convinced I was done coaching," he said.
He added that he is feeling great.
"I've been checked out and I'm ready to go," he said. "I've been to a place and I don't want to go back."
Michigan snapped it's 7 game losing streak on Saturday with a close win over monumental rival Ohio State. The Wolverines, ranked 17th, have been struggling to meet their lofty expectations this season. However, a win over Ohio State erased all of that. Things are seemingly looking up in Ann Arbor.
Ohio State answered back with guns blazing making an unsurprising, yet program changing hire in Urban Meyer. The ex-Florida coach and two-time national champion brings integrity, ingenuity and intellect to a program which was fading fast. The allegations that led to the eventual firing of Jim Tressel were sure to bury the Buckeyes in the preverbial BCS dirt. Ohio State took only one year to find a replacement, and Meyer may just be a better coach. Remember when Florida embarrassed the heavily favored Buckeyes in the 2006 National Championship Game? Yeah, Meyer was Florida's head coach. It may take a season or two for Meyer's philosophy to set in, along with the addition of his recruits, but Meyer should instantly revamp the Columbus, Ohio faithful, who saw The Big Game, on Saturday, be handed to their hated rival for the first time since 2004.
Michigan on the other hand is still a sputtering locomotive. They're an entity within the rankings, but far from a threat to the top ten. Every time Michigan achieves "favorite" status, they come up empty handed. They've been struggling to call Denard Robinson their true starting QB when the guy couldn't find consistency in the dictionary. Losses to rival Michigan State and Iowa this year both came as reminders for America not jump on the Wolverine bandwagon, ever. But, now Michigan, finds itself on a nice three game winning streak with wins over #16 Nebraska, Illinois and, of course, the Buckeyes. Once again though, Ohio State has choked the air in Ann Arbor with the Urban Meyer hiring. I'll tell you what, rookie head coach Brady Hoke's job is certainly safe. But he's going to have some serious work to do if he wants to hold any sort of edge over the new regime in Columbus.
Let's be serious, ever since Lloyd Carr departed in 2007 and maybe even before that, the Wolverines had taken a back seat on the Big Ten bus; as you can guess Ohio State was driving it. The ghosts of Charles Woodson, Desmond Howard and Jim Harbaugh aren't going to return. Michigan hasn't had a consistent superstar, with the exception of possibly Mike Hart, since Braylon Edwards in 2004. It's simply the Wolverine football program is not built with the same sound structure as the Buckeye program is.
And with the hiring of Urban Meyer the Buckeyes just solidified that structure quite a bit more.
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