Just as the darkest hour for Gator football in more than five years was about to descend upon Gainesville Sunday, there was a breakthrough of sunlight: Urban Meyer has changed his mind about leaving the Florida program.
What that means exactly for Meyer’s future is not yet known, but Urban has told his team he will leave them under the interim guidance of loyal assistant and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Steve Addazio.
It was just Saturday at 6 p.m., Urban’s assistants had attempted to convince him to stay, promising that they would help lighten his load, but he said no. As early as late morning Sunday he told one parent that he was hopeful that Athletic Director Jeremy Foley would “hire a Florida guy,” but it was unclear who that might be.
A few hours later he met with his team and told them he had changed his mind. Two players said Meyer told him Addazio would coach the team next season, but as to how long, one aide to Meyer said: “That remains to be seen.”
Other coaches said they understood and appreciated the pressure Meyer was under and how it threatens a coach’s health. Texas coach Mack Brown said on ESPN that he had experienced health issues and was hopeful that he “good friend” Urban would take care of those matters first and foremost. He said the media pressure, the agent of the Internet and the growth of the game have all added to the intensity of the job and that really isn’t an “off-season” anymore.
Former Gator coach Steve Spurrier, who found a way to elude the off-season pressure by playing golf, says that all coaches get burned out and fatigued, causing them to make emotional decisions. “Then two days later you regret it,” said Spurrier, who felt some of the same pressures in his 12 years at Florida that Meyer did. Except that Urban has no hobbies, does not play golf and works almost year round at coaching, recruiting, etc.
In recent weeks, Urban had seemed a bit withdrawn. At his last brief interlude with the media on Monday, he looked a bit wan and barely interacted with the press over the course of about five minutes – in a hurry to get it over. As sort of an innocuous question, I asked Urban what plans he had for Christmas Day.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “Whatever Mrs. Meyer says we’re doing. And I’m sure it has something to do with spending time with my family. …”
And then he added: “Thanks for asking.”
One source said that ever since Urban had gone to the hospital with chest pains (later it was changed to “dehyrdation”) on Dec. 6 after the Alabama loss he had complained he wasn’t “feeling any better.” He had become increasingly worried about his health and was frightened about dying.
Just one week prior to that, Urban had stopped on the steps of the South end zone to visit with me briefly on a Monday prior to the press conference. I asked then how he was doing and he confided he was very tired but had not been sleeping well, suggesting that he was perhaps taking a mild sleep aid.
Given Urban’s history of stress – he passed out on the sidelines twice several years prior to his arrival in Gainesville – it didn’t seem abnormal that he would be overly tired. He had just come off a recruiting blitz. This had been a brutally difficult year with a constant dose of drama almost every week, one that took a heavier toll than usual on Meyer.
Little did we know how heavily they weighed.
Apparently he had been talking about quitting for several weeks now and confided in his closest friends on the staff before telling his team. One thing that worried him was letting down the team, his assistant coaches, his bosses and The Gator Nation. He reportedly first began making it known on Christmas Eve.
Then, the day after Christmas the bomb exploded.
Apparently this concern for his health has been going on for quite a while, however, and while it wasn’t as sudden a decision as it might have seemed. According to some of those close to him, Meyer has had chest pains for “three or four years” but they worsened lately. And when he came out of the hospital on Dec. 6 he never felt any better. He became frightened about that and it grew increasingly worrisome and had wrestled with the problem ever since.
Members of Urban’s family have long said that if Urban left the University of Florida that it would not be for another job, but rather over concerns for his health. They worried over the amount of emotion he invested in the job.
“Urban only knows one way to coach,” said a close friend. “All in. And if you can’t play or coach that way then you can’t play or coach for him.”
Dean Hood, who grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, with Urban and is now head coach at Eastern Kentucky, said in “Urban’s Way,” Meyer’s authorized biography: “When he loses he can’t eat and he can’t sleep and yet he throws his balls out there on a fake punt – and that’s what I love about the guy.”
Those decisions took their toll.
Apparently, though, after spending a day thinking about it, Urban felt he needed to stay connected to Florida and not give up the job he loved so much until he was certain about his health.
There is no timetable about how long before Urban Meyer might coach again.