Three weeks after insisting he was “100-percent” certain he would return as head coach of the Florida football team, Urban Meyer is stepping down after six seasons in Gainesville.
Citing a desire to devote more time to his family, most of which was in attendance at a Wednesday night press conference to officially announce his resignation, Meyer told a large media contingent that his final game with the team will come in the Gators’ New Year’s Day matchup with Penn State in the Outback Bowl.
“At the end of the day, I think your’e going to be judged on how you are as a husband and a father,” said Meyer. “I’ve not seen my two girls play high school sports. They’re both very talented, Division-I volleyball players, and I missed those four years. … I was blessed in a family that never missed anything, and I cant get that time back.”
According to Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, Meyer first broached the subject of a possible resignation over the weekend, while Foley was out of town, and by Tuesday had made up his mind. He held a team meeting a 2 p.m. on Wednesday to inform the team, and later that evening attended a press conference along with Foley and school president Bernie Machen — both of whom spoke glowingly of the program’s success under Meyer’s direction.
“I saw the efforts, I saw the dedication, I watched it with admiration because he came here with a goal and he reached it,” said Foley, who hired Meyer from Utah almost six years ago to the day. “For me personally, it’s an OK day, because I know Urban’s OK. I know he’s at peace with his decision.
“Good things come to an end sometimes.”
Indeed, Meyer will leave Florida as the most successful coach in school history and the nation’s winningest active coach, a man who helped transform the program into a national powerhouse that could accurately be described as the nation’s top program of the past decade.
In six seasons with the Gators, Meyer led the team to two national titles, a pair of SEC crowns (three SEC East titles), six bowl games and compiled a 64-15 overall record. He boasts a career record of 103-23 record, and has been named national coach of the year on three different occasions. The team’s 2006 national championship was the first since 1996, meanwhile, and the program followed that up with another title in 2008, led by quarterback Tim Tebow and a number of future NFL draftees.
At the same time, Meyer’s decision comes on the heels of the team’s worse season in years, as the Gators finished the regular season 7-5 and lost five of their final eight games. Many of the team’s assistant coaches — most notably, offensive coordinator and close Meyer friend Steve Addazio — came under fire as the offense suffered a significant drop-off and the defense lacked the production that had become normal at Florida.
The team finished ranked just 10th in the Southeastern Conference in total offense and fourth in scoring defense, while the team’s coaching staff was also forced to deal with a number of off-the-field issues, including player arrests and a freshman class that struggled to adapt to the realities of college football.
And while Meyer admitted that leaving on a low-note stings a bit, he felt stepping down now would be in the best interest of both he and the program.
“I just think that Florida deserves the best, and I’m not sure we gave them our best this year,” he said. “There’s never perfect timing. That was tough. I met with (the team) at 2 o’clock. For the most part, they were very gracious. We just want to do this thing right.”
For Meyer, this represents the second retirement in the past 12 months.
Last December, the coach announced that he would be resigning as the team’s coach after being hospitalized by a then-undetermined health problem. He decided a day later, however, that he would instead take a leave of absence and give some of his workload to assistants. He returned for spring practice and has insisted since that his health is no longer an issue.
This time around, he said Wednesday, there’s no chance of a change of heart.
“Last time, like I said, was a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “… This year was just completely different. I’m doing what I think is best for the University of Florida, our players, and then obviously myself and my family.”
Meyer had five years remaining on a contract that would have paid him $20 million, and according to USA Today, he is currently the second-highest-paid college coach in America, behind Alabama’s Nick Saban.
During 10-minute-long press conference Wednesday, he praised the work of his assistant coaches, many of whom have gone on to head coaching jobs, and insisted that he’d help in both the selection of a new coach and in helping keep the team’s 2011 recruiting class — currently ranked one of the top five nationally — in tact.
He also said that despite his departure, he feels the program’s best days are ahead of it.
“It’s Florida,” Meyer said. “We’ll be back strong — in my opinon, stronger than ever. … It’s going to be a great young team. This is not like a bare knuckles situation we’re in.”
— Gator Country reporter Dugan Arnett can be reached at dugan@gatorcountry.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/duganarnett.