The following is excerpted from the new, updated paperback of “Urban’s Way,” written by Buddy Martin, pages 385-386. Autographed copies are available at the Gator Country Store.
In Meyer’s office a few months later, as we talked about the upcoming season, I pointed out that November 28, 2009, was going to be a special day: Senior Day, possibly the last game Florida State’s Bobby Bowden would coach against Florida, Tim Tebow’s last game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and the final home game for a special group to Meyer as well, he pointed out. (He is always quick not to separate Tebow from the rest of the team.)
“There will be a whole bunch of those guys, too,” he said. “It will be the first time I’ve ever been with a program from start to finish. Every kid now who walks on that field, we recruited and brought here. We know his family inside and out. We’ve grown with them.”
There is no denying how he feels about Tebow, however, and it was in that interview that he revealed just how much. As we discussed Tim’s role as a leader, how he had mentored his successor, Johnny Brantley, Urban saw a future for Tebow after his NFL career is over: Coaching. At Florida maybe?
“I foresee that someday Tim Tebow is going to be a head football coach. Maybe at Florida,” he said. “I told him that.” What did Tebow say? “He didn’t dispel it. He doesn’t say no. I think he’s that talented. I think he commands that much respect. I think he understands the game very well. I think his work ethic is impeccable. I think his whole mission in life is to be on a grand stage and change people’s lives.
“Name a better opportunity than that— to sit in this office and be a head coach. At first I was joking around with him. And then I got serious and said, ‘You need to do this. Go play and have your stuff going on, but also go coach.’ He’d go up through the ranks fast.”
No doubt this would trigger the “Urban Meyer is leaving Florida for ____________” stories again, just as the remarks earlier in this book about Notre Dame once being his “dream job” did. Headline: Tim Tebow to succeed Meyer, who’s going to Notre Dame! You just knew it would.
For being honest with people, including Miami sports talk host Jim Mandich in 2008, Meyer has had that “dream job” tape replayed over and over, no matter how many times he says he doesn’t want the job. He wouldn’t care, except that it’s simply not true and he doesn’t want young recruits to believe that. No matter, one Florida East Coast columnist and a Birmingham, Alabama, talk show host/writer keep making up his mind for him. The Alabama guy fabricated a story that Meyer would be leaving for South Bend after the 2009 season.
Finally when he had enough, Meyer sent me a text in July saying, “I am NOT leaving Florida. My family and I are honored to have the best coaching job in America.” Translated by the guy in Birmingham: He’s lying. I know he’s lying because his lips are moving. Of course, the lips of the talk show host/writer were moving when he said that.
Sorry to disappoint those who said otherwise, but on August 3, 2009, Urban Meyer signed a new contract through 2013, making him the first $4 million coach in the SEC— which I guess means he won’t be going to South Bend despite those reports.