EDITOR’S NOTE: Were it not for the bonds of friendship and loyalty, Florida football could be light years behind where it is today. Because of a deep commitment to a coach by a group of his staff members, Urban Meyer’s program appears stronger than ever with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and a staff fortified by coaching replacements. Without the efforts of people like Steve Addazio, Chuck Heater and Mickey Marotti, plus the support staff and school administration, this would not have been possible. This two-part series takes you inside the program for the story of this loyalty and how The Turnaround came about.
Two old friends stood on Florida Field, just like they had done so many times before, talking football. Only this time, the stakes were much higher.
Chaos was poking its head around the corner. Six days before the Sugar Bowl, fewer than 24 hours prior to this chat, Urban Meyer had stunned his staff, his players and The Gator Nation by resigning as Florida football coach in the prime of his career and life.
Almost nobody had an inkling that Urban was struggling with a decision about his future and his health. One of those few who had a notion, when told by Meyer that he was conflicted about his decision, had said to Urban: “Do what’s best for you and your family, Urban.”
And a few days later the most successful coach in the history of Florida suddenly resigned.
Some of Meyer’s closest friends and colleagues were caught in the crossfire of his decision. For a day and a night it had been “pure hell” for the players, their coaches, families and the coach’s family as well.
“Oh my God, that was like you just lost your best friend,” recalled Mickey Marotti, the Gators’ strength and conditioning coach. “Because you felt helpless, like you couldn’t help him. He just made a decision and the state of mind he was in we felt we couldn’t help him. We all felt helpless and you don’t know what the future holds because it’s out of your hands.”
The rumblings of a tsunami could be heard in the distance as the waves were lapping over the stern. This was about to test the term “Steady in the Boat,” the favorite phrase of several staff members who would often invoke those words when trouble was brewing.
* * *
Ordinarily this could be cause for major concern, if not panic. Now, a day after the shocking announcements, the solid underpinning of veteran staff members and their calm, clear thinking was about to pay huge dividends.
Although there was fear and trembling in the streets of Gator Nation, as soon as Meyer reversed his field the next day damage control was put into play and a plan of action was developed. From the top down – school president Dr. Bernie Machen to Athletics Director Jeremy Foley to head football coach Urban Meyer and his staff – a plan was developed to quietly resolve the issues. There was no palace revolt and no power-grabbing. In two weeks the plan would prove out to have been brilliant. Especially when compared to the events or recent days and what has been happening in Knoxville, Tenn., and Los Angeles.
* * *
Two old friends reminisced about what milestones they and other staff members had achieved along with the players over the last five years. From their vantage point on the 35-yard line, with footballs whizzing by their heads, Urban Meyer and good friend Mickey Marotti took one last good look at the trappings of their success up there on the facade of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium’s south end zone: Two national championships, two SEC titles and a Heisman Trophy winner, not to mention the winningest class in the history of the SEC, a 22-game winning streak and the possibility of back-to-back 13-win seasons.
Marotti could see a little glint in the eye of his boss and friend, whereas just the day before he had seriously grieved for him. Could this be a cause for hope?
* * *
They had never seen him like this before. After the timing of the Carlos Dunlap suspension, the loss to Alabama, the trip to the hospital with chest pains and a numb left arm leading up to the week off for Christmas, they were unaware that Urban Meyer had been contemplating a major change in his life. They had no clue what he was about to tell them just after Christmas. But on the first day back after the holiday, Marotti, Steve Addazio and even Tim Tebow noticed something different about Urban at practice.
“Coach Mick, something – something – is wrong,” Tebow said. “Coach must really feel bad. Something’s up, something’s up. You’ve got to talk to him!’
Marotti thought it was maybe just the hangover of the loss to the Crimson Tide and the bad timing of the Dunlap incident leading up to it, because he noticed Urban had his back turned to the team most of the time and seemed somewhat disconnected.
“All that just put a downer on the game,” Marotti said. “You could see coach kind of go into the tank. If you didn’t really know him you couldn’t tell, but I could tell something was wrong. He wasn’t the same. Usually he sort of stands at the gate as the kids arrive at practice. Kind of acknowledges every kid and jacks around with them. He was kind of away, walking around, and had his back to us.”
Meyer and Marotti were almost always the first two on the practice field, exchanging thoughts and going over plans. When it was time for calisthenics to begin, there was a ritual: “All right, Mick,” Urban would say, and that signaled the beginning. Only on this day it was different.
“This time he just looked at me and pointed like, ‘Go ahead,’’’ Marotti recalled. “And I knew something was up. Steve (Addazio) and I both knew something was up, but we didn’t know what it was. He was real quiet. Then he called us in after practice and that’s when he told us he was stepping down.”
At first, they tried to talk him out of it. Charlie Strong and Chuck Heater in particular were outspoken in their recommendation that Meyer take some time off and rethink it. The idea of Meyer taking a leave of absence never seemed like an option to him at that point. “I’m not sure he really understood it,” said one staffer.
Marotti was in disbelief. He hung his head and began shaking it, saying, “Oh my God! Oh my God!”
Later, he explained it to Urban: “Like a lot of the other coaches I felt, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God’ for a couple of reasons. ‘Oh my God’ because things were not that bad. And ‘Oh my God’ for your family and your livelihood and your career and everything. And our reaction was, ‘Take some time – you need some time.’ That was Charlie (Strong) and Chuck (Heater). They were adamant about that. Steve (Addazio). Coach Mac (Dan McCarney). Everybody was saying it. That’s kind of how it ended. And then he told the team.”
Players began coming up to the coaches, tears in their eyes, wanting to know why their coach had resigned, trying to understand what could have sapped the passion out of this hard-driving, relentless father-figure whom they had come to love and admire. This was not your ordinary coach resignation or firing. Urban Meyer was not leaving to take a job. He was leaving the team on his own and they were having a problem understanding it without the full disclosure of their coach’s health issues. Besides, this was more like the breaking up of an entire family.
“Tears. A lot of tears,” Marotti continued. “And shock. Usually when somebody’s leaving, it’s to take a better job. I don’t know what’s a better job than Florida. Especially when you bring your family and everything we talk about in the program.”
Mickey texted his wife Susie, who has a close relationship with Urban as well, and she was equally as stunned. It was such a dark time that when Mickey arrived home they almost started to laugh about it because it was so absurd.
“My wife and I have been through stuff like this, but not as successful as this program has been,” he said. “You could never think it would happen like that, especially when you’re just five years into it. So we just started laughing. And our kids were asking, ‘Do we gotta move?’ and all that.
“We just relaxed and said, ‘Steady in the boat.’”
As shocked and as disappointed as he was, Marotti also held a great deal of respect for what Urban did.
“For him to say what he did when he told the staff — I just couldn’t do it. He was really down.”
As was the Gator Nation. But nobody could have foreseen what would happen the next morning before daybreak at a workout in the weight room and the last practice before catching a flight for New Orleans. There was a workout scheduled in three shifts beginning at 5:45. But after the bad news of the day before , Marotti dreaded the thought of having to chase players because “nobody’s going to show up – it’s going to be like pulling teeth.”
Much to his surprise that wasn’t the case. And right there was the first clue that this 2009 team had learned all the lessons about work ethic, commitment and finishing the job. The leadership among these players came shining through and inspired the coaches.
“To my surprise and really everybody’s surprise, everybody came in.” Marotti recalled. “They did their stuff. Worked. And then we had the older kids in the last group and they were like, ‘Man, I can’t believe it.’ And my reaction back to them was ‘Steady in the boat.’ I’ve been through this stuff (before). It’s going to all work out. ‘Steady in the boat.’ That was kind of our message that morning.”
A few hours later, two old friends walked on the field to talk football. As they reflected on his resignation, Urban kept reassuring Mickey “It’s going be okay,” as if he was trying to convince himself he had done the right thing. Though Marotti was, indeed, steady in the boat, he couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like without Meyer as the head coach. Their conversation, plus the ensuing demonstration of loyalty by staff members to their boss and friend, would alter the course of Gator football forever.
Once the calisthenics were over and the two of them began to chat, Mickey decided there was nothing to lose, so he would tell it to his good friend Urban straight the way he felt. Maybe, just maybe, Urban’s state of mind the day before might have weighed heavily in his decision and, if so, after a good night’s sleep, he would awaken from the bad dream and would ask himself, “What have I done?”
As only Marotti can do, the way he does to players in the weight room, when he gets them fired up, he began to work on Urban. Mickey’s favorite subject is always “The Program.”
“I just kind of pumped him up about ‘The program,’’’ he said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. Like, ‘Gawd, man, five years. What we do! Program! Look at that, two national championships. SEC. Heisman trophy winner. We do things different.’ We just started talking like that and all of a sudden he started getting a little juice back. He’s like, ‘Yeah!’”
As they talked, Marotti could see Urban rocking back and forth, and he knew his head coach was getting into the rhythm and flow of the moment.
“I think I turned up the flame a little that was already burning inside him – he’s a football coach. And, I don’t know, he got on the phone and started practice and that was it.”
That phone call had been to Foley and plans to work out the details of Urban’s leave of absence began to fall in place – although Marotti didn’t know it. Shortly thereafter, Foley summoned Addazio to his office and asked him to accept the role as interim coach. Without flinching, without asking for a title or more money or a new contract, Addazio looked Foley in the eye, square-jawed, and said yes to the assignment, agreeing to turn down an interview as head coach of Central Michigan so he could accept it.
This was the third step toward The Turnaround made possible by the strength of the organization laid down by Meyer and Foley. First the players stepped up, then Marotti rallied Urban’s spirits and Addazio assumed his new role.
When he got home, Marotti had begun to pack for the bowl game, still not realizing what had happened. His cell phone rang and when he answered he realized it was Urban calling and he was on the speakerphone with other people in the room.
“I’ve decided to take the offer (for the leave of absence) and take a few weeks off,” Meyer told him.
Marotti wanted to leap for joy, “I was so fired up!”
The pieces had been put in place. But there was more work to be done because when Billy Gonzales had surprisingly accepted an offer from LSU a few days prior, it started what seemed like a major talent drain of Urban’s staff.
Strong was already well on his way toward the Louisville job and would take two others with him – cornerback coach Vance Bedford and running backs coach Kenny Carter. Quarterback coach Scot Loeffler was being courted by Central Michigan. And eventually defensive line coach Dan McCarney would be up for an interview at South Florida. Even the new replacement coach for Gonzales, Zach Azzanni, was getting queries about a position with the North Carolina.
What looked to be chaos from the outside was really just another challenge for the administrative brain trusts inside – one of whom kept telling doubters “Don’t worry, we have a plan.” And they did.
The beauty of it was that yet another veteran staff member and friend of Meyer would make the implementation of that plan possible. Chuck Heater, forever the team guy, told them that he would be glad to have another coach have the title of defensive coordinator if it meant finding the best candidate possible. Turned out that they did, except Heater was rewarded with the title of co-defensive coordinator with George Edwards.
In New Orleans, the pieces of the plan would start coming together.
Next: The Plan to Keep Winning.