Urban Meyer almost cried at the mention of Notre Dame the other day. His heart and future is at Florida, and nothing short of a papal encyclical is going to change that.
Sorry, Irish fans. Such a thing is not on Pope Benedict's calendar.
If only Notre Dame had a bit more divine wisdom 10 years ago, it wouldn't be in this mess. The Fighting Irish had Meyer and let him go. Now, there's just a trail of tears that altered the college football universe.
How different would this decade have been if Notre Dame had locked up its former receivers coach in 2000?
There would have been no Ty Willingham or Charlie Weis errors. Tim Tebow probably would have gone to Alabama. That would have saved Mike Shula's job and kept Nick Saban from doing his Bear Bryant imitation in Tuscaloosa.
Bobby Bowden and Steve Spurrier might have remained the Sinatra and Martin of college coaching. Now they are the Milli and Vanilli, with FSU set to be exposed again on Saturday in Gainesville.
"I'm going to be the coach at Florida as long as they'll have me," Meyer said. "Let's make that clear."
Let's make this clear: it's Notre Dame's fault.
Sure, that's easy to say now. Maybe it took a genius to recognize Meyer's potential. But the Irish always prided themselves on at least trying the brilliant move.
Maybe it took a genius to recognize Meyer's potential. But the Irish always prided themselves on at least trying the brilliant move. This is the school that hired a high school coach, Gerry Faust. Bob Davie had never been a head coach when he got the call in 1996. Neither had Weis nor Terry Brennan.
Well, Brennan did coach Notre Dame's freshman team in 1953. When he succeeded Frank Leahy the next year, the worry was that he was too young.
"Oh, I don't know," Brennan said "I'll be 26 in a few months."
Meyer was 36 when he left Notre Dame. He'd been receivers coach for five years and was ready for a top job somewhere. Given the fact he was named after a pope and always professed a love for Notre Dame, South Bend seemed like the right place.
The timing was all wrong. The Irish went 5-7 in 1999 and Davie was getting almost as much heat as Weis is now. Then he went 9-3 in 2000, and in a typical Notre Dame move the school overreacted and gave him a contract extension.
It all backfired a year later. The Irish went 5-6, Davie was fired, George O'Leary's resume exploded in Notre Dame's face, which led to Willingham, which led to Weis, which will lead to another national edition of "Who's Next?"
Meyer got all choked up this week when asked if he'd leave Florida for South Bend. It's not gonna happen.
Ten years ago, sure. Notre Dame was certainly more attractive than Bowling Green, where overnight Meyer turned a two-win team into a MAC power. After two years, he went to Utah. Two years and 22 wins later, the Gators came calling.
So did Notre Dame. Had it been four years earlier, Meyer would not have had such an attractive option in Gainesville. But the Irish were so busy trying to justify hiring Davie that they didn't notice the young Einstein serving as his assistant.
Nobody wishes they had more than Bowden. A lot of FSU's woes this decade were self-inflicted, but nothing hurts more than Meyer building an empire 150 miles away.
It's even worse than when Spurrier was in Gainesville. After his Redskins debacle, The Ol' Ball Coach might have returned to Florida in 2004. Fans longed for it after three years of Ron Zook.
Athletic director Jeremy Foley caught a lot of heat for not begging Spurrier to return. But he knew he had a better thing in Meyer.
After five mediocre years at South Carolina, it now appears that Florida made Spurrier as much as Spurrier made Florida. He would have been more successful returning to his alma mater, but Florida wouldn't have.
Imagine life without Tebow. As much as he loved Florida, he was verrry close to signing with Alabama. It took all of Meyer's recruiting charm to get him to Gainesville.
The rest, as they say, is misery. At least for FSU and Notre Dame.
Yes, the Notre Dame that was once shrewd enough to recognize the brilliance of an even more obscure assistant coach.
He was a graduate assistant in the school's chemistry lab and worked part-time helping coach the football team. When Jesse Harper retired, the Irish promoted 29-year-old Knute Rockne.
Call it luck, call it wisdom, call it divine providence. The Irish didn't have it when they had this generation's Rockne right where they wanted him.
His tears may have flowed in Gainesville this week. It doesn't take a genius to see who's really crying now.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
He's goin!
Coach Meyer did not "almost cry" at the mention of Notre Dame. That's totally inaccurate. He immediately said he wasn't going anywhere.
At least this fact error is buried in the first four words of the article. Awful.
Why worry about any real accuracy in what Meyer did ( almost crying ) or said. He was more upset about all of his senior class leaving along with Tebow. That is what got him choked up - not any job at Notre Dame.
Of course - getting any real accuracy out of most of these writers stories on here is far too much to ask anyway.
What in the heck do you want ? Some accuracy in writing the article or some National Enquirer headlines bull crap ?
Urban Meyers has the best stadium, football facilities, weight room and football program in college football. He has a President and an Athletic Director who totally support him and a
Gator Nation who are completely thrilled with his accomplishments. Every game sells out! He is at
Florida's Premier Univesity. Why would he take a pay cut to go to Notre Dame?
wouldnt of mattered! Recruits will go to Florida and won't go to Indiana so hard on any coach that goes there.
Why Would Anyone Leave Flordia To Go To Southbend.The Luster Has Been Gone For A Long Time.
Did you intern at Fox News? Your stating that Meyer was crying about Notre Dame is factually inaccurate and you know it is. You need to be a prfessional and retract your obviously false statement. Of course, I will not hold my breath since you likely lack any sort of professionalism or ethics.
I heard it from a good source that Notre Dame has Meyer locked up and they were just waiting on SEC championship to play out. They are throwing a record breaking contract at him that he will sign next week according to my source.
Meyer showed his lack of class going for it on 4th down with a 30 to 3 lead. Classless moron!!!