Urban Meyer Does An About-Face
Florida Gators head coach resigned on Saturday due to health reasons. On Sunday, he choose to take a leave of absence instead of resigning. Is it a change of heart or did he get a call from his accountant to give him a dose of reality?
Meyer and the university have been mum on exactly what ails the head coach. Reports about a visit to the hospital after the Florida Gators got thumped by the Alabama Crimson Tide have surfaced as well as details about an arachnoid cyst that was discovered in his brain in 1998. Nobody has confirmed Meyer has a heart attack and arachnoid cysts do not appear to be a life threatening health issue…although I am not a doctor, I just play one in the newsroom. Most Gator fans visited the hospitals with persistent convulsions after being thoroughly whooped in the SEC championship game.
So what gives?
Many fans believe Meyer woke up to the realization that the joy ride he has been coasting on called Tim Tebow is graduating. With Tebow’s departure, the spotlight glare moves now to Meyer. Is he a great coach or did Tebow do this all on his own? Meyer’s legacy will be on trial as soon as Tim Tebow leaves campus and begins preparing for the NFL combine. The pressure was going to build and be placed squarely on Meyer’s shoulders.
Now we have the about-face. Meyer signed a six-year, $24 million dollar extension at the beginning of the college football season. Prior to coming to Florida, Meyer was making peanuts compared to what he is making today. His original contract with Florida was for $2 million per year, was extended for $3.2 million per year in 2007 and again this past August. Meyer simply has not been on the gravy train long enough to just walk away. He has bills to pay to continue the lifestyle he has been leading and it surely was a major top of conversation at the Meyer household dinner table. He’d have to change his lifestyle considerable to change his cash outflows.
Is the about-face about money or a change of ailing heart?
The easy option for Meyer is to walk away. The pressure in Gainesville is going to be tremendous and it is pretty clear he is having issues dealing with stress given what we know about his medical history. But when you get paid millions it comes with the territory. Many Americans live with same stress in their lives figuring out how to pay their mortgage, feed their children and keep their jobs in a sagging economy. Most Americans would trade spots with Urban Meyer in a heartbeat.
Meyer’s flip-flop will no doubt kill his recruiting efforts. What blue chip athlete is going to come to Florida now with this major question mark? If Meyer was concerned about be outted as a fraud coach, he just poured gasoline on the fire with his unexpected schizophrenic behavior this weekend.
Tags: florida gators, Urban Meyer
Who are you and how do you really know what is wrong with his health. The one thing I hate about all the negative columnists is you love to beat a man when he’s down. So what if he changed his mind is it really going to affect your day to day life. Have you ever changed your mind about something I would be you have. It seems to me he rushed his decision and in his heart he knew he would coach again and if he left his chances of coming back to Florida would be none. He loves Florida and had no intentions of coaching anywhere else except maybe the NFL one day. He never lied to anyone, he does have some kind of health issues which are really none of our business. You can see in the news conference he had lost some weight. whole problem was not delegating responsibilities to other staff. Sometimes he is a little too hands on in day to day activities. He has two NC rings to prove it. All you retarded writers need to step back and think real hard about what’s going on here. He didn’t flip flop he simply reconsidered his options and came to teams with the fact that he can improve his health and still lead the dominate program he has continued to build from the Spurrier days. Stop hating on the UF. I don’t believe any ” Blue Chip athletes” have decommitted as of yet. Most have positive remarks about his decision. Stop trying to make a story about nothing and assume “Meyer’s flip-flop will no doubt kill his recruiting efforts”. Also once again you try to make a story assuming “Many fans believe Meyer woke up to the realization that the joy ride he has been coasting on called Tim Tebow is graduating” you tell me what true UF fan really thinks that or once again are you trying to sell ads on your site. Nobody believes that except for maybe the fans of Florida State or Miami. Your article is one of the biggest pieces of Sh%T I have seen in a while. I hope you are proud and it makes me sick to see I have to comment on this . I’d bet I’m the only one who had read it.