DALLAS — Less than four months after he walked away from the game in 2010, Urban Meyer found himself standing in front of the Oregon football team during spring practice.
Chip Kelly, then the Ducks’ coach, introduced Meyer to his team and made the mistake of calling him a “retired coach.”
“Urban stops him right there,” says longtime Oregon running backs coach Gary Campbell, “and says, wait a second, I’m not retired. Right then, the red flag goes up for me.”
Right there is all you need to know about Meyer and the cost of winning.
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The same guy who left Florida in December of 2010 and took a $1 million bonus as part of resigning his position because of “medical issues,” was imbedded with the Oregon football team a few months later and trying to, as he says now, “understand their culture.”
Kelly gave him full access to the team, and Meyer walked around with a pad and took notes, Campbell said. At one point during practice, Meyer pulled out his phone and began taking video.
“At that point, security said, look, you can’t take video,” Campbell said. “Urban was not happy. But a lot of us, the coaches, weren’t happy, either. If he’s saying he’s not a retired coach, the first thing you think is, wait a second, we might be playing this guy one day.”
Wouldn’t you know it, Oregon is playing Meyer and his new team, Ohio State, in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. And Ohio State’s offense — from the jet sweep option to the quick shovel passes to the tempo — looks a whole lot like Oregon’s.
“You know what? Maybe Chip knew he was leaving (and going to the NFL),” Campbell said. “Maybe that's why he didn’t care what Urban was doing when he was with us.”
This is the world of Meyer and football. If you’re not competing; if you’re not doing everything possible to be one step ahead of your opponent, you’re losing.
After his first recruiting season with Ohio State, when his late push got numerous recruits to decommit from another school and sign with the Buckeyes, Meyer boldly proclaimed to a group of Ohio high school coaches that he wanted his assistant coaches to recruit even harder. And if they didn’t, he’d find different assistants.
Everyone is on edge, everyone is playing or coaching full throttle, or they’re accountable for why they’re not. No one is immune.
In the world of Meyer, you can either help him or you get out of his way. Kelly could help him that spring in 2010, and Meyer used every opportunity to glean everything he could from the one coach who knew more than anyone about running in the spread option (Meyer’s preferred offense) and the growing trend of tempo.
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There are others who can’t help, and he uses no pretense to describe it.
“I prefer to call it honesty,” Meyer said. “You’ve got a job to do.”
Case in point: Luke Fickell, the beloved former Buckeyes player and longtime assistant coach (and one-time interim coach), and the Ohio State defense after last season. The pass defense was awful, and Meyer wanted it fixed.
So he hired Chris Ash away from Arkansas, gave him the title of co-defensive coordinator (with Fickell) and essentially told Fickell to make it work.
“I love Ohio State; I love this community, the university, the people — but yeah, it can be hard working for (Meyer),” Fickell said. “You get mad, uncomfortable, pissed off; all of it. But at the end of the day, if we’re asking our guys to do everything they can to win, why can’t we ask the same of ourselves as coaches?”
So that’s why Meyer pushes the envelope. Why he’s just as hard on his coaches as he is on his quarterback Cardale Jones, who clowned around for three years before getting serious — and somehow finding a way to evolve into the biggest story of the postseason.
“I’m still trying to figure out that one,” Meyer said.
What’s to figure out? You work hard, you have success. You have success, you have a chance to play for championships.
You win championships, you’ve reached the ultimate pinnacle and then you start over. That very scenario was the impetus for Meyer’s burnout — or, as he calls it, “medical issues” — at Florida, but there’s no avoiding it.
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If he’s not charging until he’s physically and mentally spent, he can’t ask the same of his players and coaches.
“That’s what you’re supposed to do if you’re the leader,” Meyer said. “Keep pushing, pushing, pushing. Complacency is one of the worst things. Discomfort breeds passion.”
And a good secondary. Going into Monday’s championship game, Ohio State is fourth in the nation in pass efficiency defense (104.79) and fourth in interceptions (24).
The Ohio State offense, meanwhile, set records this fall and hasn’t hiccupped the last two games with a third-string quarterback running virtually the same principles of the Oregon offense.
“They look like us,” Williams said. “Probably not surprising.”
In the world of Meyer, you’re either helping him or you get out of the way.