Urban Meyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Urban Meyer | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Title | Head coach | |
| College | University of Florida | |
| Sport | Football | |
| Team Record | 22-4 (84.6%) | |
| Born | July 10, 1964 (age 42) | |
| Place of birth | Ashtabula, Ohio | |
| Career Highlights | ||
| Overall | 61-12 (83.6%) | |
| Bowls | 5-0 | |
| Coaching Stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Championships | ||
| 2006 BCS National Championship 2006 SEC Championship 2004 MWC Championship 2003 MWC Championship |
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| School as a player | ||
| 1983-1986 | University of Cincinnati | |
| Position | Defensive back | |
| Coaching positions | ||
| 2005-present 2003-2004 2001-2002 1996-2000 1990-1995 1989 1988 1987 1986 |
University of Florida University of Utah Bowling Green State University Notre Dame, Wide Receivers Colorado State, Wide Receivers Illinois State, Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers Illinois State, Outside Linebackers Ohio State, Receivers Ohio State, Tight Ends |
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Urban F. Meyer (born July 10, 1964 in Ashtabula, Ohio) is currently the head football coach at the University of Florida. He is best known for leading Florida to the 2006 Southeastern Conference Championship and later the BCS National Championship. Previously, as head coach at the University of Utah and Bowling Green State University, he led the Utes and the Falcons each to two of their greatest seasons in school history. He married the former Shelley Mather, a registered nurse, in 1986, and they have three children: Nicole, Gigi, and Nate.
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[edit] Education
Upon graduating from Ashtabula's Saint John High School, Meyer went on to play defensive back at the University of Cincinnati before earning his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1986. He later went on to earn his master's degree in sports administration at The Ohio State University in 1988.
[edit] Coaching career
A two-time National Coach of the Year, Meyer has 20 years of college coaching experience, including six as a head coach. His overall record as a head coach is 61-12 (.831) and he is 33-9 (.786) in conference play. His winning percentage (.831) ranks seventh nationally among active college coaches during the last five years.
Meyer's first collegiate coaching position was a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Ohio State (he had spent one year as a defensive backs coach at Saint Xavier High School in Cincinnati, OH). He then spent the next 13 years as an assistant—two at Illinois State, six at Colorado State, and finally five at Notre Dame. In 2001, Meyer took his first head coaching job at Bowling Green; in his first season there, he engineered the greatest turnaround in the NCAA, earning Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honors in the process.
After two seasons at Bowling Green, he took the job at Utah in 2003. In his first season there, Meyer was named the Mountain West Conference's Coach of the Year with a 10-2 record, the best ever for a coach's first season at Utah. He also earned honors as The Sporting News National Coach of the Year, the first Utes coach to do so. Meyer's success can be attributed to his unique offensive system. The system can best be described as an offshoot of Bill Walsh's famed West Coast Offense, which relied on short, efficient pass routes and receivers making plays after the reception. Meyer's base offense spreads three receivers and puts the quarterback in the shotgun. Then, he introduces motion in the backfield and turns it into an option attack, adding elements of the traditional run-oriented option offense to the old Spurrier "Fun n' Gun" passing game.
In 2004, Meyer led the undefeated Utes to a Bowl Championship Series bid, something that had not been done by a mid-major program since the BCS' creation in 1998. In the wake of this accomplishment, both the University of Florida and the University of Notre Dame vied for his services. Despite more ties to the Notre Dame program, Meyer chose to become Florida's head coach for the 2005 season, signing a 7-year contract worth $14 million. He remained at Utah long enough to coach the team to a Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh, capping off the Utes' first perfect season (12-0) since 1930.
In 2005, his first season at Florida, Meyer's Gators team finished the season 9-3 (5-3 in the Southeastern Conference) In his second season at Florida, Meyer turned the Gators' fortunes around. He coached the Gators to a 13-1 (8-1 in the SEC) record, with the one loss coming on the road at Auburn, and SEC wins at home against South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, LSU; on the road at Tennessee and Vanderbilt, with another win over rival Georgia. After clinching the SEC East, the Gators won the SEC Championship Game on December 2nd over Arkansas by a score of 38-28. Despite the loss to Auburn, Florida was ranked 4th in the BCS before their final game of the regular season against Arkansas. This win, coupled with then second-ranked Southern California's 13-9 loss to unranked rival UCLA on the same day catapulted Florida into the BCS National Championship Game where they routed the heavily favored Ohio State 41-14. It is the first BCS bowl berth for the Gators since the Orange Bowl that capped off the 2001 campaign, and Florida's first national championship appearance and victory since winning the title in 1996.
[edit] Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl Game | Bowl Opponent | Outcome | Rank# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green State University Falcons (Mid-American Conference) (2001 — 2002) | ||||||||
| 2001 | Bowling Green | 8-3 | 5-3 | 2-T | ||||
| 2002 | Bowling Green | 9-3 | 6-2 | 3 | ||||
| At Bowling Green: | 17-6 | 11-5 | ||||||
| Utah Utes (Mountain West Conference) (2003 — 2004) | ||||||||
| 2003 | Utah | 10-2 | 5-1 | 1 | Liberty Bowl | Southern Miss | W 17-0 | 21 |
| 2004 | Utah | 12-0 | 7-0 | 1 | Fiesta Bowl † | Pittsburgh | W 35-7 | 5 |
| At Utah: | 22-2 | 12-1 | ||||||
| Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference) (2005 — present) | ||||||||
| 2005 | Florida | 9-3 | 5-3 | 3rd East | Outback Bowl | Iowa | W 31-24 | 16/12 |
| 2006 | Florida | 13-1 | 8-1 | 1 | BCS National Championship Game † | Ohio State | W 41-14 | 1 |
| At Florida: | 22-4 | 13-4 | ||||||
| Career: | 61-12 | |||||||
| National Championship Conference Title | ||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | ||||||||
[edit] Awards
- 2001 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year
- 2003 The Sporting News National Coach of the Year
- 2003 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year
- 2004 The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award
- 2004 George Munger Award for the Collegiate Coach of the Year presented by the Maxwell Club
- 2004 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (presented by the Football Writers Association of America)
- 2004 Pro Football Weekly National Coach of the Year
- 2004 Woody Hayes Trophy Award (Presented by the Columbus Touchdown Club)
- 2004 Victor Award
- 2004 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year
[edit] References
- BGSU Football History. 2006 Bowling Green Football Media Guide. Bowling Green State University Athletics. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- Ute Record Book. 2006 Utah Football Media Guide. University of Utah Athletics. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- Head Football Coach Urban Meyer. 2006 Gator Football Media Guide. University of Florida Athletics. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- 2005-2006 Athletic Year in Review. 2006 Gator Football Media Guide. University of Florida Athletics. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Gary Blackney |
Bowling Green State University Head Football Coach 2001–2002 |
Succeeded by Gregg Brandon |
| Preceded by Ron McBride |
University of Utah Head Football Coach 2003–2004 |
Succeeded by Kyle Whittingham |
| Preceded by Charlie Strong (interim) |
University of Florida Head Football Coach 2005– |
Succeeded by Current |
| Current Head Football Coaches of the Southeastern Conference |
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Rich Brooks (Kentucky) | Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State) | Phillip Fulmer (Tennessee) | Bobby Johnson (Vanderbilt) | Urban Meyer (Florida) | Les Miles (LSU) | Houston Nutt (Arkansas) | Ed Orgeron (Ole Miss) | Mark Richt (Georgia) | Nick Saban (Alabama) | Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) | Tommy Tuberville (Auburn) | |
Categories: Bowling Green Falcons football coaches | Utah Utes football coaches | Florida Gators football coaches | 1964 births | Living people | American football cornerbacks | Cincinnati Bearcats football players | Colorado State Rams football coaches | Illinois State Redbirds football coaches | Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches | Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches | Ohio State University alumni | People from Ohio | People from Ashtabula, Ohio
