S*******r
发帖数: 11017 | 1 There are only two people who have qualified for Florida's Ring of Honor who
are not yet in it — Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer. When Meyer is inducted, I
can't help but wonder what the reaction will be.
I know what it would be if it happened today.
The Gator Nation feels betrayed, as if it has happened all over again. You
think you have a special relationship with a guy, he walks away and tells
you marriage isn't for him and then ends up marrying a girl who isn't as
attractive. (Sorry, Ohio State, but you're about to receive NCAA sanctions.
That means the job isn't as good as the one he left.)
I mean, it's not like he took a job at, oh, I don't know, South Carolina
where he planned on trying to beat you every year.
Instead, he went to that school up north after less than a year away from
the pressure cooker that is Florida football.
When I talked to Meyer last week he told me there were only two jobs he
would consider — Notre Dame and Ohio State. Conspiracy theorists will tell
you he left Florida because he planned on taking the job in Columbus. That's
nonsense, of course, because Jim Tressel wasn't canned until late May.
“I certainly didn't see that coming,” Meyer told me.
But when it did happen, his ears perked up.
Even though he said after the 2008 season for a story I wrote for The Sun
that Florida had become his dream job, he always dreamed about returning
home.
What he leaves behind is part of the dichotomy of Urban Meyer.
He brought so much pleasure to Gator fans. He introduced features to the
program such as the Gator Walk and the singing of the fight song and alma
mater after wins that brought fans closer to the program. Yet there was
always this disconnect between the fans and Meyer because he closed
practices and walked away from the program twice.
He won like no coach before him won, including Steve Spurrier. He thumped
Florida's rivals with amazing regularity. He took Ron Zook's players and won
a title, then rebuilt the program with stunning recruiting coups to win
another title.
Yet the players he brought in embarrassed the program with dozens of arrests
. He inherited a mess and the perception is certainly going to be that he
left another one in his wake.
More than anything, Florida fans want to know why Meyer wasn't healthy
enough to stay at Florida, but he is healthy enough now to take over a
scandal-ridden program. That is Meyer's fault. He should have said when he
walked away, “Hey guys, I'm burned out. I've been doing this a long time
and I just don't have the energy to fix this program again. I need some down
time.”
Instead, he said he wanted to spend more time with his family and told me on
the day Muschamp was hired that he still had health issues.
That's why the Gator Nation is angry enough today to download the Michigan
fight song as a ring tone.
Before he took the Ohio State job, Meyer expressed concerns over his legacy
at Florida. He told me he was amazed at the anger expressed toward him as
Florida struggled to a 6-6 season.
“All I did for six years is go into that office every day and work my tail
off,” he said. “And then I go out to get a sandwich and somebody is
yelling at me because they had a bunch of false start penalties.”
Meyer truly believes he left a good team behind for Muschamp. He told me he
believes there are four offensive linemen on the current team who will play
in the NFL.
I mentioned that to someone in the football office who responded, “Has he
watched us play?”
You would be amazed at the number of people who work in the stadium who
believe Meyer was disingenuous when he left the program.
But do you know who benefits the most from his move to Ohio State?
Will Muschamp.
Any anger expressed toward a miserable 2011 season is now directed more at
Meyer than at Muschamp. Gator fans see this as a captain abandoning a
sinking ship and jumping on the next one as he watches the old one slip into
the sea.
When Muschamp took the job at Florida, he was told on several occasions by
Meyer, “This program is broken.”
Refreshed after a year away from coaching, the energy is there again to
rebuild a different program. Meyer said in the interview I did with him last
Monday that he has researched how to spend more time with his family as a
coach and achieve a balance.
But the questions will remain. The Gator Nation is ticked off.
In the end, Meyer should have leaked it that he wanted his old job back.
Florida, obviously, has a coach. Oh well, he could have said, I guess I'll
go to Ohio State.
There would have been a lot less vitriol.
The best advice I can give to Gator fans everywhere is simple — move on.
Appreciate what Meyer did for the program instead of stewing over how he
left it. It will cause you a lot less angst.
Your coach was out recruiting Monday, trying to fix a broken program. | T******n
发帖数: 1131 | | S*******r
发帖数: 11017 | 3 我第一次看到
URBAN MEYER说this program is broken
很值得玩味
显然他知道不管咋样
他都不可能和塞班/麦叔甚至PETRINO抗衡
所以选择了体面退出
另找机会东山再起 | o****y
发帖数: 26355 | 4 But the way UM left UF is not good.
【在 T******n 的大作中提到】
: 时间会抹去你心中的痛，哈哈。
| h***8
发帖数: 884 | 5 It takes a while, just ask LSU
【在 T******n 的大作中提到】
: 时间会抹去你心中的痛，哈哈。
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