All Entries Tagged With: "Urban Meyer"

Urban Meyer Suspense Boosts Louisville Football

by Tom Stosberg

Okay, so Urban Meyer gave University of Louisville football fans a scare. He also gave us a boost.

“Not so fast, my friend.” (Where’s Corso when you need him?) Hold everything! Meyer checks the call at the podium and he decides to stay. Kind of.  So, Strong stays, Stoops stays, Butch Jones stays, Favre stays (ooops, sorry).

Florida president, Bernie Machen talks Meyer into calling an audible at the last second by convincing him that a leave of absence might be a better solution than chucking the $4 million-a-year-best-college-head-coaching-job in America. Yes, even better than at that school often referred to as, “Didn’t you used to be Notre Dame?”

Charlie Strong

But let’s be fair to Meyer. He’s had health issues. Headaches – perhaps of the migraine variety. Some chest pains after the Alabama game. Though I’m sure Nick Saban and the Tide can have that effect on opposing coaches. It’s true that Steve Spurrier set the bar pretty high in Gatorland increasing the pressure. So high in fact, that Ron Zook couldn’t reach high enough, fast enough. Then, when Urban Meyer won his own 2 National championships, he set the bar even higher for himself.

So how does Strong fare in all of this? He comes out smelling like a rose.  For over 24 hours all the national sports talking heads were sounding like Charlie has a shot at the Florida job! So, once again, Strong’s name was all over ESPN, Fox Sports, SB Nation, CBS Sportline.com and all the major sports websites. Some top recruits in the country were once again hearing the name Charlie Strong mentioned in very favorable terms.

What looked like a liability actually became an asset for U of L recruiting. Again, it appears that Tom Jurich made a terrific hire. It makes no difference whether Strong would actually have been on Florida’s short list. The big media made it APPEAR that he might be and that served only to increase his stature with recruits and their parents. It was a plus for Strong and a plus for the U of L football future.

And we’ll take it.

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Urban Meyer Steadies The Dominoes, For Now

The ground beneath the college football world was quaking, the coaching dominoes teetering, athletic directors shaking, fans hyperventilating …

But wait a minute. Florida football coach Urban Meyer, well, now he’s just going to take an indefinite leave of absence. Not retiring just yet. Gator fans not sure how to handle the news, may never entirely forgive him for the uncertainty … unless he returns as a winner, of course.

Urban Meyer

A lot of people can relax, at least for a while, especially the athletic directors at Arkansas, Mississippi State and Oklahoma, the respective homes of Bobby Petrino, Dan Mullen and Bob Stoops. Their coaches may have been at the top of the list for Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley’s list if Meyer had stayed retired.

Foley’s first instinct may have been to hire a replacement with head coaching experience for Meyer. However, the pressure to hire Charlie Strong would have been huge. Immensely popular with Florida fans and recruits, he was the logical choice, having been an integral part of the program’s success the past seven seasons.

A huge reprieve for Tom Jurich at the University of Louisville. Twelve hours of uncertainty over Strong’s future. After three-nightmarish seasons during the Steve Kragthorpe era, Jurich had to be dreading still another coaching search. The latest episode, though mercifully brief, underscores the scale of Jurich’s challenges in maintaining a successful football program at Louisville.

Tomorrow’s another day, and Urban Meyer could change his mind again.

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Urban Meyer Gone, Whither Charlie Strong

Florida’s Urban Meyer has announced that he is stepping down as University of Florida football coach. How that affects Louisville and Charlie Strong remains to be seen. Meyer had to have been thinking about this for quite a while. Mr. Strong was probably in the know as well

Florida fans are already going nuts, every other Tweet from the Sunshine State mentioning Strong after expressing shock about Meyer. Anything can happen now if Strong is interested in that job. Contracts be damned when it comes to football and coaches. Strong’s contract terms.

Some heavy duty decisions to be made in the days ahead. Charlie Strong shed tears in accepting the Louisville coaching position. At any rate, it is already desperation time for Gator fans, many of whom seem to have already forgotten the beating Alabama handed the Florida defense.

(Tip for Florida AD Jeremy Foley: Bobby Petrino will leave Arkansas at the drop of a hat. That’s his agent calling you now.)

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Mixed Signals In Coaching Pursuit

And so we wait …

The prolonged suspense continues in hiring a successor to Steve Kragthorpe as football coach at the University of Louisville  with the principals in the mini-drama having gotten together on Sunday.

Fans left with no option but to hold their breath, trying to interpret the signals. Tom Jurich saying Florida wants to keep Charlie Strong and he has some more work to do.

The best clue may have been provided by Florida coach Urban Meyer when asked if Strong would coach in the Sugar Bowl game against Cincinnati.

“I am not sure until a decision is made at the University of Louisville,” he said.

Now does that mean the decision is up to U of L, or is it clumsy phrasing, just plain coach speak, or is he in the dark like the rest of us?

Take a deep one, exhale, wait.

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