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?â€
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.
One’s health should never be taken lightly. I hope that Urban Meyer will do everything possible to preserve his. Even Nick Saban would agree. Football will always be there. Your time on this planet is measured.
Danny, that had to be Tom Jurich’s worst fear, having to start the search all over again, with his second and third choices already at other schools. The easiest available choices were Tuberville and Fulmer.
Fans will be willing to stick with Charlie Strong through some early adversity because they are confident improvement will come. The other choices not so much.
Yes, but on the flip side of that, imagine Strong being taken away from us. Our search would begin anew and I don’t know what our options would be. My first thought is our new OC Mike Sanford would probably be in line for the gig. Would that be viable at this point?