Urban Meyer Reportedly Accepts Ohio State Buckeyes Head Coaching Job,What Does This Mean For the Program?

Monday, November 28, 2011

OhioStateBuckeyes.com

By Bob Evans
Senior Writer

While the majority of the college football world was sleeping, Urban Meyer finally accepted the head coaching position for The Ohio State Buckeyes football team.

After months of denying rumors he had been offered a job by the Buckeyes, Meyer’s agent Trace Armstrong confirmed Meyer will accept the job, early Monday morning. The Buckeyes will hold a team meeting sometime on Monday to officially break the worse kept secret in all of college sports to their team.

***UPDATE***

Two hours after the report surfaced, Armstrong took back his previous statement, which ESPN reported, when talking to CBS Sports reporter Dennis Dodd. When discussing the topic with Dodd, he would not confirm the report, instead stating he was "so disappointed that ESPN would go forward with something like this."

Basically, ESPN took Armstrong's intent to let them know his client would be leaving and ran with it as a story before the Buckeyes could make the official announcement to the team. The deal looks like it is still going down, as there are meetings scheduled with the coaching staff and players later today.

The former ESPN analyst joining the Buckeyes looked inevitable from the first game of the season, as Meyer was seen on the field with The Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee and athletic director Gene Smith before he broadcasted the game against Akron for ESPN. The feeling that Meyer would eventually take the job was only strengthened throughout the season as Meyer would constantly make remarks which began with the phrase “if I were the head coach for Ohio State.”

Meyer, an Ashtabula, Ohio native, returns home to coach the team that many have referred to as his “dream job”—and it couldn’t be at a more perfect time for the Buckeyes.

Amid their current NCAA investigation, the team needed to hit a home run in their future head coach with someone who had not been with the program during the “dark days” of the scandal. Meyer’s presence will certainly help prove to the NCAA that the Buckeyes have moved on from Tattoo-Gate and selling of memorabilia which occurred under former head coach Jim Tressel.

Outside of providing a face to clean up the program, Meyer will bring a strong offensive background to a struggling offensive football team. Meyer has coached nearly every aspect of the offense before his head coaching days, which means he will be able to install a fast pace, exciting offensive system for the Buckeyes.

After averaging just 124.1 yards passing (No. 116 in the nation) and only 25.1 points per game (No. 76 in the nation), Buckeyes fans were calling for a big change to the offense. And they will get just that, as Meyer will be installing his spread offense which has been effective in putting up big numbers in both yardage and points during his career as head coach of Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.

One of the most important things that Meyer brings to Ohio State is his tradition of winning, which is obviously the thing Buckeye fans are most excited about. As a head coach, Meyer is 104-23, 7-1 in bowl games and has won two BCS National Championships. He has also never finished worse than 8-5 (his last season with Florida), and has posted double-digit victories in five of his 10 head coaching seasons.

The last thing that Meyer brings to the Buckeyes is his tradition of excellent recruiting classes. When he was at Florida, Meyer convinced a number of top-tier high school recruits to join the program, especially the ones who fit his program with a rare blend of athleticism and speed. Meyer’s Gators were always one of the fastest teams in the nation, and he will certainly bring that brand of football to the Buckeyes.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were one of the most nationally dominant teams under Tressel, but under Meyer the team has a chance to create a new identity that has yet to be seen in the Big Ten. While the majority of the conference is still playing the power brand of football which features low scoring games, the Buckeyes should instantly transform into one of the most exciting teams to watch in the nation—something Buckeye nation will welcome with open arms.

After years of watching “Tressel Ball”, which featured a lot of game management and lack of risk taking on offense, it will be a welcome change to see an offense like Meyer’s.

The Ohio State Buckeyes just hit a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in hiring Meyer. And the rest of the college football world will feel the impact of this hiring for years to come.


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