Urban Meyer

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Urban Meyer

Date of birth	July 10, 1964
Place of birth	Ashtabula, Ohio
Sport	Football
College	University of Florida
Title	Head coach
Record with Team	21-4
Overall Record	59-12
Awards	3 Conference Championships (2003, 2004, 2006)
Championships   won	2006 SEC Championship
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
School as a player
1983-1986	University of Cincinnati
Position	Defensive back
Schools as a coach
2005-present 2003-2004 2001-2002	University of Florida University of Utah Bowling Green State University

Urban Meyer (born July 10, 1964 in Ashtabula, Ohio) is currently the head football coach at the University of Florida. He came to Florida after two years as head coach at the University of Utah, where he led the Utes 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.

Contents 1 Education 2 Coaching Career 2.1 Coaching Experience 2.2 Awards 3 External links 4 See also

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 Ohio State University in 1988.

Coaching Career

A two-time National Coach of the Year, Meyer has 20 years of college coaching experience, including five as a head coach. His overall record as a head coach is 54-11 (.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 coaching position was a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Ohio State. 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 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) and were a game short of going to the SEC Championship Game. However, the team defeated its three biggest rivals (Florida State, Tennessee, and Georgia) in a single season for only the fourth time in school history and beat Iowa in the Outback Bowl. Following a loss to LSU during the regular season, Coach Meyer was moved to tears during a press conference. Much like his predecessor, Ron Zook, Meyer failed to make it to the SEC title game in 2005, though he didn't receive the critcism that Zook endured - perhaps because Meyer was in his first year on the job. ^{[citation needed] [original research?]} The Gators had a chance to face LSU in the SEC championship game, but a loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks, who were headed by former Florida coach Steve Spurrier, dashed any hopes of Florida's first trip to the title game since 2000.

In 2006, his second season at Florida, Meyer has coached the Gators to an 12-1 (8-1 in the SEC) record, with the one loss coming on the road at Auburn, and SEC wins at home against Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, on the road at Tennessee and another win over rival Georgia. With the win over Vanderbilt, combined with Tennessee's loss to LSU, the Gators clinched the SEC East and won the SEC Championship Game on December 2nd over Arkansas, winning 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 will face Ohio State. 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 since winning the title in 1996.

Despite limited ties to the university initially, Meyer has endeared himself to Florida alumni and players with his coaching style and desire to maintain ties with former players. He implemented the "Gator Walk" in the 2005 season to fire up the crowd as the team arrived at the stadium before the game. One thing he stresses is maintaining ties with former players, which some players said was lacking in previous years. Among the reasons, he says, is to bring in players who have won championships to inspire the current players. [1] He also held a contest to rename the student section. The winning entry was "Swamp Things."

Coaching Experience

1986—Ohio State, Tight Ends

1987—Ohio State, Receivers

1988—Illinois State, Outside Linebackers

1989—Illinois State, Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers

1990-1995—Colorado State, Wide Receivers

1996-2000—Notre Dame, Wide Receivers

2001-2002—Bowling Green, Head Coach

2003-2004—Utah, Head Coach

2005-Present—Florida, Head Coach

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—Home Depot National Coach of the Year

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

External links

• Official Site
• Rivals.com biography
• FireUrbanMeyer.com (A site started to prevent a repeat of the FireRonZook.com phenomenon.)

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

Bowling Green Falcons Head Football Coaches
Stitt • Jean • Krieger • Snyder • R.B. McCandless • Steller • Ockerman • Whittaker • Perry • Gibson • Nehlen • Stolz • Ankney • Blackney • Meyer • Brandon

Utah Utes Head Football Coaches
C.B. Ferris • Cummings • Wilson • Holmes • Maddock • Bennion • Norgren • Fitzpatrick • Armstrong • Curtice • Nagel • Giddings • Meek • Lovat • Howard • Stobart • Fassel • McBride • Meyer • Whittingham

Florida Gators Head Football Coaches
Forsythe • G.E. Pyle • McCoy • Busser • Kline • Vanfleet • Sebring • Bachman • Stanley • Cody • Lieb • Wolf • Woodruff • Graves • Dickey • Pell • Hall • Darnell • Spurrier • Zook • Strong • Meyer

Current Head Football Coaches of the Southeastern Conference

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) | Mike Shula (Alabama) | Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) | Tommy Tuberville (Auburn)