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Pete Thamel NYT BREAKING NEWS: Urban Meyer explains his reasons for stepping down in an NYT phone interview.

Meyer Says He’s Quitting as Coach of Florida

By PETE THAMEL
Published: December 26, 2009
The night that Florida lost to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game, Florida Coach Urban Meyer awoke in the middle of the night with severe chest pains.

He had suffered from severe chest pains the past two years, but this time was different. He lost consciousness, went to a hospital in an ambulance and underwent more than nine hours of testing.

That night was the tipping point for Meyer, 45, who stunned the college football world Saturday by announcing that he was stepping down from coaching.

“There was no heart damage,” Meyer said. “But I didn’t want there to be a bad day where there were three kids sitting around wondering what to do next. It was the pattern of what I was doing and how I was doing it. It was self-destructive.”

Meyer said in a telephone interview late Saturday night that that the hospital trip prompted weeks of soul searching that ended on Christmas night. He told his family he would be leaving his job at Florida. He said that his 18-year-old daughter Nicki hugged him and said, “I get my daddy back.”

“I saw it as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do,” Meyer said of his daughter’s reaction. “I was worried about letting people down. I was feeling so awful and concerned about my health. That was among several other signs that said it’s time to back away.”

Meyer led Florida to two of the past three national titles and has a career record of 95-18, including a 56-10 mark at Florida.

If there was a hallmark to Meyer’s coaching style, both on and off the field, it was his relentlessness. He said he found himself e-mailing recruits in church. He said that his 16-year-old daughter had told him that she had not felt like she talked to him in the past two years. In a 10-day period around the SEC title game Meyer said that he had lost 20 pounds.

“When your health flashes before your eyes, what’s before you means more than anything,” he said. “I have a strong faith that there’s a reason for everything, and God has a plan for us. I just don’t know what it is.”

Asked if he would return to coaching in the future, Meyer said he had not thought about it. But it appeared clear that he would not return anytime soon. He said his main concern was winning the Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati on Jan. 1 and making sure he took care of his coaches and his players.

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Urban Meyer's Resignation Has Numerous Ramifications

12/26/2009 7:52 PM ET By Clay Travis

It's been barely an hour since news broke that Urban Meyer was resigning for health reasons as head coach of the University of Florida. Immediately Meyer's resignation became the second biggest story of the college football bowl season -- second only to the Alabama-Texas BCS title game, and maybe not even second to that. Meyer's resignation sets off the kind of coaching dominoes collapse that means only the most shrewd of coaching prognosticators can predict where it will all end.

Immediately, my e-mail flooded with gloating fans of rival SEC programs who have perished under the harsh beat downs administered during Urban Meyer's 56-10 tenure at Florida.

"Christmas came late, but oh so perfectly!!!!" gushed one Bulldog fan.

A Tennessee fan wrote as follows, "Christmas has never been more joyous in my household."

If you ever doubted how much college football turns on the men at the top of the coaching pyramid, Meyer's resignation should erase all doubt. He single-handedly turned what was on pace to be the slowest sports news day of the year into a Twitter explosion. But now it's time to consider the ramifications of Meyer's departure. Here are 11 immediate questions worth pondering as the college football universe spins out of control.

1. What becomes of the power structure in the SEC east?

Suddenly, the world looks entirely different in what is typically the most competitive division in major college football. Georgia's Mark Richt, rebounding from the worst year of his tenure and bound for a bowl game in Shreveport, is on shaky footing and without a defensive coaching staff. Tennessee's Lane Kiffin, just completing his first season, is a wild card, Kentucky and Vandy are still Kentucky and Vandy. Meanwhile, Florida has not just lost their head man,they've also lost Charlie Strong and Dan Mullen in the past year or so.

So who's the big winner in the SEC east as 2010 looms?

Here's one vote for South Carolina and Steve Spurrier.

Because suddenly South Carolina might be the favorite in the SEC east.

Stunning, right?

That's how quickly things can change in the SEC.

But in the longer term?

Man, it's completely wide open.

2. Is the war for Florida's football fate wide open as well?

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2009 season took its toll on Meyer
7:35 pm December 26, 2009, by Tony Barnhart

Little surprises me any more but I was stunned tonight to learn that Urban Meyer would resign as the head coach at Florida after the Sugar Bowl.

It was widely known in the football community that this season was a very stressful one for Meyer, who is only 45. The pressure of defending the national championship, being No. 1 for the entire season, and various off the field problems eventually took their toll on Meyer.

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Coach Mack Brown is motivating his players with this talk. Don't think for a minute that he, Muschamp, Applewhite, or the players believe this...Coach

Watching film of Tide is like a horror movie, says UT's Brown
12:04 AM CST on Thursday, December 24, 2009
Column by CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News | ccarlton@dallasnews.com

Texas doesn't get much of an opportunity to be an actual underdog, so coach Mack Brown has already decided to make the most of it.

Alabama has been made a four-point favorite in the Citi BCS National Championship game on Jan. 7. If you believe Brown's take this week, it could be, maybe should be, more.

The Alabama game film has been the stuff of nightmares, Brown suggested.

Think of a cross between the original Jawsand highlights of Ndamukong Suh in the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship.

"We're not able to sleep," Brown said. "They've got three Suhs up front. That's the problem. Everywhere you look, they've been knocking people down. We've been afraid to show it to our kids."

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As fans arrive earlier, Ole Miss considers tailgate tax to reserve spaces in the Grove
By Associated Press
6:31 AM CST, December 24, 2009

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — University of Mississippi officials are considering whether to start charging fees next year for people or groups to reserve spots on campus for football tailgating parties.

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Good information for folks going to the game and also thinking about tailgating...RTR and Merry Christmas...Coach Hal...

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Game officials from the Big East? And a funny quote from Javy...Coach

By Gentry Estes, Mobile Press-Register
December 22, 2009, 8:06PM

TUSCALOOSA -- While there aren't too many statistical gaps between the two teams in the Jan. 7 BCS national championship game, one jumps off the page.

Texas has been penalized for 180 more than yards this season than Alabama. The Longhorns rank 81st nationally in penalties committed per game. The Crimson Tide is 17th, having not had more than five penalties in a game since October.

Of Alabama's 64 enforced penalties this season, 11 have been for false starts, with personal fouls (nine) and pass interferences (eight) not far behind.

But it's worth noting that the Crimson Tide's offense has not been flagged for an illegal block since the Oct. 24 Tennessee game.

And perhaps more impressive, it has now been 34 quarters since a holding penalty was last assessed against an Alabama offensive lineman. The most recent enforced holding penalty on an offensive play was during the Kentucky game in early October (Four holding flags since then have all been on the kickoff team).

Players credited offensive line coach Joe Pendry for the trend.

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By Gentry Estes, Mobile Press-Register
December 21, 2009, 10:35PM

You knew it was coming.

Mellow at the start of bowl practice, Alabama coach Nick Saban finally got a little worked up during this evening's post-practice press conference.

First it was at a question asking if the fact the Tide is playing for the national title has sunk in yet (that's focusing on results, not process) and then at the previously unspoken (in the room) notion that Texas is a heavy underdog Jan. 7 in Pasadena.

"I've really already said that I am not worried about winning the national championship," said Saban, his voice rising at the podium. "I don't want our players to worry about it either. I would appreciate it if you didn't ask them, although I know you will. What I want our players focusing on is playing their best football and assume that they are going to play the best football they have ever played and they are going to be playing against the best players they have ever played against."

"That's what they should be working to do and that's what they should be focused on. So what you're talking about is clutter and I'd rather them not be worried about that. The game is still going to get played on a 50-yards wide and 100-yards deep field and how they play in that game. And I don't care what award they won, or how many made All-American or how many we had. None of that's going to matter when the game starts."

Saban often launches demonstrations like this in order to get the clip replayed on television and radio for the benefit of his players.

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By Gentry Estes, Mobile Press-Register
December 20, 2009, 5:17PM

Alabama junior cornerback Kareem Jackson said today that he has submitted his paperwork to receive a grade from the NFL's draft advisory board.

"Yeah, I did it," Jackson said. "I sent it in a couple of days ago. I guess I'll just wait until it comes back and see what it says."

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