Meyer calls it quits
Health top reason for retirement
As Urban Meyer walked off the field after Ohio State routed Michigan, he was pondering his future and when to make a decision about when to call it quits.
The 54-year-old Meyer, in fact, had been thinking about retiring since the middle of last season.
The pain from headaches caused by an arachnoid cyst in his brain had grown worse this season. Off-thefield issues, including a three-game suspension for mismanagement of an assistant coach accused of domestic violence, had worn on him. And an ideal successor just happened to be in place in the person of Ryan Day, his 39-year-old offensive coordinator.
Yesterday, two days after the Buckeyes beat Northwestern to earn a second consecutive Big Ten championship, Meyer announced he was stepping down after the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 and likely will never coach again.
“The decision was a result of cumulative events,” Meyer said during a packed news conference. “And health number one. The fact that we have an elite coach on our staff, the fact that our program is very healthy, we’ve recruited very well, all played a significant role in this.”
Meyer is leaving at the top of his profession after three national championships in a career spanning three decades, the last seven years at Ohio State, where he has an 82-9 record.
He had shown obvious effects of being in pain on the sideline this season, leading to questions about his future. Meyer explained the headaches became severe last season during Ohio State’s game at Penn State and have become a persistent problem this season.
Meyer said he believed he could no longer coach the way he has from the early days at Bowling Green to Utah, Florida and, finally, with the Buckeyes.
“The style of coaching I’ve done for 33 years is very intense, very demanding. I tried to delegate more and CEO more and the product started to feel ...,” he said, not finishing his thought. “I didn’t feel I was doing right by our players and by Gene (Smith, the athletic director).”
Meyer said leaving would have been more difficult if the program wasn’t healthy. The Buckeyes are 12-1, and Meyer said he felt good about his replacement. Day will take over as the 25th coach of the storied program where Meyer won a national title in 2014 after two at Florida (2006, 2008).
“You want to hand it off to someone who could make it stronger,” Meyer said.
It was Day who led the Buckeyes when Meyer was suspended before the season opener because of his role in the handling of now-fired assistant Zach Smith, who was accused by his ex-wife of domestic abuse. Meyer said he knew about the allegations against Smith — grandson of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce — but wasn’t sure they were true and kept Smith on staff because no criminal charges were filed. The university cited that lapse in suspending Meyer after an investigation.
Meyer acknowledged it was among the reasons for stepping down, and he was asked if the suspension will affect his legacy.
“I’m sure it will,” he said. “I can lie to you and say it is not important to me.”
The announcement came as the Buckeyes begin preparations for the bowl game against Washington and less than three weeks before schools can sign a fresh batch of recruits. Meyer said his decision had to come before the early signing period opens Dec. 19.
Ohio State will now turn to Day, a second-year Ohio State assistant who had never before been a head coach before he stepped in during Meyers’ suspension. Gene Smith said transitioning immediately to Day made more sense than conducting a national coaching search.
“Our program does not need disruption,” Smith said. “It does not need to blow up and have people come in and try and adapt to our standards of operation and try and change the infrastructure that we’ve put in place for the student-athlete.”