Is Meyer closing in on end of tenure with Ohio State after trying year?
If you missed it live — and somehow did not see the montage, or the extended cut, or the greatest hits — it might be only because you have not been trying.
Ohio State escaped Maryland last week 52-51 when the Terrapins failed to convert a two-point try in overtime. The win felt like a loss, another oddly difficult struggle in a season filled with them. But the enduring visual was of Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer on the sideline, in apparent agony.
Bent over between plays, hands clasped to his head. It was painful just watching. And it’s why, as the Buckeyes’ annual date with Michigan looms, the nagging questions are not so much about what’s wrong with this team, which has not played to its seeming capabilities this season (yet still has College Football Playoff possibilities), but instead what ails its coach.
First, and most important: Is Meyer OK? But next, and inevitably: Could he actually be nearing the end of his tenure at Ohio State?
As The Game approaches, there are no definitive answers.
When Ohio State hosts Michigan on Saturday in Columbus, the stakes are very high: the Big Ten East Division title, a shot at the Big Ten championship and beyond that, perhaps the College Football Playoff. Those add intensity to a rivalry that never needs more, ever.
And they heap even more pressure on a coach who is very clearly struggling.
“We’re working so damn hard for this,” Meyer said this week.
He was referring to how badly the Buckeyes want to beat their rivals. But it’s an astounding turn for a coach who, just a couple of years ago, was being hailed as a challenger to Alabama’s Nick Saban in college football’s coaching hierarchy. Now the questions are not about passing Saban or building a legendary legacy, but whether, at 54, he will continue to coach much longer.
Everything suddenly seems so diffi- cult. So painful. So debilitating.
Some of the myriad issues Meyer has endured this season are self-inflicted. His initial comments about former assistant coach Zach Smith at the Big Ten media days in July led to a firestorm of scandal that resulted in Meyer’s suspension during August and the season’s first three games. During the investigation that led to the suspension, many wondered if Meyer would return to the job, but he clearly didn’t believe he should even have been suspended. Since his return, there has not been consistent calm for long, on the field or off.
Last month, questioned about his future, he said he planned to coach at Ohio State next season and “for as long as I can.” A day later, he revealed that he’s been dealing with an enlarged congenital arachnoid cyst on his brain. Though Meyer had surgery in spring 2014, he continues to take medicine. The cyst causes occasionally severe headaches — as in one highly visible example, the Buckeyes’ 49-26 win against Indiana, when Meyer dropped to his knees in the fourth quarter.
Last Saturday, as Ohio State struggled to find a way to beat Maryland, the cameras kept returning to Meyer’s tortured sideline demeanor. It was riveting and horrible, and it seemed a re- flection of his overall discomfort this season.
Meyer does not look well. And in his seventh year at Ohio State, there are seeming parallels to the end of his tenure at Florida. He retired from that gig after six seasons, citing stress-related health issues.
When he returned to coaching a year later at Ohio State, after a year doing TV work, he promised to do things differently, famously signing a contract with his family (and hanging it in his new office) that promised he would have worklife balance.
But that leads to another revealing nugget. Last week someone asked Shelley Meyer, via Twitter, what her husband’s “most difficult personality trait” is. She responded: “(I) think he would be ok if I said his ‘control/perfection’ issues are the most difficult to deal with — as we know LOGICALLY, a person can’t control everything and being perfect is REALLY hard when u can’t control all …”
Make of that what you want. Meyer is not unique in those traits — it’s a character quality/flaw of most college football coaches — but his reputation is that of a control freak to the nth degree. This season has brought myriad issues the coach could not even hope to control.
Considering what happened at Flori- da, it could be Meyer is simply so tightly wound, something eventually springs loose and a crash is inevitable.
It might also be the Buckeyes defense. Ohio State is allowing 5.91 yards per play and 398.6 yards per game, 85th and 70th nationally, respectively. Through 11 games, it’s statistically the worst defense in the history of the program, and it’s been an anchor on an offense that, with first-year starting quarterback Dwayne Haskins, has been among the nation’s best.
Despite everything, Ohio State is 10-1. Meyer’s career record at Ohio State is an astounding 80-9 and a national championship. With a win Saturday — which would be the Buckeyes’ 14th in the last 15 games against Michigan, and Meyer’s seventh in seven tries — Ohio State would head to the Big Ten championship game with at least a shot at making the Playoff.
Although Ohio State is a home underdog, it’s never safe to assume anything in a rivalry. Maybe, finally, a talented roster plays to its perceived potential, stops Michigan’s Playoff bid and promotes its own hopes. But given everything we’ve seen in a tumultuous season, it seems more likely the Buckeyes are in for a painful finish.
Their coach might be, too.