Congratulations to Urban Meyer. He did it his way, and he did it very, very well.
Meyer’s surprise retirement, announced Tuesday due to health issues, leaves Ohio State in a unique and even fragile spot.
The Ashtabula native departs with a strong foundation in place. In seven years he never won less than 11 games, never lost more than 2, and captured at least a Big Ten co-division championship every year of his tenure (those were called league titles before he arrived).
His departure, while hinted at all season due to a cyst on his brain, was still a shock when it finally arrived.
He leaves Ohio State in far better shape than he inherited it. Indeed, his first team, in 2012, ran the table at 12-0 but could not compete for a Big Ten or national championship due to the NCAA penalties leftover from Jim Tressel’s regime. Meyer took a squad that was 6-7 in 2011 and was banned from a bowl game, stripped of nine scholarships, with probation hanging over its head.
How did he respond? Ohio State promptly turned in just the sixth perfect season in school history.
Meyer is the only coach to win national championships coaching teams in two different conferences. His OSU squads are 82-9, including a 7-0 record vs. Michigan and a 54-4 record in the Big Ten Conference with seven consecutive divisional championships, three Big Ten championships and a national title.
“It has been an honor to represent for the last seven years this football program, my home state of Ohio, this university and community that I care so deeply about,” Meyer said. “I am grateful to Buckeye Nation, the students, faculty, our administration and, most importantly, our student-athletes for their support and respect for this program during this time.”
Only Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy had higher winning percentages as a coach than Meyer, whose .785 winning percentage in bowl games – his teams are 11-3 – is second-highest in college football history. His career .853 winning percentage is the highest of any active coach. Meyer also set the major college record with 165 wins through his first 15 seasons as a head coach and he is the only coach in major college history to have four different winning streaks of at least 20 games.
Meyer is second only to Woody Hayes on the Ohio State coaching ladder. All of that leaves quite a shadow for his hand-picked successor, Ryan Day, to combat.
Ohio State is really rolling the dice when the rookie head coach takes over on Jan. 2. The risk is two-fold. This is no place to become a head coach for the first time. And even if successful, it’s hard to imagine Day being a long-term solution for the Buckeyes.
The New Hampshire native has no ties to Ohio. If he fails, his support system just retired. If he succeeds, the NFL will surely come calling. His NFL experience and lack of local ties would make Columbus a mere stepping stone to a job at the highest level of the sport.
True, keeping Day maintains the program, the staff, recruiting continuity, etc. No question that was Meyer’s top priority. This is his staff, these are his people, and he’s trying to maintain their future employment for as long as possible.
That’s all fine today. I’m curious how that decision plays next November as the Buckeyes face Penn State and Michigan in the final two weeks of the regular season.
Make no mistake, Day is certainly a fine offensive mind. He was an apprentice under Chip Kelly with the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
His impact at Ohio State was impressive, too.
In Day’s first year here, he had the 7th-best offense in the nation with a run-first quarterback in J.T. Barrett, who capped a spectacular career as a three-time first-team all-conference selection. This year Day mentored Dwayne Haskins in a pass-first attack to the 2nd-best offense in the nation. Like Barrett and Braxton Miller before him, Haskins is a certain Big Ten MVP — and figures to finish third in the Heisman race.
But does anyone really see Day here five years from now, regardless of his success or failure?
“I am truly honored to be here today and am so appreciative to President Drake and Gene Smith for the faith they have in me to lead this team,” Day said. “I love this program and its student-athletes and I want Buckeye Nation to know how hard we are going to work to ensure this program remains the very best in the country.
“I also want to say ‘thank you’ to coach Meyer. His coaching wisdom and his elite ability to motivate and prepare a team is something everyone on this staff not only appreciates, but learns from and carries forward. I am grateful for the two seasons I’ve had as a part of his staff.”
That’s all very nice. But Day is not a long-term fit. He’s a bridge. No question that Meyer has created a fine infrastructure in Columbus. The Buckeyes should be Big Ten title contenders next year based on stacked recruiting classes alone.
But the stability of the program now has a crack in it the rest of the conference, particularly Michigan, has long been waiting to exploit. Ohio State just became vulnerable, for the first time in a long time.
