MENU
SECTIONS
OTHER
CLASSIFIEDS
CONTACT US / FAQ
Advertisement
Urban Meyer watches the Jacksonville Jaguars warm up last fall.
1
MORE

Briggs: Could Urban Meyer resurrect coaching career at BG (or Toledo)? 'Wow, what a question'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Briggs: Could Urban Meyer resurrect coaching career at BG (or Toledo)? 'Wow, what a question'

They say you can’t go home again, but the other day the damndest question popped up all over the internet.

Could Urban Meyer return to his northwest Ohio roots?

As in: Could the three-time national champion coach resurrect his career at Bowling Green or — GULP! — The School Up North (Toledo)?

Advertisement

“Ohio CFB insiders float interesting Urban Meyer theory,” teased one website.

John Muenzer, 60, a St. John's Jesuit and University of Toledo graduate, is out to make swimming history.
David Briggs
Briggs: Call him crazy, but Toledo marathon swimmer John Muenzer ready to make history

Come again?!

All I could do was take the bait, click on the story, and see which moron insiders were floating such baseless and inane speculation.

Oh, right.

Advertisement

Whoops.

Let one of the alleged insiders explain: In what became an interesting commentary on the modern media ecosystem, I was on cleveland.com’s Buckeye Talk podcast with with host Doug Lesmerises and our Toledo beat writer, Kyle Rowland, to preview the Rockets’ football game at Ohio State this season.

The banter eventually gave way to a discussion on Meyer’s coaching future, his beginnings in northwest Ohio — where he was born (Toledo) and got his start as a head coach (Bowling Green) — and whether we could imagine a scenario in which he returns to the Mid-American Conference. We agreed it was ... not impossible.

Naturally, this led to no fewer than a dozen web headlines — including on 247Sports and the Spun — and an inside look at how the sausage is made.

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila is in his eighth season leading the franchise.
David Briggs
Briggs: How long will Tigers GM Al Avila continue to get a pass?

All it takes is tossing out some half-serious conjecture on a podcast, a short wait for the laborers at the internet factory to aggregate it, and voila.

Journalism!

Still, blue-sky speculation or not, love Meyer or hate him, I think we can all agree: The idea of an Urban Redemption Tour rolling through these parts is amusing to entertain.

And, if others are going to run with it, we might as well, too.

At least, I had to take the question to the man himself.

So ... Urban, could you see yourself a few years down the road finding satisfaction back at Bowling Green (or Toledo)? Or am I completely nuts?

“Wow. What a question,” Meyer texted. “I do love BG. However, I could not see that happening. We are enjoying our lives and kids/grandkids.”

Translation: You’re telling me there’s a chance.

After all, it was Nick Saban who declared, “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach,” just as Meyer said, “I believe I will not coach again,” after announcing his retirement from Ohio State in 2018.

And here we are.

Saban has won six national titles and counting at Alabama, while Meyer — after his 13-game reign of error in the NFL last season — has indeed coached again.

Could he coach ... again ... at Bowling Green?

Again, it doesn’t feel impossible. (At least BG doesn’t. Seeing as Meyer still calls the Rockets “our rivals,” Toledo might be a harder sell.)

Consider: Meyer, 57, has already conquered the highest level of college football, and, given his disastrous season with the Jacksonville Jaguars on top of the turmoil of his final year in Columbus, he’ll find it difficult to land another marquee job anyway.

If he were to get back into college coaching after a couple years rehabbing his image on TV — he’s reportedly in negotiations to return to Fox this season — his best option might be a school like, say, Mississippi State or Texas Tech, the kind of buzz-hungry place where the juice of hiring Meyer would be worth the baggage.

In that case, and Bowling Green had an opening and interest, would Meyer follow his head — and the money — and take a random power-conference job? Or go with his heart?

Say what you will about Meyer, who, for what it’s worth, I believe to be a fundamentally decent man whose obsessive pursuit of victory has created more blind spots than a windowless 18-wheeler. But he loves BG, where he coached in 2001 and ‘02. Meyer remains close friends with many of the school’s top boosters and has helped the university with countless fundraisers over the years, telling me a few years ago, “I would do anything for Bowling Green.”

Anything? Hmm.

How about polishing off a Hall of Fame career by leading Bowling Green into the soon-to-be-expanded playoff?

Or, at least, by being the best former Florida coach in the MAC?

If it means anything, Meyer wouldn’t be the first coach to go from Madison Avenue to the MAC — Frank Solich traveled backward from Nebraska to Ohio, Gerry Faust from Notre Dame to Akron, and Jim McElwain from Florida to Central Michigan — nor would he even be the first MACK man to go home again. Mack Brown is in his second go-around at North Carolina, where, incidentally, back in 1988, he replaced Dick Crum, who went on to coach at Kent State the next three seasons.

Still sound crazy?

OK, sure.

Back here on earth, this moonshot scenario probably won’t happen for a million different reasons, beginning with this: It’s hard to imagine Meyer being driven by nostalgia.

Maybe there are some coaches who could let their hair down, assume a CEO role, and find contentment drawing up a few plays for Old State U. I’m not sure a coach who has spent the better part of the past two decades in a hair-on-fire chase of national championships is one of them.

As much as Meyer cherishes Bowling Green — and as easy it is to imagine him turning the program into a recruiting and fundraising powerhouse — he would still be striving to do more with less there.

And, honestly, I’m not sure Meyer — a man who can’t live with or without football — has it in him to coach anywhere again, let alone trying to muscle a boulder up the steepest of hills.

For better or worse, the next time we see Meyer wearing orange, it’s probably because we’re staring into the sun.

Or reading rumors on the internet.

Where do people come up with this stuff?!

First Published June 18, 2022, 12:30 p.m.

RELATED
University of Toledo Athletic Director Bryan Blair during his first day on the job.
David Briggs
Briggs: New Toledo AD meets with — GASP! — the diehards on the Rockets' message board
University of Toledo WR Devin Maddox makes a catch against Bowling Green State University SS Trent Simms during a Mid-American Conference football game Wednesday, November, 10, 2021, at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green. UT defeated BGSu, 49-17.
David Briggs
Briggs: As bookmakers release 2022 college football odds, can Toledo prove us wrong?
SHOW COMMENTS  
Join the Conversation
We value your comments and civil discourse. Click here to review our Commenting Guidelines.
Must Read
Partners
Advertisement
Urban Meyer watches the Jacksonville Jaguars warm up last fall.  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
Pittsburgh skyline silhouette
TOP
Email a Story