There might be a good reason why Urban Meyer is speaking so highly of Texas football of late.
What if I told you Urban Meyer might want to get back into coaching again, you know, possibly at a place like Texas?
Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South connected the dots for us in this department. He is not alone in thinking Meyer could leave Big Noon Kickoff for a place like Texas, but it was cool to see somebody put their name on it and put it out there. I tend to agree that this would be the one place that would make the most sense for Meyer, but do you want to get in business with him?
I mean, Meyer already said the Longhorns have arguably the best roster in all of college football.
You can absolutely win college football games with Meyer, but it doesn't always end well when he decides he doesn't want to coach your team anymore. Of course, Steve Sarkisian is still in charge…
Let's discuss if Meyer has interest in the Texas job, or if he is dangling the carrot to create leverage.
Urban Meyer's infatuation with Texas could be part of a bigger plan in the works
Look. I want Sarkisian to succeed at Texas. He is a brilliant offensive mind, a great recruiter and has overcome so much in his personal life. If it works out for him in Austin, Longhorn Nation will build him a statue. In the case that it doesn't, and he continues to be roughly a 7-5 head coach, Meyer could leave the FOX studio set and get Texas turned around almost immediately. There's no doubt.
While Meyer has won prolifically everywhere he has been in the college ranks, his one year driving the Jacksonville Jaguars into the ground could not have been a bigger unmitigated disaster. I don't know how this lands with the University of Texas administrators, but I can totally understand why some universities would never touch him with a 10-foot pole again. Meyer is seen as totally toxic.
However, what price do you put on being back, and being back if you're … Texas?! While the Longhorns have a decent shot at winning the Big 12 one last time to make the final four-team College Football Playoff, Texas is joining the SEC in 2024. Even if Sarkisian is well-equipped to handle all that comes with this from his days at Alabama, this will be a step up for the entire team.
There is where Meyer comes in. As long as it is not the NFL, he can unify a top-tier college program and have it winning big overnight. He won two national championships at Florida during the Tim Tebow years and won the first ever College Football Playoff with the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes with a third-stringer playing quarterback. Having Ezekiel Elliott and Joey Bosa did help…
Either way, Meyer's reputation speaks for itself. He could conceivably take the program to heights only Mack Brown could relatively recently should Sarkisian fail. Meyer could also abandon Austin faster than concert goers attending SXSW. He is pushing 60 and has already retired twice from the coaching profession for health concerns. The question is if that Urban juice is worth the squeeze.
Personally, I wouldn't go there with Meyer, but I also have no ties to Texas. The Longhorns aren't joining the SEC to be cannon fodder to the likes of Alabama, Georgia, LSU and whatnot. They want to win championships. Though leaving the Big 12 they haven't exactly dominated behind feels like a bold strategy, Cotton, so would be hiring Meyer to replace Sarkisian. The idea of this is out there.
Truth be told, I think Meyer is using Texas as leverage to make even more money to work for FOX.
