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Given his accomplishments, it’s no surprise hearing Urban Meyer’s name pop up as a head coaching candidate every single year when a big-time school may have a vacancy. Even after the three-time National Championship winning coach left Ohio State after the 2018 season to become a TV analyst, Meyer just can’t escape the rumor mill, with blue blood programs like USC, Notre Dame and now Texas being linked to the 56-year-old.
While most of the rumors have been just that, rumors, there’s no denying that Urban Meyer’s mysterious past has at least left college football fans wondering if he’ll make a return to the sideline at some point. Remember, this is the same guy who walked away from the Florida Gators a decade ago after winning back-to-back national titles, sighting health reasons. Meyer seemed to do the same at Ohio State, leaving the everyday grind to refocus his life and mental health.
But now that it’s been about two years since the head coach left the Buckeyes, could he have the itch to get back on the sidelines? If you believe some of the recent reports, it may happen, with the Texas Longhorns being the team reportedly courting him, with some UT fans even trying to go all detective to figure out if Meyer did a TV interview from an Austin hotel last week.
Problem is, the Longhorns football team doesn’t have a vacancy, with Tom Herman, a former Meyer assistant, currently holding the role. But that hasn’t stopped reports from flying in, with Football Scoop even suggesting that the Longhorns’ brass is “doing everything” in order to convince Urban Meyer to return to coaching.
“They’re doing everything they can do to convince him,” said a source with direct knowledge of the talks between Texas officials and Meyer.
Texas’ ability to lure Meyer out of retirement after two years has been considered by most to be a long shot.
Now, these are just rumors that may or may not have some truth, but, sheesh, imagine being Tom Herman and hearing these reports and still feel loyal to the school. It’s not as if the Texas Longhorns are making it easy for him to succeed if this is the type of stuff going on behind closed doors.
That said, after entering the college football season ranked No. 14, Herman and the Longhorns have wet the bed on what was supposed to be a promising season. Currently unranked with a record of 5-3, Texas is far from the program it expects to be, hence why Urban Meyer’s name is linked to the team.
With a 2021 recruiting class currently ranked No. 17 in the nation by 247 Sports, a diehard fanbase, a football-obsessed state like Texas, deep pockets and great tradition, maybe Texas has what it takes to convince Meyer to (once again) end his early retirement for a return to coaching. It’s the type of program he would seemingly be interested in, so we’ll just have to wait and see how all of this turns out.