With Ryan Day potentially on the hot seat at Ohio State, the conversation around who might potentially replace him has already begun.
You just knew it was only a matter of time before someone floated Urban Meyer.
The Fox college football analyst who spends his Saturdays on Big Noon Kickoff was Day’s predecessor at Ohio State. All he did in seven seasons was go 83-9, win three Big Ten titles, and bring home the school’s first national title in 12 years. This came after Meyer won two national titles with the Florida Gators.
Honestly, we’re surprised it took until Monday for someone to mention Meyer given that the Buckeyes lost their fourth-consecutive game to the hated Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, dropping Day to 1-4 versus That School Up North.
That namedrop came during the latest episode of the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. Garrett Bush, Adam “the Bull” Gerstenhaber, Jason Lloyd, and Jay Crawford spent a solid chunk discussing OSU’s loss, whether or not Day should be fired, and who should replace him.
At one point during the conversation, Crawford, a former SportsCenter anchor who is now a news anchor for WKYC in Cleveland, mentioned that he’s been speaking with “three or four people that are in Columbus that are dialed in” regarding who could potentially be the next Buckeyes head coach.
“Would Urban ever come back?” asked Gerstenhaber. “Would they ever bring him back?”
“Of the three people that I talked to, two of them with some degree of certainty, said yes, he would come back, and yes, they would ask him back because those are the questions I asked,” responded Crawford.
The panel then discussed some potential Ryan Day replacements, including Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman or Cleveland Browns consultant and OSU legend Mike Vrabel before things invariably swung back in Meyer’s direction.
Lloyd then asked if Meyer would actually undercut Day, his chosen replacement, to return as OSU’s head coach.
“I’m surprised you’re even asking that question,” said Crawford. “The biggest thing to me is this. Urban never wanted to leave Ohio State. The people that were closest to him and that know him well know that he did not want to leave Ohio State. His hand was forced because the administration at the time did not like how powerful Urban had become at the university. And so there was a real power struggle. Note that the two main players that forced Urban Meyer out, and that’s what it was, are gone.”
Crawford is presumably referring to former athletic director Gene Smith and former president Michael V. Drake.
His recounting of how Meyer’s tenure at Ohio State ended also leaves out some critical details. Specifically, Meyer had served a three-game suspension at the beginning of the 2018 season for his reported knowledge and handling of spousal abuse allegations against receivers coach Zach Smith. He also remained with the university as an assistant athletic director under Smith after stepping down as head coach.
Meyer also cited health issues as a reason for stepping away, something he had previously done when he left Florida. The football coach had surgery on a cyst in his brain that causes stress-related headaches and said those headaches had returned.
All of which is to say that Crawford appears to be using a specific narrative as part of this conversation, something that his three tapped-in people in Columbus might also want to push.
Regardless, Meyer himself has made no public overtures to return to coaching. If anything, the Fox analyst has made it clear at every turn that his coaching days are over. Of course, you never say never, especially with a coach like Meyer, who might want a chance at redemption following his disastrous Jacksonville Jaguars tenure.
