Urban Meyer takes victory lap over ‘idiots on social media’ after Ohio State title

You just had to know that Urban Meyer was going to get the last laugh.

Following Ohio State’s 34-23 win over Notre Dame to secure the program’s first National Championship since Meyer was the head coach, he took aim at those who chose to doubt his successor. After his name was floated as a potential replacement for Ryan Day following the Buckeyes’ head coach dropping his fourth straight game to Michigan, Meyer rebuffed the idea he’d return to coaching.

Instead, he lamented the state of the program, which was very fragile, as those who Kirk Herbstreit would include in his “lunatic fringe” called for Day to be fired. But after the sun was done falling in Columbus, the Buckeyes regrouped and won four straight en route to their ninth title in program history.

“A lot has been made of it, of Coach Day and the pressures of coaching at a place like Ohio State,” Meyer said on his The Triple Option podcast. “And I made a comment that’s not going to change. The thing that’s got to change — and has changed — is the idiots on social media that don’t sign their name to stuff. And when you start involving families, you’re pushing it too far.”

If you can recall, Herbstreit doubled down on his criticism of Ohio State’s fanbase when he mentioned that Day needed 24/7 armed security.

“Booing because you don’t get first downs and you lose to the rival? That’s part of the game,” Meyer added. “But, you got to keep the families out of it.”

Urban Meyer knows the weight of leading high-profile programs.

He experienced it in Florida.

“When I first [went] to Florida, you know they wanted [Steve] Spurrier. I’d want Spurrier, too. He was a Heisman Trophy winner there, won the national championship,” Meyer said, as covered by Fox News. “But it was Coach Spurrier went, I think, to the [Washington] Redskins, he got fired and left. He was available. The contingency wanted him back, and they hired me from Utah.

“I really didn’t understand the dynamic until I got there, and I got there, and I’ll never forget — he goes to South Carolina — we lose to South Carolina, which you don’t do that at Florida. I walk in to do my radio show on a Thursday, and I am the most miserable human being. I’m a stranger in a strange land down South there, and I come walking in and they boo me. I’m 7-2, I think, at the time.”

He experienced it at Ohio State, too.

“Just nut job fans would say things about my girls or something, and we’d have police come 24/7 around the house a few times — just because you’re in the public eye,” Meyer said.

He also shared an anecdote about how those pressures spilled over to his players, including former Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett.

“One time, J.T. had a bad game — and I love J.T., toughest nut there is,” Meyer said. “One day, I was talking to him, and he said, ‘These fans are nuts here.’ And I said, ‘I know.’ Then he showed me some of the things that were hitting his Instagram or whatever.”

After all, when you’re at a place like Ohio State, the only thing louder than the critics on social media is the sound of winning — and Ryan Day just proved it.