Urban Meyer insists he’s done coaching — again

Urban Meyer doesn’t want to coach again. He told Cleveland TV reporter Kellyanne Stitts as much this week when asked about the growing list of major college football openings.

“I don’t have a desire,” Meyer said.

Despite eight Power 4 schools looking for head football coaches, including Penn State, LSU, and Florida, Urban Meyer is not interested in getting back into coaching.

I also asked if #Buckeyes OC Brian Hartline is ready to be a head coach and he said yes.

“big Brian Hartline… pic.twitter.com/mGSHKAubiq

— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) October 31, 2025

That would be more convincing if Meyer hadn’t said some version of this at least half a dozen times over the past five years. If the health concerns that supposedly ended his coaching career hadn’t somehow disappeared for 13 games with the Jacksonville Jaguars. If his name didn’t surface every single time a blue-blood program fires its coach.

Meyer’s relationship with retirement has always been complicated. He left Florida after the 2010 season, citing health issues and family concerns, then took a year off before jumping to Ohio State. He left Ohio State after 2018 with the same explanation — an arachnoid cyst that causes debilitating headaches under stress — and seemed genuinely done this time. He joined Fox as a studio analyst and spent two years insisting he was happy in the booth.

Texas didn’t believe him. When the Longhorns decided Tom Herman wasn’t working out in December 2020, they made a serious run at Meyer. FootballScoop reported that university president Jay Hartzell and athletic director Chris Del Conte flew to meet with him. Days later, reports emerged that Shelley Meyer had been looking at homes in Austin. The interest was genuine on both sides.

Meyer turned them down. He cited his health again. The headaches, the stress, the toll coaching takes. Texas moved on and hired Steve Sarkisian in early January 2021. Meyer’s retirement lasted for exactly three more weeks.

On Jan. 14, 2021, the Jacksonville Jaguars hired Meyer as their head coach. The health concerns that prevented him from considering Texas apparently weren’t an issue anymore. The Jaguars were coming off a 1-15 season and held the No. 1 pick in the draft, which they used on Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Meyer got a multi-year deal worth roughly $9 million annually. The NFL experiment began.

It lasted 13 games. Meyer’s tenure in Jacksonville became a case study in dysfunction. He hired Chris Doyle as strength coach in February despite Doyle’s history of alleged racist behavior toward players at Iowa. Doyle was gone within 48 hours after the hire drew national backlash. Meyer brought Tim Tebow in for a tryout at tight end — Tebow hadn’t played since 2012 — in what looked like a publicity stunt. The NFL fined Meyer $100,000 and the team $200,000 for excessive contact during OTAs.

The Jaguars started 0-5. After a Week 4 loss in Cincinnati on Thursday Night Football, Meyer stayed behind in Ohio instead of flying home with the team. That weekend, videos surfaced showing Meyer at a Columbus bar, dancing with a young woman. Another clip appeared to show him touching her. The videos went viral. Jaguars owner Shad Khan released a statement calling Meyer’s behavior “inexcusable” and saying he needed to “regain our trust and respect.”

Meyer didn’t regain it. More stories leaked. NFL Network reported in December that Meyer called his assistant coaches “losers” during a staff meeting. The Athletic detailed how Meyer didn’t know who several NFL stars were, including asking, “Who’s this 99 guy on the Rams?” about Aaron Donald. Former kicker Josh Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times that Meyer kicked him during a practice in August and berated him.

Khan fired him hours after that story was published on Dec. 15, 2021.

Eight months later, Meyer was back at Fox for Big Noon Kickoff. And eight months after that, the rumors started again.

Nebraska fired Scott Frost in September 2022 after a 0-2 start. Big Noon Kickoff was in Lincoln that weekend for the Oklahoma game. Host Rob Stone asked the crowd on live television if they wanted Urban Meyer as their coach. The place erupted. “We want Urban!” chants filled Memorial Stadium. Comedian Larry the Cable Guy showed up as a guest and told Meyer on air, “I’ve come with an open check.”

The whole segment felt orchestrated, as if Fox were actively stoking speculation about one of its own analysts.

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reported that afternoon that Nebraska had “contacted” Meyer about the job. His story didn’t specify whether that meant Meyer was a candidate or if Nebraska was just picking his brain about other coaches. ESPN’s Pete Thamel threw cold water on it the next day, reporting there had been “no contact” and Meyer planned to stay at Fox.

Nebraska ended up hiring Matt Rhule.

The speculation hasn’t stopped. Meyer’s name came up when Auburn dumped Bryan Harsin. When Michigan State fired Mel Tucker. When Florida State stumbled through a disastrous 2024 season, people wondered if Meyer might return to the state where he won two national titles. Every major opening produces the same cycle. Someone floats Meyer’s name. Meyer or his representatives say he’s not interested. The job gets filled. Six months later, another opening appears, and we do it again.

Meyer turns 61 in December. His college coaching record across stops at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and Ohio State was 187-32 with three national championships. Those credentials make him a logical name for any program looking to make a splash hire. The problem is everything that comes with him now. He left Ohio State under a cloud after mishandling domestic violence allegations involving assistant coach Zach Smith. The Jacksonville disaster was worse— a parade of scandals and failures that ended with him getting fired for cause, less than a year into his contract.

Any athletic director who seriously pursued Meyer would face immediate questions about judgment. The baggage is substantial. The track record since leaving Ohio State is ugly. But Meyer’s still young enough to coach, and his résumé is still good enough that programs will at least think about it when they’re desperate.

Jon Gruden’s name followed him for nearly a decade after he left Tampa Bay. The “Grumors” became a recurring joke every time a major job opened. Eventually, the Raiders hired him in 2018. That ended badly, too, but the point is that elite coaches rarely stay retired if they don’t want to be.

Meyer spent three years back at Fox working Big Noon Kickoff with Rob Stone, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram, and now Dave Portnoy. It’s good money and significantly less stress than coaching. He’s told multiple people he has no interest in returning to the sidelines. He said it this week to Kellyanne Stitts. He said it when [insert school name] came calling. He’ll probably repeat it the next time a major job opens.

He also said it to Texas in December 2020. Three weeks later, he was coaching the Jaguars.