Nov. 28, 2011
PressConference Transcript MeyerPress Conference (Video) Meyer Announcement Meyer Terms of Employment Employment Contract
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State Athletics Director Gene Smith announced today that he has named alumnus Urban Meyer head coach of the University’s football program. Meyer, who has the all-time tenth-highest winning percentage among head coaches, returns to the institution from which he earned his master’s degree and where he began his collegiate coaching career.
“In Urban Meyer we have found an exemplary person and remarkable coach to lead the University’s football program into the future,” said Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee. “As an alumnus, he understands and believes in the core academic mission of the University. As an Ohioan, he shares our common values and sense of purpose.”
Gene Smith, Ohio State’s director of athletics and associate vice president, said that Meyer is “known not only as one of the nation’s most successful coaches, but also as a leader and mentor who cares deeply about the young men who are his student-athletes. He brings with him an understanding of the University – both the important traditions of its football program and the excellence of the institution.”
Meyer has 20 years of football coaching experience, most recently serving as head coach at the University of Florida, from 2005 to 2010. Under his leadership, the Florida Gators won two BCS National Championships (2006, 2008). He has received numerous awards, including Coach of the Decade from both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News (2009). While at the University of Florida, Meyer helped lead an effort to raise $50 million for scholarships for first-generation college students.
“I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to return to Ohio State,” said Meyer. “This University and the State of Ohio have enormous meaning to me. My duty is to ensure that Ohio State’s football program reflects and enhances the academic mission of the institution. I am part of it, I believe in it, and I will live it.”
Prior to becoming head coach at the University of Florida, Meyer was head coach at both the University of Utah and Bowling Green State University. During his decade as a head coach, he amassed a record of 104 wins and 23 losses, and his teams won four conference titles. Meyer was named national coach of the year three times.
Meyer’s first collegiate coaching position was as a graduate assistant at Ohio State, from which he earned his master’s degree in sports administration in 1988. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Cincinnati, where he played defensive back.
Meyer assumes his position effective immediately.
Luke Fickell, who has served as Ohio State’s head football coach since May, will continue to serve as the current team’s head coach through any possible bowl appearance. He will remain on Coach Meyer’s staff.
“I want to express my enormous gratitude to Luke Fickell,” said Gene Smith. “During the past several months, he has demonstrated true leadership and devotion to the University and his players. He will continue to be a great asset to our program.”
Urban Meyer becomes the 24th head coach in the history of Ohio State football. Born in Toledo, Ohio, and raised in Ashtabula, Ohio, Meyer held a coaching internship at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1985. The following year, he joined Coach Earle Bruce’s Ohio State staff and spent two years as a graduate assistant while pursuing his master’s degree. Meyer and his wife, Shelley, have three children: daughters Nicole and Gisela and a son, Nathan. Nicole and Gisela play collegiate volleyball at Georgia Tech and Florida Gulf Coast University, respectively. Nathan is 13 years old and in middle school.
Among Meyer’s career highlights are:
The Ohio State University has one of the nation’s largest self-supporting athletics programs, with more than 1,000 students competing in 36 intercollegiate sports. During the last two years, Ohio State has had more student-athletes named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team than any other school. The overall grade-point average of the university’s student-athletes is just over 3.0. Last year, Ohio State finished second in the Director’s Cup, which recognizes the best overall athletics programs in the country.
COACHING EXPERIENCE | |
Year | School , Title |
1986 | Ohio State, Tight Ends (Grad. Asst.) |
1987 | Ohio State, Receivers (Grad. Asst.) |
1988 | Illinois State, Outside Linebackers |
1989 | Illinois State, Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers |
1990-95 | Colorado State, Wide Receivers |
1996-2000 | Notre Dame, Wide Receivers |
2001-02 | Bowling Green, Head Coach |
2003-04 | Utah, Head Coach |
2005-10 | Florida, Head Coach |
HEAD COACHING RECORD | ||||
Year | School | Record | Conference Record (Finish) | Final Poll* |
2001 | Bowling Green | 8-3 | 5-3 | NR |
2002 | Bowling Green | 9-3 | 6-2 | NR |
2003 | Utah | 10-2 | 6-1 (First) | 21/21 |
2004 | Utah | 12-0 | 7-0 (First) | 4/5/3 |
2005 | Florida | 9-3 | 5-3 | 12/16 |
2006 | Florida | 13-1 | 7-1 (First) | 1/1 |
2007 |
Florida |
9-4 | 5-3 | 13/16 |
2008 | Florida | 13-1 | 7-1 (First) | 1/1 |
2009 | Florida | 13-1 | 8-0 (First, East) | 3/3 |
2010 | Florida | 8-5 | 4-4 | NR |
Totals: | 10 Years | 104-23 (.819) | 60-18 (.769) | |
* Polls listed AP/Coaches’/Sports Illustrated |
BOWL GAMES AS A COACH | |
1987 | Cotton Bowl |
1990 | Freedom Bowl |
1994 | Holiday Bowl |
1995 | Holiday Bowl |
1997 | Independence Bowl |
1998 | Gator Bowl |
2001 | Fiesta Bowl |
2003 |
Liberty Bowl 2005 Fiesta Bowl 2006 Outback Bowl 2007Tostitos BCS National Championship Game 2008 Capital One Bowl 2009FedEx BCS National Championship Game 2010 AllState Sugar Bowl 2011Outback Bowl