Urban Meyer retired from coaching following the 2018 season at Ohio State. The legendary college football head coach could have stayed retired and worked on TV at FOX for the next 15-20 years. Or he could have had his pick at the next great college job, like Texas or USC.
Instead, Meyer opted for a new challenge.
The former Ohio State and Florida head coach made the jump to the National Football League. He accepted the head coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this year.
Meyer recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer about the reasoning behind his move to the NFL.
“I prayed hard on it,” Meyer, 57, said. “It’s funny you bring Jimmy Johnson into it. He’s been a mentor, a guy that has become a mentor. He wasn’t in my younger days, but the last couple years, I’ve always admired him, and we’ve become friends. And I just felt an emptiness, and I had some opportunities in college. And he made a comment to me, You’ve reached a point where you should just do what you want to do.
“And do I really want to go recruit 24/7 like it became? I’ve done that. I’ve always admired, appreciated and respected the NFL, and then this Shad Khan guy, once I got to know him, I mean, I love the guy. He wants to win so bad. I’ve always loved Jacksonville, Florida. And it’s like this puzzle got put together. I looked at film endlessly, saw some decent players here, and I thought, let’s go take a swing at it. That’s why we did it.”
Meyer has a tough task ahead of him, as the Jaguars are coming off a 1-15 season. Still, he appears to be up for the challenge.
Jacksonville will open the 2021 season on Sunday, Sept. 12 against the Houston Texans.
The post Urban Meyer Reveals Why He Really Made The Jump To NFL appeared first on The Spun.
Leave a Reply