9/4/2023 0 Comments Niki and gigi meyer![]() Meyer still carries considerable influence within the athletic department as he continues to learn more about its inner workings and other sports. I want to go attack something, and sometimes there's nothing to attack." on a Tuesday during fall camp, just after plopping his car keys on his desk and flipping his office light on in an otherwise mostly dark and quiet floor, Meyer noted that the football staff had probably been at work for at least an hour already. "It's a different world over here," Meyer said, taking a seat in his black leather office chair with the red block "O" on it, behind his new C-shaped desk.Īt 7:30 a.m. The question is how long will the new role fulfill him. Meyer's coaching legacy varies by whom you ask, and what part of the country they're from, but his work at Ohio State isn't done. It was a quantum leap for a man who was once on the campus pedestal and made national headlines for what he did - and sometimes failed to do. Smith tried to get Meyer to take some time off, but he began his new job immediately after he punctuated his retirement announcement with a 28-23 win over Washington in the Rose Bowl. "It just makes you think, you have grandkids, you start thinking about the next 25 years of your life and it certainly played a little bit of a role." "As the doctor said, 'Coach, it's not your ankle we're talking about,'" Meyer said. And while it might seem to some like an unlikely - or even temporary - retirement plan for a 55-year-old coach who finished 83-9 with one national title in seven seasons at Ohio State, it's a decision that had been discussed for almost two years.Īlmost every Sunday last year, Smith and Meyer would discuss Meyer's possible retirement, with Smith calling them "old souls, sitting around talking about it." After the medical scare against Indiana, "It got more serious," Smith said. It's a postscript to a successful yet controversial career. Technically, he now is an assistant athletics director for athletics initiatives and relations - a fancy way of saying his new role focuses on imparting leadership lessons to all 36 sports, their team captains and head coaches, along with participating in typical fundraising and speaking engagements. "Because he loses himself," Smith said.Īnd so he's here, on the 10th floor of the Fawcett Center, home to the administrative side of Ohio State athletics.Īs the Buckeyes prepare for their first season under 40-year-old coach Ryan Day, this is where Meyer reports to work. ![]() It helped keep the crowd noise down, but it also was a tangible reminder to temper his intensity. Whenever he looked like he was ready to rip his headset off, "all of the people were responsible for just touching him" as a signal to keep it on. Smith asked the team assembled in his office to watch Meyer closely during games. Meyer said the intense pain began against Penn State last year and worsened against Indiana. Doctors diagnosed it in 1998, when Meyer was at Notre Dame, and drained it of spinal fluid in 2014 through a surgery that required two holes in his head. The sideline incident was the product of years of issues Meyer had suffered due to an abnormally large arachnoid cyst on his brain. Smith wanted a "management plan" for Meyer. The scene spurred Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith to call Meyer into his office the following week, where he met with Smith and those closest to the head coach on game day, including the head athletic trainer, team doctor and director of football operations. ![]() And his career was questioned again when he dropped to one knee on the sideline, his left hand bracing his head, his play sheet falling to the ground during Ohio State's game against Indiana. The season began with Meyer's highly publicized three-game suspension. Inside Urban Meyer's life after football at Ohio StateĬOLUMBUS, Ohio - Urban Meyer is here, in this office half the size of his old one, in large part because of where he was in 2018. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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