Come on fellas. Some of you have lost your mind. Reading other threads on the board,it is obvious that some posters have bought into the Urban "Legend". All this B.S. about Meyer "turning around" the Bowling Green program is hillarious. I don't give a damn if Meyer went undefeated at Bowling Green, it's friggin' Bowling Green and translates into coaching at basicly the D1AA level. Meyer was there for a couple of years and hauled ass to Utah. While at Utah, Meyer won some games due to the fact that he inherited a QB and that he was coaching against some pretty bad football coaches and programs. Even in his "great" season last year at Utah, Meyer's biggest win was over a poor Texas A&M team that ended the year at 7-5 with an embarrassing loss in the Cotton Bowl. Utah played one of the softest schedules in the entire country and was given a sham invite to a BCS bowl against another joke of a team, Pitt. Neither Pitt nor Utah deserved to be in the BCS at all. Utah's schedule was so weak that even going undefeated meant nothing as far as BCS title hopes were concerned. Utah reminds me of that undefeated Tulane team from the 90's. Yes, they were undefeated but they played such a weak-ass schedule that they weren't truly considered as anything more than a fluke. Tulane's head coach hauled ass after that undefeated season and so did Meyer. Tommy Bowden was supposedly a "genius" based on what he did at Tulane but somehow that "genius" just never seemed to get it done when Bowden went from CUSA to the competition in the ACC. What a coincidence. Now, we have this year's "flavor of the month" in Urban Meyer. The similarities that Meyer has to Tommy Bowden and the Tulane situation are striking. There were those who were claiming that Tommy Bowden was going to take over the ACC with his new offense, etc. but in reality Clemson is still waiting for these predictions to come to pass. It ain't gonna happen. For all those who are jumping on the Urban Meyer bandwagon, remeber this fact. Meyer has never coached against the likes of Mark Richt, Phil Fulmer, or Steve Spurrier yet all three of those coaches are not only in the SEC but they are all in Meyer's SEC-East division. Do you honestly think that Urban Meyer has any of those 3 guys worried? Throw in Tubberville and yes, Les Miles from the SEC West as well. Meyer has never coached against coaches or programs of this magnitude. EVER. Remember this. While Meyer was coaching for 2 years in the Mountain West against lightweights, Les Miles was coaching for 4 years in the Big 12 against Mack Brown, Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, etc. and programs such as OU, UT, Kansas State, Colorado, Texas A&M, etc. and winning with a short hand. Believe the Urban "legends" if you want but this guy has a good chance of becoming Florida's Curley Hallman.
A coach who won a Mountain West Conference Title.... and beat a sorry Pitt team in the bowl actually concerns some of you more than Tennessee/Fulmer; USC/Spurrier; UGA/Richt; or Auburn/Tubby? All of the previously mentioned head coaches have won SEC Titles and two have NC's to their credit. Yet, to some on these boards their concern is URBAN MEYER? Meyer will be lucky to finish in the top 3 in the SEC East in the next few years. That's the truth and reality of the situation. This ain't Utah or the Mountain West Conference. Geez, I just don't get the concern about Meyer or Florida.
A coach who won a Mountain West Conference Title.... and beat a sorry Pitt team in the bowl actually concerns some of you more than Tennessee/Fulmer; USC/Spurrier; UGA/Richt; or Auburn/Tubby? All of the previously mentioned head coaches have won SEC Titles and two have NC's to their credit. Yet, to some on these boards their concern is URBAN MEYER? Meyer will be lucky to finish in the top 3 in the SEC East in the next few years. That's the truth and reality of the situation. This ain't Utah or the Mountain West Conference. Geez, I just don't get the concern about Meyer or Florida.
Re: A coach who won a Mountain West Conference Title.... He's the Anna Nicole Smith of college football---done good by inheritance. I will give the MAC credit, it is on par with C-USA. Gary Blackney built the program. Meyer just opened up the offense, same thing he did at Utah. What he has to do in Gainesville is tighten up the defense. I expect the Gators to finish second in the East behind UGa. Will Meyer be able to keep Zook's recruiting in-roads open is the real question. I can see Coach Superior just chomping at the chance to take every player off the Urban wish list.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, any coach involved with that Bob Davie offense at ND should NEVER get this much hype on the way back up the mountain...
I dont really get the argument that he isnt a good coach because he won against smaller schools.. he was coaching one himself.. so against equal competition, he won.. and most by blowouts... and against so called "higher competition", he won too.. Yeah.. he had a good qb at Utah.. and at BGSU, but he will also have a pretty good qb at florida.. so i wont discount the guy yet.
Every coach has to start small. Nobody is going to give him a job at a place like Florida without proving yourself first, which he did masterfully. So basically your argument is that he probably did the best job imaginable considering his position, and you are using his position, not the job he did, to say he had no success. The fact is he had tremendous relative success, and there is no indication that his program building process won't succeed at Florida. However, I will obviously concede there is no guarantee it will.
Stripes, I hope you're right, and your theory does sound plausible. I think it's very difficult to quantify the differences in small schools v. big schools. But, keep in mind Meyer is being applauded for his offensive schemes. We do know that there are levels of play where schemes will and will not work. For example, the high school model of having your top athlete at QB and letting it be a one man show does not work in college. Similarly, the option is not used in the NFL because the team speed would render it useless. I've got to wonder if the imaginative playbook Meyer has used at small programs will be useful when matching up with more athletic and just better football players. I suspect it won't, but I don't know if the guy can adapt or not. Regardless, it's will be very interesting to say the least.
Look I am a tiger fan but Urban Meyer is the real deal. He can win at Utah, at Bowling Green and anywhere else. He is a long term deep threat to anyone in the SEC. Spurrier and South Carolina are no hopers in the East. It will be Fulmer, Richt and Meyer. Fulmer is known to fail. Richt can be beaten. Not Urban Meyer, not with Gator speed and talent. This is Steve Spurrier all over gain. Spurrier was the Old Ball Coach. Now comes the New Ball Coach, Urban Meyer. Saban could have given Meyer a run for his money. Saban's backfield might have picked Meyers offense appart. But not, Miles. We should not expect a victory against the Gators. I think LSU will have three losses this comming season. Tennessee and Florida at home and Bama on the road.
