There are conflicting reports why Florida coach Urban Meyer announced his resignation effective after the Gators play Penn State in the Outback Bowl on January 1.
Meyer, who briefly resigned at the end of last season, said that the reasons he resigned this time have nothing to do with the reasons he left last year, meaning they didn’t necessarily have anything to do with his health.
The Gators coach said he had “deep family discussions” and decided that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
But according to a player that was in attendance at the team meeting when Meyer announced his resignation, the Gators coach told them that “he told us he spoke with those close to him and all of his doctors and (Meyer said) ‘if I keep going my health will continue to get worse so I can’t risk it to my family – so I am stepping down.’”
The player in attendance at the team meeting said many in the freshman class weren’t happy with Meyer’s decision, saying that most of them were talking about transferring.
Regardless of which explanation you want to believe, neither of them are the real reason Meyer resigned.
Florida finished the regular season 7-5, the most losses in a season since Meyer became a head coach.
The Gators will lose nine starters from this year’s team, their punter and two others that saw considerable playing time.
Despite the fact Florida has a lot of talent, those younger players and those that are expected to return aren’t good enough yet to compete for an SEC or BCS championship.
Instead of having to endure another sub par season or perhaps several seasons in which the Gators will need to rebuild, Meyer abandoned the Florida ship.
Too many people want to immediately assume that Meyer is leaving for the stated reason of spending time with his family.
But the 46-year-old coach isn’t exactly an old man that has a limited amount of time left to achieve that purpose.
No one likes to lose, especially Urban Meyer. His ego won’t allow him to stand on the sidelines and watch his team get beaten up because that reflects poorly on him.
The mark of a great coach is someone who can take the good seasons with the bad, and who has the wherewithal to fight through those hard times.
Meyer doesn’t have the courage to do that. That perpetual smirk he sported went away after Alabama blasted the Gators in the 2009 SEC championship game and he hasn’t sported it since.
Unless Meyer knows that he can win and win big, he doesn’t want any part of having to do the hard work that it takes to rebuild a program.
Believe anything you want, but Meyer didn’t resign because of his health or to spend more time with his family.
He quit on the Gators because they aren’t going to be dominant during the next few seasons, and he can’t handle the truth.
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