Ohio State football: Meyer NFL failure nothing unusual
By Del Barris
![As time almost expires, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer looks on to the clock during the fourth quarter at TIAA Bank Field Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021 in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the San Francisco 49ers during a regular season NFL game. The 49ers defeated the Jaguars 30-10. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]Jki Cp Jags 49ers 09](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F367a64a07e0182bef488fa572fa127a145d86b2007fd4f33409186a293b593e0.jpg "As time almost expires, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer looks on to the clock during the fourth quarter at TIAA Bank Field Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021 in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the San Francisco 49ers during a regular season NFL game. The 49ers defeated the Jaguars 30-10. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]Jki Cp Jags 49ers 09")
I really didn’t expect Urban Meyer to last very long as an NFL head coach. I didn’t think it would end this soon and so abruptly, but I’m not really surprised. It is not unusual for an ultra-successful college coach to struggle to duplicate that success in the NFL.
Nick Saban went just 15-17 with the Miami Dolphins after successful stops at Michigan State and LSU. The ol’ ball coach, Steve Spurrier, won a national title at Florida before going 12-20 over two seasons with the Washington Redskins.
Lou Holtz didn’t even make it through an entire season with the Jets before calling it quits a week before the final game of the 1976 season with his team 3-10. He said God did not put him on this earth to coach pro football.
Holtz’s comment can really be used to describe many coaches who have tried and failed at different levels of football. Saban, Spurrier, Holtz, and Meyer are not cut out for pro football. We’ve also seen this in the case of ultra-successful high school coaches unable to make a successful transition to the college level.
Gerry Faust is an Ohio high school legend (and one of the finest people I ever met in my time in the media) for his time at Moeller High School. He is legendary at Notre Dame for different reasons. This doesn’t mean these guys are bad coaches. For whatever reasons their styles do not translate to the next level.
When you look at the situation Meyer was walking into, he was almost doomed to fail. He would be starting a rookie quarterback for a Jacksonville team in the middle of a fifteen-game losing streak. Three or four wins was about all I was expecting. After thirteen games, Meyer had two. Questionable hires and behavior only served to make the situation worse. The Jags had finally had enough.
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No, I’m not surprised Urban Meyer went down in flames as an NFL head coach. I just did not see him succeeding. I truly hope this is it for him when it comes to coaching, but I’m not convinced he’ll stay away. I won’t be surprised if he is back on the sidelines of a high-profile college program by the start of the 2023 season.