My plans for Urban renewal.
by Jujdog on Nov 8, 2009 7:51 PM EST
23 comments
While dining on French toast (ugh!) at The Brady Inn in Madison, Georgia, before departing for Athens yesterday, a revelation came upon me! If Charlie Weis is fired, who will the Catholics turn to? At the time of Weis's firing, the Gators will have likely completed their third national championship season under the Visorless Evil Genius, who, it seems was a member of Bob Davies' staff at Notre Dame as was Charlie Strong (I think I remember this right.). So I decided to pull for Navy yesterday and announced it to the others sitting in the dining room of the aforementioned B & B, ALL of whom, it turns out, are devout Catholics and immediately pummeled me with the remainder of their fruit plates (ugh!) which accompanied the aforementioned French toast. But, I said, if Navy wins, Weis is closer to being fired, and Urban is the logical choice. There are few jobs better than the Florida job, but Notre Dame is the apex of college coaching, even if they haven't won in a while, AND, it turns out, Urban is a devout Catholic!!! (At least according to the FSU fan there who lives in Jacksonville.) At this point, the Jacksonville lass immediately switched to being on my side, for, as you know, being an FSU fan, she would like to see Urban gone from the Sunshine State PLUS it would give her religion's school a boost. Win-Win (Gad, I hate that expression.) for her. Although I really never needed a reason to hope Notre Dame did not win a game in any given season, I now hope they don't win again until Urban relocates there to succeed where Weis cannot. I know this is probably not an original thought, but one can dream, can't he?
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This is not a hypothetical
If Urban wanted the Notre Dame job, he could have, you know, just taken the Notre Dame job back with it was offered to him.
by Travis Rice on Nov 8, 2009 8:01 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I'm thinking the money would be far greater now since
he’s proven he can win at a big time program and Notre Dame could and would come up with mind-boggling amounts. He could coast there forever. Well, he’s sorta coasting now, isn’t he? Which brings me back to your point___things change, the challenge of showing his gimmick offense would work in the mighty SEC has been met and surpassed; where else can he go for a challenge in college football with megabucks to boot. He’ll go, sooner or later.
by Jujdog on Nov 8, 2009 8:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I hope you're right . . .
. . . but I’m not convinced that Notre Dame would come up with the money. I have no doubt that the Roman Catholic Church could win a bidding war with the University of Florida, but I seriously question whether Our Lady of Perpetual Nostalgia would cough up the dough to lure Urban from the Swamp.
The Notre Dame mystique means a lot to Roman Catholics of Lou Holtz’s generation. To Roman Catholics of Urban Meyer’s generation, I think it reads a lot better than it lives. When we look at where the two programs were on the day Coach Meyer chose Gainesville over South Bend, and we look at where the two programs are today, it’s hard to say either that the Notre Dame job is better or that the Florida job is worse.
Maybe guys like Urban Meyer like a constant challenge, but it’d be hard to walk away from the situation he has at Florida. Just ask Billy Donovan.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Nov 8, 2009 9:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I think UF has the pockets to compete with anyone
Notre Dame included. Since 1990 (not including this year), the UF’s UAA has contributed $48 million to the University of Florida. Those are donations toward education because they had a few extra bucks laying around.
Could ND outbid us if they really really wanted to? Maybe. When would the ND alumni and the Catholic Church say “we are an academics-first instittuion and you’re not spending $8 million (or whatever it would take) on a football coach.” I also don’t think it’s about the money with Urban – I’m also confident that Jeremy Foley will keep his coach happy. He has a fine track record of doing so and (IMO) is the best AD in the nation (the Zook hiring notwithstanding!!!).
I’ve heard lots of coaches say they don’t have any plans to leave their current job. I am not sure I have ever heard one say “I am not going to coach at ____, Ever.” and then leave to coach that school.
Has that happened before?
by skigator93 on Nov 9, 2009 1:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I agree that Florida can be competitive with anyone financially . . .
. . . and I say that as someone whose athletic department is in the same boat. While the Roman Catholic Church obviously has extraordinary financial resources at its disposal, the amount of those resources that Notre Dame is willing to spend probably is less than what Notre Dame is capable of spending. That’s why I’m convinced the Irish wouldn’t win a bidding war, even though I’m equally convinced they could.
Plenty of coaches have made definitive statements before leaving. Nick Saban was unequivocal when announcing that he would not be the head coach at Alabama. More than one Miami Hurricanes head coach has left for another job within weeks of announcing that he was staying. Tommy Tuberville famously said he would only leave Oxford “in a pine box” before accepting the Auburn job.
I’m not saying Meyer is lying. As I have argued repeatedly, I don’t believe Urban Meyer would pick Notre Dame over Florida because (a) he faced that choice before and chose Florida (at a time when the buyout clause in his contract made an exception for Notre Dame but not for Florida) and (b) the Florida job has gotten better and the Notre Dame job has gotten worse in the interim. I’m just saying that a coach’s unequivocal statement that he’s staying isn’t evidence that he’s sticking around.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Nov 9, 2009 1:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
In answer to your question
I guess I have to say it. I’m not going to be the Alabama coach." & "I don’t control what people say. I don’t control what people put on dot-com or anything else. So I’m just telling you there’s no significance, in my opinion, about this, about me, about any interest that I have in anything other than being the coach (for the Miami Dolphins).
- Nick Saban, December 21, 2006
I’m not sayin’… I’m just sayin’
by vineyarddawg on Nov 9, 2009 1:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You're quick on the draw, Kyle...
… beat me to it by a few seconds.
by vineyarddawg on Nov 9, 2009 1:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
That's pretty concrete
Some would say that Saban is different from most coaches. Have there been any others that anyone remembers stating that they would not take a specific job they ended up taking?
As a sidenote, I heard a UGA fan call in to the Coach Donnan show this afternoon (with Chuck Oliver & Matt Chernoff) and claim that Paul Johnson would be coaching Notre Dame within the next 2 years….
by skigator93 on Nov 9, 2009 3:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
this again?
Urban is not leaving for Notre Dame. It is not the 1980s and the status of the 2 programs isn’t even in the same ballpark.
by skigator93 on Nov 8, 2009 9:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Nor is the history of the two programs in the same ballpark.
Even if Florida wins the BCS national championship this year and Tebow wins his second heisman, Notre Dame will still have them doubled up historically in both total championships won and total Heisman Trophies produced.
Not that I’m saying Urban would bolt for Notre Dame. In fact, I think it would be the height of lunacy to leave the top school in the top recruiting state in the country to go to a Catholic school with super-high academic requirements at the intersection of Northeast Indiana and Southwest Michigan. As Kyle says, though, it is probably the ultimate challenge in the college game.
Restoring the luster to a program that is, without question, the most storied in college football history is the reason he would go, in the unlikely event he went. (Well, that, and the money. But at this point, it wouldn’t be as much about the money. He already has plenty.) I simply don’t know how possible it is to restore that luster. So many things have fundamentally changed about the game since even the Lou Holth days… if someone could do it, Urban Meyer might be the man.
by vineyarddawg on Nov 8, 2009 11:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Actually, Kyle, there is a precedent for a football coach to leave Florida
for bigger bucks and a bigger challenge. The fans to which I was making reference were all your age or younger, not old guys like me. The truth is that the “mystique” of Notre Dame will always be there with the media gurus___maybe they won’t come up with the money. And, skigator93, the sun don’t always shine on the same dogs’s ass___things change and they will continue to do so.
by Jujdog on Nov 8, 2009 9:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Like I say, I hope you're right . . .
. . . and all I know about the man is what I see on ESPN, so I don’t presume to know what attraction a new challenge and the Notre Dame job continue to hold for Urban Meyer at this point in his life and career. I’ll be more than happy to be proven wrong on this one, but, right now, I’ll believe good news for Georgia when I see it, ‘cause I haven’t seen it in a good long while.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Nov 8, 2009 9:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
We can certainly agree that good news for Georgia hasn't been seen in a good
long while. And, whether or not Urban stays at UF is not the determinative factor in Georgia’s success. It’s what the Georgia coaches do with their “opportunity” to which Coach Richt constantly makes reference. Succinctly stated, Georgia’s problems are not rooted in Gainesville, Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa or anywhere other than Athens. We’re gettin’ outcoached___in recruting and in developing the talent recruited and in preparation and on gameday. No one to blame but ourselves.
by Jujdog on Nov 8, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Not to rain on your parade, but its not happening.
Speaking at a charity golf tournament last month, Meyer said he was floored when he returned from vacation and heard about another story linking him to Notre Dame.
"I’m not going to Notre Dame. Ever," said Meyer, who chose Florida over Notre Dame in 2004. "I’m going to be the coach at Florida for a long time, as long as they want me."
by Hook85 on Nov 9, 2009 4:14 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
oh ya
here the link to this too, incase you want to read it for yourself.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-florida-meyercontract&prov=ap&type=lgns
by Hook85 on Nov 9, 2009 4:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
While I agree with you that he's not going . . .
. . . there is no weaker proof for the proposition that a coach is staying than a public statement by the coach that he’s staying. Don’t make me search YouTube for all the coaches who’ve said they weren’t going anywhere about fifteen minutes before it was announced they were going somewhere.
By the way, I was more confident of my position that Urban Meyer wouldn’t leave Gainesville before all the Florida fans started showing up to declare their certainty that Urban Meyer wouldn’t leave Gainesville.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Nov 9, 2009 7:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I think it's sad
that we are now resigned to hoping that a coach leaves a particular school in order for us to compete (not that there isn’t a ton of validity in hoping for a regime change in Gainesville).
We couldn’t beat Florida in the 90’s. We should’ve dominated them when the Zooker was at the helm, but didn’t. We’re 1-4 against St. Pious the Urbane. Will the next Florida coach continue the ass-whuppins we have pretty much come to expect if a change materializes?
Whether Meyer stays or goes, we’d better get a handle on this “rivalry” soon. Next year, Florida is losing Tebow. However, they have a more than capable kid who has gained valuable playing time this year in Brantley. We are probably going to be starting a redshirt freshman…the only newbie on an offense that will return 10 starters.
I hope there is a shift in fortunes really soon. I just don’t know if changing coaches down there is going to matter or not. In my mind, beating Florida has now become the requisite for Mark Richt to remain the coach at Georgia over the long haul.
Bye weeks: The time to tweak your fashion sensibilities.
by DavetheDawg on Nov 9, 2009 8:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
First time poster here.
I agree with DavetheDawg. It is sad when you start hoping for a coach to leave a certain school so that you might gain the upper hand in years to come. I’m an Auburn man, and we have lots of guys and girls saying that about Nick Saban. I say screw that and go right at him. There’s always going to be some top notch guys in coaching, especially when it involves the SEC. Urban Meyer going directly to Notre Dame isn’t a cure all remedy for Georgia. Richt just needs one more go getter assistant and he’s got the makings of a mega powerhouse. Furthermore, you guys aren’t so far away from that this year-you’ve just had a lot of things go against you. In addition, you had the number one draft pick last year at the game’s most important position.
Richt can honestly do it himself I think. He just seems to have lost that fire a bit, but a bad season will stoke the embers and a full blaze will be back again soon. He’s a very good coach, he’s just had one bad year.
by Sparkey on Nov 9, 2009 11:07 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
It is truly sad
that UGA fans have to wish for the UF head coach to leave in order for us to feel that we have a realistic shot at beating the Gators consistently. Such was the case when Darth Visor left ( I believe we beat Zook once) and such is the case now.
Color me crazy, but can’t we get better and not have to hope that the Gators get worse?
by Lakepoets on Nov 10, 2009 8:21 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I hate Florida - in several languages
Spanish – Odio la Florida
Dutch – Ik haat Florida
French – Je déteste la Floride
German – Ich hasse Florida
Italian – Odio Florida
Portugese – Eu deio Florida
Russian – Я ненавижу Флорида
Feel free to choose your favorite =)
by podunkdawg on Nov 10, 2009 1:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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