[mdosu]

fantasic op ed written by Jen Floyd of Fox Sports:

November 28, 2011

So Urban Meyer did not really step down as Florida's football coach to spend more time with his family, bring balance to his day and get healthy? Or maybe he did and, after a year, said, "Forget this."

I have no insights into the inner workings of Meyer's brain.

Maybe, he bailed because SEC pressure is toxic and insane. Maybe, it was because Tim Tebow graduated. Maybe, losing ate at him. Maybe, he really had very little talent stockpiled. Maybe, he really did want to spend more time with his family only to realize he missed having a football family, as well. Maybe, he really wanted to change. Maybe, he was lying all along.

I do not know. I do not care. It is none of my damn business, or yours.

I will let Meyer determine how to properly mete out his 24 hours between job and kids, how to best tend to his cardiovascular health, how to find what feels like balance for him. What I know for sure is Ohio State just hired itself a good coach.

A report came out Monday saying Meyer would be hired as Ohio State's coach. For days it was the worst-kept secret in college football. The news has pumped life into a program that had struggled to regain its footing in the wake of the "scandal" of a year ago.

The word feels wrongly applied now. What happened at Ohio State with a few little harmless lies about tattoos seems rather tame in light of what secrets other notable coaches were keeping for the good of the program.

We probably owe former Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel an apology, if we're being honest.

Our righteous indignation was wasted on what only looked like lack of institutional control. We now have a clearer picture of what "lack of" really looks like in college athletics, thanks to what has been alleged at Penn State. And lack of institutional control pales in comparison to that lack.

That ship has sailed, though, and Meyer is on his way.

I love this hire for Ohio State for so many reasons, mostly because college football is better with Meyer involved. The dude wins everywhere. He brings a perfect blend of talent and cocky and fun. And if he has a little Brett Favre-diva in him, well, welcome to college football coaching nowadays. They all are stars in their own little worlds. What we should know for sure after Penn State is judging college coaches on anything beyond Ws and Ls is dangerous. We do not know them, not really, not for sure. We just know their coaching and the little, well-crafted snippets of themselves they let us see.

It is safer to judge the coaching. And how can you not like a coach such as Meyer who, according to reports from Columbus, wanted an incentive in his contract for back-to-back championships?

He will excel at The Ohio State University, where tradition, money, talent and university commitment really only require adding a good coach to have a chance at winning big. Meyer is that guy, pulling down two national championships while at Florida and probably deserving another for his undefeated season at Utah.

National championships with an "s" is not impossible at The Ohio State, especially with the Big Ten being what it is. Big on big at the Big House every year battling Brady Hoke for a chance to play for a national championship has to sound pretty good to Meyer.

So I do not blame Meyer, not at all, not for leaving Florida and not for resurfacing at Ohio State so soon after declaring his intention to spend more time with family. As Thanksgiving holidays have a way of reminding all of us, family time is fraught with its own challenges. Why shouldn't Urban Meyer be allowed to miss football, to change his mind, to want to go elsewhere?

Meyer simply employed one of the oldest rules of breakups. Fall on the sword. No specifics. And whatever you do, do not tell the truth. The truth leads to long, awkward conversations when the goal is quick and dirty. This is how "It's not you, it's me" came into the dumping lexicon. And a couple of weeks later, that same guy is back in the saddle — sometimes, literally — with that blonde from accounting.

It was you, after all. And so it is with Gator fans.

To borrow a phrase from the "Sex and the City" crew, Meyer was just not that into you.

It was you, not him. He did not want to coach you any more.

The same rules used in relationships apply in football. If he is not that into you, you do not want him. It does not matter how good he was or how many good times you shared. They call this a breakup because it is broken, another relationship axiom that applies to football, as well.

Florida will be good again, just like LSU was after Nick Saban bailed on them.

At least Meyer did not go to a hated rival or pull a Jay Leno and go trolling around his former program and swoop in with talk of saving what he created at the first sign of trouble. What Meyer soon will do is take a job that he has long been rumored to have interest in and will likely win big.

Maybe, this was his plan all along. Maybe, he really tried to stay home and failed.

I don't know. Nor is it my business.

What I know for sure is Ohio State just landed itself a great football coach.