He turned to me and asked. "Is it OK to make this announcement here?" Meyer turned back to the...

He turned to me and asked. "Is it OK to make this announcement here?"

Meyer turned back to the golfers and said, "I'm not going to Notre Dame. Ever. I'm going to be the coach at Florida for a long time, as long as they want me."

He turned back to me and told me to put that in the paper, then to three other writers playing in the tournament and told them to print it.

Meyer gives his definitive answer

This little bit comes from Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley's charity golf tournament.

I'm sure the reaction from many corners will be something along the lines of "But, but, Nick Saban in Miami!!" I would wager that this is more of a Les Miles declaration than a Saban declaration, personally. Notre Dame will call him just to hear him say "no" just as Florida did with Bob Stoops before both the Zook and Meyer hirings, but he's going to say "no" every time.

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HURRAH

OverTheMonster - ALLERGEN WARNING: May contain peanut butter.

by bdalebs on Jul 13, 2009 5:54 PM EDT reply actions

It’s very satisfying to us, but I doubt it will make much of an impact on those who wish to keep the uncertainty alive; some will profess to doubt the word of a coach – any coach – on principle (cue Paul ‘I know he’s lying because his lips are moving’ Finebaum), and others will assert that he’ll be powerless to resist the masses of cash that ND will plunk down on the table. (Ignoring, of course, the financial resources at Foley’s command, and the prohibitive cost of buying out El Grando and paying for a top-level replacement simultaneously.) Just take a look at the Doc’s post on the subject – in the first three comments there’s one of each type.

The important thing, though, is whether recruits will believe Meyer…

by peachy rex on Jul 13, 2009 8:12 PM EDT reply actions

This may be the most baffling non-story of the offseason

As a Georgia fan, I would like nothing better than to believe that Urban Meyer is going to leave Gainesville for South Bend, but I just don’t see it.

Yes, he once said Notre Dame was his dream job . . . and he found himself in a position where he had a choice between the Fighting Irish and the Gators. He chose Florida. Since that time, the Florida job has only gotten better and the Notre Dame job has only gotten worse. Being at an elite SEC institution offers financial, recruiting, facilities, and climate advantages that Notre Dame simply cannot match.

Urban Meyer made his choice. He has no reason to be unhappy with that choice and he has not given anyone any reason to think he is unhappy with that choice. Quite frankly, if he ever did accept the Notre Dame job, he’d never make it to South Bend, because, when he was on his way from Florida to Indiana, I’d file a guardianship petition on him while he was in Georgia. Clearly, anyone who picked the Irish over the Gators would have a mental health issue.

Anyone who thinks this is a real question needs to buy a calendar. It ain’t 1946, or even 1989, anymore.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Jul 13, 2009 9:10 PM EDT reply actions

You need someone to sign off that you would be a good parent?

Anything to keep Meyer at UF.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 14, 2009 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

"as long as they want me" could mean..

“as long as they keep paying me as much as Notre Dame would.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Jul 13, 2009 10:07 PM EDT reply actions

Do you really think . . .

. . . Florida would lose a bidding war with Notre Dame?

I’m not saying the Irish couldn’t come up with the cash, but, if push came to shove, they wouldn’t . . . not like an SEC school would, anyway.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Jul 13, 2009 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions

In a bidding war ...

My money would be on the guys with the nice robes as opposed to those with the jorts.

I don’t think it’s possible for us as Southerners to "get" the mystique that Notre Dame still has in the Midwest, particularly among Catholics of a certain age. I’m not 100 percent sold that there’s not some small part of Meyer that wants to coach Notre Dame — and if the time is right, it could overcome his better instincts.

That said, I think Meyer is probably going to stay. This sounds even more definitive than Saban. The bigger danger for Florida fans, IMO, is burnout.

Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.

by cocknfire on Jul 14, 2009 4:09 AM EDT up reply actions

I know the Roman Catholic Church has more money . . .

. . . but is the Pope prepared to come out of pocket for a football coach as much as the University of Florida alumni are? I don’t think so, particularly after the Charlie Weis bajillion-dollar-a-year-in-perpetuity debacle.

Yes, the Vatican could outspend the Gator faithful, by leaps and bounds, but, when push comes to shove, SEC football fans are more prepared to put their money where their mouths are than the fine folks at Our Lady of Perpetual Nostalgia, at least where the gridiron game is concerned.

I get the Notre Dame mystique, I just also get that it’s fading. The “Catholics of a certain age” to whom you refer are a good deal nearer to Lou Holtz’s age than to Urban Meyer’s. One reason Corch Meyers’s public comments have seemed so definitive is because he’s so definite. The “mystique” would cause him to listen politely rather than hang up the phone, but it wouldn’t get him to South Bend for an interview, much less for good.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Jul 14, 2009 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Burnout is the most likely reason as to why he might leave. Everyone who is close to him and who has an outlet says that while leaving for Notre Dame was a concern when he first got to Florida, it’s not now. He’s definitely not going to leave before his son Nate (who is 10 or 11, I believe) graduates high school because the only thing that made him go to UF over Notre Dame in the first place was the ability to skip nationwide recruiting (a necessity for ND) and be able to be with his children more.

I don’t think he wants to do that to his wife either. In Meyer’s biography it makes it pretty clear that Shelley was never keen to the idea of picking up and moving any of the times they did it dating back to his days as an assistant, to say nothing of her fondness for Bowling Green and especially (especially) Utah. She’s sacrificed a lot for him and his career, and I don’t think he wants to do that to her again for what is anymore is no better than a lateral move (if that).

If Meyer takes time off or goes to the NFL (which is very unlikely, IMO), then absolutely going to Notre Dame is a possibility. I’m fairly confident in saying though that he won’t leave Florida to immediately take a job at any other college.

Team Speed Kills
SBNation's SEC Blog

by Year2 on Jul 14, 2009 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions

Let me just say this: My dad was born in Chicago, and is Catholic...

And chose UF over ND.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 14, 2009 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Athletic department revenue for 2007/08, with national rank :

UF – $106.0 million, 3rd
ND – $83.3 million, 14th

(And when I hear words like “mystique” thrown around in a sporting context, I’m inevitably reminded of what Curt Schilling said before the 2001 World Series.)

by peachy rex on Jul 14, 2009 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions

OR..

If Saban hires Meyer as his “female dog” after the beat down we give them in the revenge sec championship game in ATL….then Meyer can have his true dream job…..doing anything he possibly can for alabama

Jealousy is the thread that holds TET threads together!

by The Voice of Reason on Jul 14, 2009 3:22 PM EDT reply actions