It’s a busy weekend for Urban Meyer from the Fox Big Noon Kickoff.
The former Ohio State football head coach, who also led Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, is much in demand.
Friday afternoon, Nov. 21, Meyer spoke with Dispatch sister publication The Enquirer about several pertinent topics involving the Cincinnati Bearcats and BYU Cougars game Saturday at 8 p.m. on Fox from Nippert Stadium.
But first, did you know the former Cincinnati Bearcats defensive back from 1983-1986 was once approached to coach his alma mater?
Urban Meyer could have coached Cincinnati Bearcats?
After going 17-6 in two seasons at Bowling Green, Meyer was hired at Utah and went 22-2 in 2003 and 2004, winning the Liberty and Fiesta Bowls.
He eventually was hired at Florida, where he coached six seasons going 65-15 between 2005-2010 before going on to Ohio State between 2012-2018, going 83-9.
But while he was in Salt Lake City, he did hear from the University of Cincinnati.
“They made a big run when I was at Utah,” Meyer said outside of the Fox Big Noon Kickoff set. “I knew the AD (Bob Goin) and Bob Huggins called me. I actually thought about it because I wanted to get back. When I was at Bowling Green, they never did (reach out) I don’t know what was going on here. That would have been a great honor to come back to your own school.”
Urban Meyer comes to Cincinnati ahead of Fox Big Noon Kickoff
Meyer was in town Thursday, Nov. 20 and had dinner with former UC and Ohio State assistant Kerry Coombs, WLW’s Rocky Boiman, who he recruited to Notre Dame as an assistant and former Buckeye and Bengal Sam Hubbard.
Meyer relayed the story of discovering lanky, 6-foot-6 Sam Hubbard, then a Notre Dame lacrosse commit, in a Moeller High School gym class.
“He was a hell of a dodgeball player,” Meyer said. “They (Moeller football) had just won the state championship and coach (John) Rodenberg was a great friend of mine. He started telling me about this player and I was kind of listening and kind of not because I was watching this other kid just beat the hell out of everybody with a dodgeball. I said, ‘Who’s that?’ He said, ‘Coach, that’s who I’m talking about! Sam Hubbard.’ That was it, true story.”
After rehearsing Friday afternoon, Nov. 21, for the Saturday morning show on Bearcat Commons, he was going to watch his son-in-law Corey (Dennis) call plays for UNLV, but also sneak down to Paycor Stadium to take in St. Xavier vs. Elder. In 1985, Meyer was defensive backs coach for the Bombers and coached current head coach Steve Specht.
“I’m going to go watch that game for a few minutes,” Meyer said. “I really want to see the crowd turnout for that. East vs. west.”
After the Fox Big Noon Kickoff, he heads to Gainesville to be honored. He was also honored earlier this season in Utah for his two years with the Utes.
“Right from here we go down and get recognized by the Hall of Fame of the Gators,” Meyer said.
Urban Meyer Cincinnati Bearcats ties
“My father went here, my two sisters went here, my wife went here and my son went here, so we’ve got great love for Cincinnati,” Meyer said “It has changed. It was a commuter school. I never saw grass when I was here, now there’s beautiful grass everywhere. I’ve not seen the new (Sheakley) football facility, but I hear it’s spectacular. They’ve really invested here. I know all about it and I’m glad that happened.”
1980s UC football hadn’t quite turned the corner
“We struggled but they went on a great run of coaches and players,” Meyer said. “Tim Murphy, (Mark) Dantonio, Rick Minter, then it continued (with) Brian Kelly, Butch Jones. They’ve had some really quality coaches. There’s been a good tradition here for several decades.”
Cincinnati Bearcats vs. BYU Cougars matchup
Meyer has seen BYU a few times and marvels about freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier who has engineered three game-winning drives this season. As for UC, like many, he was surprised at last week’s Bearcats loss.
“I didn’t expect last week,” he said. “I thought Cincinnati would win last week and stay in the hunt for this thing. They still are. Some things have to happen for them to make the Big 12 championship. This is going to be a great game. I hope the fans come out and support them because they’ll need it. BYU’s a really quality team, but Cincinnati can be right in this thing.”
Urban Meyer coached Tim Tebow, likes big quarterbacks
Brendan Sorsby is 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds for UC and BYU’s Bear Bachmeir is 6-foot-2 and listed at 230 pounds. Meyer coached Tim Tebow at Florida when he was listed at 6-foot-3 and 255 pounds. Tebow and the Gators with Meyer beat up the Cincinnati Bearcats Jan. 1, 2010, in the Allstate Sugar Bowl after Brian Kelly abruptly left for Notre Dame.
“I like the fact that they’re both dual-threat quarterbacks (UC and BYU),” Meyer said. “It makes the game interesting and exciting. Whenever you have a running quarterback, you’ve got to defend the quarterback; that opens up other things. I think that’s going to be the key to the game, which quarterback plays best.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Urban Meyer says UC Bearcats called him when he was at Utah
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
