PUSKAS: Multiple factors lead to OSU coach’s decision

It is difficult to imagine one of the greatest football coaches who ever lived retiring at 54 — still at the top of his game — and never walking a college sideline again.

But Urban Meyer’s sudden exit as head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes makes that a distinct possibility.

The announcement Tuesday was not a surprise.

Meyer has dealt with an arachnoid cyst on his brain since 1998. The condition causes debilitating headaches. Meyer underwent surgery to relieve symptoms in 2014, but the headaches intensified in 2017 and have been an issue throughout this year.

If you watched Meyer on the Buckeyes’ sideline at all this season, you could see he was not well. He admitted that retirement began to cross his mind after a health-related episode during Ohio State’s 2017 game against Penn State.

Meyer appears to have aged in more than the chronological sense in his seven years in Columbus.

“The style of coaching I’ve done for 33 years is very intense, very demanding. I tried to delegate more and CEO more and the product started to fail,” Meyer said during a news conference Tuesday with his successor, Ryan Day, and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith. “I didn’t feel I was doing right by our players and by Gene.”

But there was more to this decision than the persistent headaches. Domestic violence allegations against fired assistant Zach Smith resulted in a three-game suspension for Meyer to start the season and had some calling for his firing.

It didn’t happen, but the criticism stung Meyer and left him visibly annoyed, which only added to the chorus of critics in the media — and on social media — nationwide.

Meyer was asked Tuesday if the suspension will affect his legacy.

“I’m sure it will,” he said. “I can lie to you and say it is not important to me.”

But the Smith saga — like Meyer’s health issues — was just one of several contributing factors in his decision to walk away. Any coach will tell you that personal relationships can suffer in an all-consuming, high-profile job. Meyer opened his remarks Tuesday by noting it was his grandson Troy’s second birthday and joking, “That’s why we’re all here.”

Meyer wants to be there for his family. His son Nathan is a freshman at Cincinnati, where he will play his freshman season with the Bearcats baseball team in the spring. And remember, when Meyer took the Ohio State job in 2011, it was after he famously signed a contract written up by his daughter Nicki.

That came after he resigned as the coach of the Florida Gators in 2010 following a bout with stress. Among Nicki Meyer’s stipulatons: “My family always comes first” and “I will take care of myself and maintain good health.” She also wanted her father to find time to watch her and sister Gigi play volleyball.

Maybe, after seven hard-charging years in Columbus, Meyer is taking steps to honor that contract. But some are pointing to his exit from Florida as evidence he will simply resurface somewhere else as a head coach after a short respite.

Meyer said that is unlikely. He said he plans to remain in Columbus and perhaps move into an administrative role with Ohio State.

“I don’t believe I will coach again,” Meyer said.

Urban Meyer doesn’t need to coach again to have an almost unparalleled legacy in college football. He certainly doesn’t need the money that comes with the headaches — literally and figuratively — involved.

But is he really finished?

Meyer is still young enough that he could come back again if his health permits it and he gets the itch. There will, of course, be suitors.

Meyer is 186-32 (.853) in 17 seasons as a head coach, including 82-9 (.901) at Ohio State. Whatever anyone wants to think about why Meyer allowed the troubled Smith to stick around so long or about his bitterness over the resulting suspension, there was never a doubt that he could recruit and coach with the best to ever do that job.

Meyer’s seven years in Columbus only confirmed what we already knew. He’s really good at his job — perhaps to an extent that isn’t healthy for him.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.