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Gators' Meyer Can Cement His Legend With BCS Win

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Florida coach Urban Meyer is vying to be the first coach to win two BCS championships.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

MIAMI - Urban Meyer was just a lad, maybe 8 or 9 years old, when his father took him to his first college football game. They were at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, watching the hometown UC Bearcats play Wichita State. The game didn't generate many headlines around the country, of course, but the world stopped that day for the boy from a small Ohio town.

"We were walking by the sideline, and I still to this day remember saying, 'I want to be a coach' - watching what was going on the sideline," Meyer said. "I did not have goals set out - by this time I want to do this, this, this and this. I wanted to coach football, and I knew that at a very early age, even when I was taking a baseball route for a while. I knew at some point I would want to be involved in football."

That young kid with the saucer-sized eyes is poised to once again stand atop his profession. He, indeed, is "involved" in football. Meyer leads the Florida Gators into Thursday's BCS Championship Game against Oklahoma, and a win will give him two national titles in three seasons.

He would be the first coach to win multiple BCS championships. Interestingly enough, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops can say the same thing if the Sooners win.

But it goes just beyond the sideline. This is a legacy game, with ramifications that will echo for decades. The Gators earn more than just a crystal trophy and the right to hold a single index finger aloft if they win. They become the pre-eminent football program in the country, led by the hottest coach – better than Southern Cal, better than Texas, better than Utah, better than anyone at any place.

Doesn't Waste Away

How do you get there?

By not going there.

Meyer is relentless on details, focused to the extreme. In four seasons at Florida, he has built a program in his image. The man who listens only to music by Jimmy Buffett actually spends no time in Margaritaville. Can you really picture Urban Meyer wasting away in any place but a film room or practice field?

Somebody asked him about the whole "first coach to win two titles" idea. Meyer's answer spoke loudly about the kind of program builder he really is.

"Well, it's very humbling when you start thinking of all the great head coaches out there and great coaching staffs," he said. "Other than that, I just worry about third down and 6 and make sure our punting is ready to go."

The marriage of Meyer and Florida is practically perfect. The resources to dominate have always been there, but until now only Steve Spurrier figured out a way to harness it all. Of all the mighty works Meyer has accomplished, stepping out of Spurrier's enormous shadow might have been his biggest achievement.

Stoops, an assistant under Spurrier, might have been standing in Meyer's place – Florida pursued him hard after Spurrier left. He chose to remain at Oklahoma, but his fondness for the school in Gainesville is obvious.

"When you look at the presidents they've had; Jeremy Foley, their athletic director; and the people throughout their department; just a great administration; great people; great fan base; great recruiting base; you know, all of that; and great passion for their football teams and basketball teams," he said, "you look at what Billy [Donovan] has been able to build basketball-wise, you know; it's exciting. Again, more than anything, just great people."

More To Come?

Florida State set the gold standard, as far as I'm concerned, for modern-era dominance by finishing in the top five rankings 14 consecutive seasons. I'm not saying the Gators can do that; with the parity that exists in college football now, I'm not sure anyone ever will.

But you can't look at Meyer's program without seeing more crystal trophies in its future. Oklahoma is on a similar track under Stoops; this is the Sooners' fourth trip to the BCS title game during his reign.

Guys like these are hard to find. You have to sort through a pile of Zooks to find them, but then you hold on to them. FSU did that with Bobby Bowden. Meyer has repeatedly said this is his last coaching stop. He has a strong sense of identity, and that identity is the same as it was on that long-ago Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.

It has led him to this place in time and a chance to stand on a summit few people reach. When you think of college coaching legends, names like Bowden, Paterno and the Bear come to mind. Games like the one tonight turn names into legends, though. That's how they got there.

Win enough of them, and you become one of those guys. Win enough of them, and you're the program everybody talks about and wants to be. Florida is at that crossroads once again. A legacy hinges on the outcome.

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