Report: Urban Meyer Leaning Toward Not Returning to Coaching Amid Texas Rumors

The Texas Longhorns' pipe dream of landing Urban Meyer as their next head football coach is reportedly not going to become a reality.

According to Chip Brown of 247Sports, "Meyer indicated to Texas he's leaning toward not coaching again due to health reasons."

What's more, a university source told Brown the Longhorns could ultimately keep Tom Herman if they don't land Meyer.

One of the biggest issues is Herman's buyout, which sits at $25 million. While Brown reported donors would be happy to help pay the buyout to land someone like Meyer, whether they would do so for another coach without such a great on-field track record would be more of a question mark.

According to the report, Texas has researched Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, Penn State coach James Franklin and Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, but none of them can match Meyer's resume.

The former Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State coach is 187-32 in his career and won double-digit games in 12 of his 17 seasons.

Meyer, who won two national championships with the Gators and another with the Buckeyes, was known as a top-notch recruiter and offensive coach during his career, and his success helped popularize no-huddle and spread attacks that have become the norm in college football today.

However, health problems have been a significant concern for him, especially at the end of his Ohio State tenure that saw him go 83-9 in a stretch of dominance rarely seen in the sport. In 2018, he told Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports he had a congenital arachnoid cyst in his brain that caused severe headaches.

He was even seen kneeling in pain on the sidelines during a game in his final year with the Buckeyes.

With Meyer apparently out of the picture, that could leave Texas back at square one with Herman. Herman, who worked for Meyer as an offensive coordinator at Ohio State, is 31-18 with the Longhorns and has never seriously competed for the College Football Playoff.

That may be good enough for plenty of programs, but Texas considers itself one of the standard-setters of college football. 

It just sounds like Meyer will not be the one helping it in its quest to return to the upper echelon of the sport.