Urban Meyer's Legacy: What I Learned in the Presence of the Master Motivator

When the news broke that Urban Meyer was stepping down as head football coach at the University of Florida, it caught many by surprise.

It seemed every media outlet was shell shocked by the sudden announcement.

Me? I wasn't surprised at all.

You see, I once had the privilege of meeting Urban Meyer and listened to him speak his mind, about family, faith, and football.

Because of that one brief meeting, I would never be surprised about anything Meyer did from that point on.

The meeting happened in the spring of 2004. I was an athletic director at a Salt Lake City private high school, and was taking a group of incoming seniors to a leadership conference at another high school in the city.

As we arrived at the conference a fellow AD approached me and informed me that the guest speaker for the event would be none other than University of Utah head football coach Urban Meyer.

Go figure, I thought. No big deal. I had met a lot of college coaches in my position as AD.

Twenty minutes before his scheduled speech, Meyer arrived.

Myself and the host AD greeted Meyer in the parking lot and before we entered the school, the three of us strolled down to have a look at the school's new football field that was under construction.

We simply small talked about life, our jobs, nothing too special.

You have to understand that Meyer at this point was not a celebrity. I had no idea I was talking to one of the greatest college football coaches of our era.

All I knew was that Meyer had come to Utah from Bowling Green. I knew that in his first year as a head coach he was responsible for one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA football history when he led Bowling Green to an 8-3 record.

In his second year, he did even better, finishing at 9-3.

I knew that it was those two seasons at Bowling Green that propelled him to Salt Lake City to take over the reigns at the University of Utah.

In his first year at Utah, he had just led the Utes to a 10-2 season and was named the Sporting News National Coach of the Year. 

But to me, two good years at Bowling Green and one great season at Utah weren't enough to convince me I was in the presence of greatness.

After about 10 minutes we all went back into the school, and I, along with my students, took a seat near the back of the small conference room.

For the next hour or so, I would have the privilege of listening to one of the most motivating speeches I'd ever heard in my life.

Within minutes of listening to his speech, I began to realize that this wasn't just your average coach, no, this was a highly successful person. This was a person that had life figured out. This was a master motivator.

A long time ago, I learned that the greatest motivators weren't people that spoke the greatest words, they were people who had the rare gift to make you "feel" what they were saying.

Meyer was one of those people.

I couldn't tell you the specifics of what he spoke about that day, but I could tell you that it motivated the hell out of me.

I know that he spoke about family, about faith, and about how to get the most out of your professional life.

I remember that he wasn't a guy who attributed his success to circumstance. No, Meyer wasn't afraid to let you know that he worked hard for his success, and that if you ever stood against him in competition that he was confident that he would get more out of his players than you would.

He wasn't being arrogant, he was being honest. Urban Meyer is a man that has always been confident about who he is and what he does.

As I left the conference that day, I was extremely impressed with the man, I had a new appreciation for who he was and what he stood for. I was convinced he was a winner, and would succeed wherever he went.

What was unique about the timing of my encounter with Meyer was that he was right on the cusp of his fame and legendary status.

Four months later, in his second season at Utah, he would accomplish what no other non-BCS school had done before, leading the Utes to a perfect 11-0 record and an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl.

The state of Utah, as well as the country was shocked. The Utes? Undefeated and BCS bound? Everybody was surprised.

I wasn't.

To me, it made perfect sense, I had just met the guy a few months earlier. I knew that he meant business. I knew he had places he wanted to go and that to get to those places, he had to do what he just did.

Meyer was a guy that needed to be challenged, and Utah was just the second stepping stone for his big plan.

At that moment Meyer was so highly sought after the he didn't even stick around to coach the Utes in their Fiesta Bowl win over Pitt. 

He had already been named the next head coach at Florida and was on his way to Gainesville prepping for bigger and better things.

Many in Utah were hurt. They couldn't believe that he was gone after only two years?

But just like at Bowling Green, Meyer brought the Utes to new heights, never before imagined, and then disappeared into the sunset for his next big challenge.

When he arrived at Florida there were many who thought that Meyer's success would finally begin to slow down in the highly competitive SEC.

They were mistaken.

In five seasons at Florida, Meyer would engineer a 56-10 overall record and win two National Championships.

Once again, the nation was surprised at his success.

I wasn't.

To me, it was simply the master motivator at it again. After all, he had told me, face to face, that if we ever met on the field of competition, he would get more out of his players than I would.

Who was I to doubt that he felt that way in the SEC? Obviously he did.

After five seasons at Florida, not even Meyer I'm sure could have imagined that his next great challenge would be something other than football.

It seems this challenge will be even greater than Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida combined.

But don't be mistaken, Meyer is well prepared for the challenge.

The speech I heard him give six years ago wasn't just about football.

It was about family, faith, and football.

As I said earlier, Meyer is a guy who has life figured out. He knows that to compete against this challenge and beat it, he needs to step away from coaching and rely on his family and faith.

So just as it was at Bowling Green, and Utah, the fans in Florida are having to say goodbye to one of the greatest coaches they ever saw much to soon.

But as Meyer disappears into the Florida sunset you can be sure of one thing.

Meyer is making this decision with complete confidence.

Should we be surprised? Of course not.

Who are we to question Urban Meyer when it comes to making the right decision?