Jim Tressel Resigns: Why Urban Meyer Can't Resist Ohio State Head Coaching Job

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel resigned Monday morning, leaving one of the most coveted head coaching positions in the entire country up for grabs.

Head coach Urban Meyer just retired, leaving Florida months ago, but the opening at Ohio State will be too tempting to pass up for the two-time national championship-winning coach.

Meyer is an elite coach, if not the very best head coach of the past decade.  He quickly turned around the Utah and Florida programs, instantly making them national championship contenders.  His ability to recruit is virtually unmatched.

Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell will take over for the 2011 season, but in 2012 is "Fickell or Meyer" really a tough choice?  This isn't a matter of if Ohio State wants Urban Meyer—it's all about if Meyer wants Ohio State, and the answer to that is a resounding yes. Meyer wrote in the book he released in 2008 that Ohio State is one of the jobs his wife has no veto power over.

With Fickell coaching in 2011 for Ohio State, Meyer still gets the rest and family time he intended to get when he resigned from Florida.  He just didn't expect his dream job to be waiting for him when he was re-energized.

He was born and grew up in Toledo, Ohio.  He played college football at the University of Cincinnati.  His first college coaching job was at Ohio State as a graduate assistant for two years.

It's a match made in heaven.

Meyer obviously already knows how to recruit the state of Florida, which Ohio State has been doing for years.  He'd get to tap into the rich Ohio and Pennsylvania recruiting territory that boasts itself as the strength of the North East.  He could also continue to recruit Florida, steal a few of Joe Paterno's recruits and Ohio State will be back on top in no time.

As far as the current roster, the Buckeyes have the speed to run the spread right now—there won't be a transition period like Rich Rodriguez needed at Michigan.  Old-fashioned Big Ten offenses won't be able to keep up with Meyer's revolutionary system.

He began at Ohio State; he now has the opportunity to finish at Ohio State.  There's no way Urban Meyer turns this job down.