Rose Bowl vs. Washington will be final coaching stop for Ohio State's Urban Meyer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Urban Meyer, the highly successful coach who won three national championships and sparked controversy this season for his handling of domestic violence allegations against a now-fired assistant at Ohio State, announced Tuesday that he will retire after the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
The university announced the decision in a statement but did not say why Meyer was leaving after seven years at the Big Ten school, where he has an 82-9 record. The 54-year-old Meyer has previously cited health concerns. He has an arachnoid cyst in his brain that causes severe headaches, and had shown obvious effects of being in pain on the sideline this season.
A news conference was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon with Meyer, school officials and co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day, who will take over as the 25th head coach of the storied program where Meyer won a national title in 2014 after two at Florida (2006, 2008). It was Day who led the Buckeyes when Meyer was suspended for three games to start this season over his role in the handling of assistant coach Zach Smith, who was accused by his ex-wife of domestic abuse.
Meyer said he knew about the allegations against Smith — grandson of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce — but wasn't sure they were true and kept Smith on staff because no criminal charges were filed. The university cited that lapse in suspending Meyer after an investigation.
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A report issued by an investigative committee left a lasting stain, detailing behavior by Meyer that could have taken down a coach of lesser stature. The investigation showed he tolerated bad behavior for years from Smith, including domestic-violence accusations, drug addiction, lies and other acts that directly clash with the values Meyer touts publicly.
The announcement came as the Buckeyes begin preparations for the bowl game against Washington and less than three weeks before the early signing period, giving recruits time to change their minds. Former players were full of praise for Meyer.
"Besides my parents, you were one of the most influential people to touch my life and I'm appreciative of that," former Buckeyes linebacker Joshua Perry wrote on Twitter.
The Buckeyes' strong finish this season belied on-the-field problems that made for a stressful season for Meyer and his staff. He lost star defensive end Nick Bosa to an early season-ending injury, and the defense never fully recovered.
The team alternated expected blowout wins with puzzling play that included a pair of one-point wins (Penn State, Maryland) and a closer-than-expected win over a struggling Nebraska team. A startling blowout loss at unranked Purdue on Oct. 20 pushed Ohio State to the fringe of the national championship chase and prompted questions about Meyer's future and he was forced to addressed speculation that he would step down at the end of the season.
"I plan on coaching," he said on Oct. 29. Asked if he would definitely return to Ohio State next year, he answered, "Yes."
Ohio State followed that with five straight wins, including a rout of archrival Michigan that gave the Buckeyes another division title and then pulled away for an easy win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship.
The success was nothing new for Meyer, who was a standout coach at Utah before he left for Florida in 2005 and rocketed to the top of the college football coaching ranks, a peer of Alabama coach Nick Saban in terms of respect and ability. After stepping down at Florida due to stress-related health concerns, he took the Ohio State job before the 2012 season after Jim Tressel was forced out for lying to the NCAA amid a memorabilia-for-tattoos scandal.
It appeared to be a dream job for the Toledo native. His contract was extended in April by two years through 2022, increasing Meyer's salary to $7.6 million in 2018 with annual 6 percent raises. Meyer has about $38 million left on his contract.
Ohio State will now turn to Day, a second-year Ohio State assistant who had never before been a head coach before he stepped in for Meyer this season.
