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Report: Urban Meyer cited ‘health issues’ for turning down Texas job
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Urban Meyer has reportedly told University of Texas officials that he won’t be returning to the sideline due to “health issues.”
That’s per Brian Davis and Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, who add that Texas is still deciding what to do with current head coach Tom Herman.
On Sunday, Chip Brown of 247Sports was the first to report that Meyer had turned down the Longhorns.
The fact that Texas’ pursuit of Meyer became public could make it difficult to keep Herman into 2021 and still recruit at a high level. However, Texas boosters may not want to pay the price for firing him if a legendary coach like Meyer isn’t waiting on the other side. Per the Austin American-Statesman report, Herman’s buyout is $15 million.
Texas is scheduled to play Kansas this weekend in its regular season finale, although that game is in jeopardy due to COVID-19.
Herman is 31-18 in nearly four seasons in Austin, which is an improvement over UT’s previous head coach Charlie Strong. However, the Longhorns have only made one Big 12 Championship Game in that span, which was a loss to Oklahoma. Texas has never been a legitimate threat to make the College Football Playoff.
Meyer hasn’t coached since the 2018 season when he resigned from Ohio State, citing health concerns. He also left the University of Florida after the 2010 seasons for health reasons.
Meyer is currently a lead analyst for FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show.
Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.