Urban Meyer Finally Admits the One College Football Opponent That Got Away
Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has long been celebrated as one of college football's greatest minds, with three national titles and a 187-32 record. But in a recent episode of his Triple Option podcast, Meyer revealed a surprising admission: he never got to coach against the one team that truly mattered to him—Notre Dame.
"When I was at Ohio State, the one team I wanted to go coach against [was] Notre Dame," Meyer said. "I love Notre Dame. I wanted to coach at Notre Dame because I just love the place, but to go in there into the hallowed grounds of Notre Dame Stadium and play a game, that would have been really cool."
Meyer served as wide receivers coach under Lou Holtz and Bob Davie at Notre Dame from 1996 to 2000, a stint he credits as the most formative of his career. His son was even baptized at the school. Despite his deep ties, Meyer never faced the Fighting Irish as a head coach—not at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, or Ohio State. He tried to arrange a matchup during his Utah days, but the game never materialized.
The revelation comes as Meyer remains active in the college football world, serving on Fox's Big Noon Kickoff alongside Rob Stone and Mark Ingram. His podcast comments have reignited discussion about the paths not taken in his legendary career.
The Near-Miss That Changed Everything
Notre Dame pursued Meyer aggressively after firing Tyrone Willingham in 2004. Coming off an undefeated 12-0 season at Utah, Meyer was the hottest candidate in the country. The Irish-Catholic coach, who grew up supporting Notre Dame and spent six years there as an assistant, seemed like a natural fit. But Meyer ultimately chose Florida, a decision he has rarely elaborated on until now.
In the same podcast episode, Meyer also detailed his decision to decline the Arizona Wildcats' head coaching offer in 2011, a year-long hiatus between his Florida and Ohio State tenures. Current Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne, then Arizona's AD, flew a booster's plane to meet with Meyer. The meeting turned personal: Meyer's father was dying of cancer.
"I'm supposed to meet with him, and this is a really sad part of the story, but my father had cancer, and my sisters called me as I was walking off the (golf) course and said, 'you've got to get home, it doesn't look good,'" Meyer recalled. When Byrne heard that Meyer's father lived in Cincinnati, he insisted: "Jump on the plane, I'll take you home, and we'll do our interview on the plane."
Meyer ultimately turned down the job, but the story underscores the what-ifs that pepper his career. Arizona eventually hired Rich Rodriguez, while Meyer returned Ohio State to national glory in 2014.
Tim Tebow Says Meyer's Florida Dynasty Would Crumble in the NIL Era
As Meyer's legacy is reexamined, former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has offered a sobering perspective on the challenges facing modern college football. In a June 3 episode of the Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect podcast, Tebow said his iconic Florida teams—which won two national championships under Meyer—would not survive today's NIL and transfer portal landscape.
"Honestly, I can be honest and say, 'Really, never,'" Tebow said when asked if he's ever considered his own NIL value. "I think it would have been a lot harder to have a team bond the way we did if that was the case."
Tebow pointed to Florida's 2006 recruiting class, which included stars like Percy Harvin, Joe Haden, and Brandon Spikes. Many of them stayed together through their senior seasons, a rarity in today's environment where star players can transfer for multi-million-dollar deals. Tebow noted that programs like Colorado and LSU are now poaching top talent with NIL promises, a trend he believes would have broken up Meyer's stacked rosters.
"I think there would have been people that would have come in, and like one of the special things was our '06 class that came in together. So many of us left together," Tebow said. "Percy left the year before, as he should have, because he was a first-round pick... but then so many of us stayed and finished together."
The Broader Shift in College Football
Tebow's comments reflect a broader anxiety across the sport. The transfer portal has seen over 2,000 entries each year since 2022, with players increasingly motivated by financial incentives. Just this offseason, Colorado offensive tackle Jordan Seaton moved to LSU for a reported $4 million deal, while Lane Kiffin paid top dollar to secure Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt.
Meyer's Florida teams were built on loyalty and continuity. The 2008 national championship squad featured 13 future NFL draft picks, including eight who were selected in the first three rounds. That kind of cohesion is harder to achieve when players can leave for rival programs offering bigger NIL packages.
What This Means for Urban Meyer's Legacy
Meyer's career is now being viewed through a dual lens: his unmatched on-field success and the historical context that made it possible. He won at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and Ohio State—programs with varying resources—by instilling discipline, recruiting elite talent, and fostering team chemistry. But as Tebow argued, the chemistry that defined Meyer's best teams may be a relic of a bygone era.
Meanwhile, the Notre Dame dream still lingers. Meyer has no plans to return to coaching, but his podcast comments have sparked speculation about what a Meyer-led Notre Dame team might have looked like. Irish fans can only wonder what might have been.
As college football evolves into a landscape dominated by NIL deals, mega-conferences, and the transfer portal, Meyer's legacy stands as a testament to what was possible before the game changed. Whether his style could adapt remains an open question.
"It would have been a lot harder," Tebow said. And for a coach who made winning look easy, that may be the most revealing assessment yet.
For more on big football what-ifs, check out our analysis of Ange Postecoglou's move to the ITV World Cup punditry lineup and the Curaçao World Cup debut against Germany.
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