Urban Meyer says he has 'no desire' to coach football again
Any Michigan State fans who are holding out hope for the Spartans to land Urban Meyer as their next head football coach should probably set their sights elsewhere.
Just under two weeks after The Athletic's Bruce Feldman reported Meyer has 'zero interest' in coaching the Spartans in 2024, the three-time national championship-winning coach said he had "no desire" to return to coaching during an appearance at the Knoxville Quarterback Club in Tennessee this week.
"I am good," Meyer said. "I never really took a day off. People, when I say that, they scratch their head. I am like I never took a day off. I had some health stuff go on. I became addicted to sleeping pills. I was just a maniac worker. ... So no. No desire.”
Meyer has not coached football since 2021, when he was fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and has not coached in college since his run at Ohio State ended in "retirement" in 2018. Now working as an analyst for Fox Sports, Meyer's name was brought up when the Notre Dame job opened in 2021 and again this fall when Michigan State fired head coach Mel Tucker for cause in late September.
During his appearance at the Knoxville Quarterback Club, Meyer admitted he would wake up and "want to go coach a team" during his first year of retirement following his stint in Jacksonville. However, he said that desire no longer exists. Meyer is enjoying more freedom to spend time with his wife, Shelley, their daughters and four grandchildren.
Meyer also said the current state of college football, where "talent acquisition" has become even more time consuming due to high school recruiting requirements, NIL and the transfer portal is another factor in his decision to stay away from coaching.
“It has never been harder I am telling you right now," Meyer said. "Every coach, every player has an agent. Think about that. Remember those days? Maybe a coordinator every once in a while had an agent. There is nothing wrong with agents. They’re great.
"But when I am the head coach having to deal with a high school player that (says) meet with my agent first. I am going I want to meet with your family because you are talking about recruiting and other stuff.”
After rumors and unconfirmed reports surfaced that Meyer was a candidate for Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller, Meyer told Feldman there was "zero truth" to those claims.
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