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Mike Bohn's Hiring at USC Fuels Urban Meyer Rumors

It's a longshot, but Meyer remains college football's No. 1 free agent

Bruce Hooley

Mike Bohn's Hiring at USC Fuels Urban Meyer Rumors
Mike Bohn's Hiring at USC Fuels Urban Meyer Rumors /

If you want to connect the dots from University of Cincinnati athletic director Mike Bohn's hiring at USC to Urban Meyer's eventual hiring as the Trojans' head coach, you can certainly paint a picture that makes sense.

Bohn had been at Cincinnati since 2014, which means he hired Luke Fickell as the Bearcats' head coach.

Fickell was Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator before that, a guy many deemed a lifer in Columbus, having played there and coached there in various capacities for two decades.

Now Fickell is killing it at UC, building from 4-8 in 2017 to 11-1 in 2018 to 7-1 this season.

Do you think Bohn reached out to Urban Meyer, Fickell's boss, before hiring him?

Of course, that happened.

We even have a record of it.

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That's right, Bohn Tweeted his appreciation to Meyer as a, "prominent alumni," because Meyer played defensive back at the University of Cincinnati.

Of course, there's more.

It's not unreasonable to equate USC and the Pacific 12 now to what Ohio State and the Big Ten were when Meyer showed up as the Buckeyes' savior in 2012.

OSU was coming off a 6-7 season (with Luke Fickell as interim head coach) after the firing of Jim Tressel in an NCAA scandal that summer.

The league hadn't had a national champion since OSU in 2002 and was reeling reputation-wise from the Buckeyes' national championship blowout losses in 2006 and 2007 and an under-.500 bowl record as a conference in the BCS era, including 0-5 in New Year's Day bowls in 2011.

Meyer's arrival brought a two-time national champion into the Big Ten, someone who knew how to cash OSU's unlimited financial resources, in-state recruiting base and first-class facilities into an NFL talent factory and, along with that, dominant and relentless winning.

He never won less than 11 games and never lost more than two in any of his seven seasons.

Think that sort of success would play well with the USC fan base?

Think Meyer could make hay with the Trojans' tradition, their deep-pocketed alumni base, the string of A-List Hollywood celebrities he could leverage in recruiting, and the bottomless wellspring of talent in Southern California?

Think Meyer might be able to take SC to the top of a conference that's claimed only two of the 20 available Playoff berths over the five years of its existence?

Meyer spends most every weekend in Southern California now, filming the Fox Big Noon Kickoff Show. Two of his colleagues on set are former Trojan Heisman Trophy winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.

Of course, questions will arise about Meyer's health, since he cited on-going issues with a brain cyst as his reason for stepping aside at OSU last season.

Meyer had the same sort of exit from Florida, where he cited various health issues for prompting his exit from coaching following the 2010 season.

Early speculation has USC targeting someone other than Meyer, likely Penn State's James Franklin, because Bohn and Meyer haven't previously worked together.

The theory is, Meyer would only return to coaching to work for an AD he knows and trusts.

Certainly, that would be an allure, but Meyer came to Ohio State without ever having a conversation with OSU athletic director Gene Smith.

Not one.

A well-heeled booster and an intermediary acting on behalf of the university, someone Meyer trusted, brokered that hire. Smith and Meyer met for the first time minutes before Meyer was introduced as OSU's head coach.

It's always been literally true, but figuratively false, that Gene Smith was Urban Meyer's boss.

A coach like Meyer, with now three national championship rings, doesn't truly have a boss.

What's more likely to prevent Meyer from going to USC, if it extends an offer, would be his family's lack of support for his return or a refusal by three support personnel he brought to Ohio State to leave Columbus and follow him to L.A.

If USC wanted Meyer, he wanted back into coaching, and he could talk OSU strength coach Mickey Marotti, recruiting coordinator Mark Pantoni and football operations director Brian Voltolini into moving west, the deal would be all but done.

And if that happens, someone should alert the Housekeeping staff in Heritage Hall to clear space in the trophy case for a few more crystal footballs.

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Bruce Hooley
BRUCE HOOLEY

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