Urban Meyer on Return to Coaching: ‘That Book Is Closed’

Meyer’s last coaching job was a 13-game stint with the Jaguars in 2021, going 2–11 before being fired.

After a 13-game crash-and-burn with the Jaguars in which he posted a 2–11 record and was fired midseason, many speculated that Urban Meyer would eventually return to the sidelines at the college football ranks, where he won three national titles with Florida and Ohio State. But, now that he’s back at his TV gig with Fox Sports, the 58-year-old is saying that he’s resolute on leaving his coaching days behind him.

“That book’s closed,” Meyer said Thursday, per Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch. “It’s going to be TV and grandfather.”

Those comments echo his sentiments from January, when he said on the All Things Covered with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden podcast that he had “no desire” to get back into coaching. His Jacksonville tenure was marred by reports of a toxic environment, and beset by public embarrassment following a viral video surfacing showing Meyer dancing at a bar with a woman who was not his wife after a Week 4 loss. He was eventually fired in December of 2021 shortly after a report surfaced that he kicked Jacksonville kicker Josh Lambo.

Meyer’s college head coaching career spanned four schools and 17 seasons. He parlayed successful two-year stints at Bowling Green and Utah into the Florida job, winning his first national championship in 2006 and another in ’08. He would step away two years later, citing health problems and a desire to spend more time with his family, before taking the Ohio State job in ’12.