If Urban Meyer returns to coaching, he said it wouldn’t be to lead the Michigan Wolverines.
Meyer, the former Ohio State Buckeyes coach who went 7-0 against Michigan, told WBNS radio in Columbus on Wednesday that he’s enjoying his work as a Fox and Big Ten Network analyst, and as an Ohio State athletic administrator and instructor.
When co-host Bobby Carpenter, the former Ohio State star linebacker, jokingly asked Meyer about rumors that he could succeed Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, Meyer replied, “No, that’s not going to happen.”
Earlier this week, BetOnline released odds for Michigan’s next coach if Harbaugh doesn’t return, placing Meyer at 7/1, behind Stanford’s David Shaw, Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall and others. BetOnline lists Meyer as the favorite (3/2 odds) to become USC‘s head coach in 2020, and lists 1/10 odds that Meyer will return to the sideline next season.
Meyer was at USC’s home game last Friday for his television analyst job.
“I feel very good with where I’m at,” Meyer told WBNS radio. “[Ohio State athletic director] Gene Smith and I are very close. I love working here and teaching. … Three months ago, I had a problem. What if I’m sitting here in October and I can’t stand what I’m doing? But I love what I’m doing. My family loves what I’m doing and those are really the only people that matter to me.”
Meyer, 55, stepped down as Ohio State’s coach after the 2018 season, when he turned the program over to assistant Ryan Day. The three-time national championship-winning coach cited the effects from an arachnoid cyst on his brain that caused severe headaches and flared up during games. Meyer, who had surgery in 2014 to remove fluid from the cyst, spent several games grimacing in pain on the Buckeyes sideline in 2018.
Meyer told ESPN’s Heather Dinich last month that he will have to manage the cyst and its impact for the rest of his life. He also said stepping away from football has been different than a hiatus after the 2010 season at Florida, which he called a “mistake.”
Meyer returned to the sideline at Ohio State after only one season away from Florida.