For the past nine months, Urban Meyer talked very honestly about his divorce from football. The coach and the game for years lived in a dysfunctional relationship -- the game made him miserable, and yet he couldn't live without it. He walked away for a third time in January, and we've all watched with a skeptical eye to see if this break up would be the one that sticks.
Look at what he said last month:
“I’ve been in a fight for 33 years, and now you’re not in that fight,” Meyer says. “So how do you fulfill that fight? And I feel that every morning. Every morning.
“It’s all about a win and a loss for 33 years. I mean every day was. Not just you’re getting ready for a game. No, no, no, no. You’re recruiting every day. You’re going against Alabama and Clemson every day, The Team Up North every day. Now you’re not. That’s the number one void, is you’re not in a fight.”
But now the first fall Saturday without a team to coach has come and went. And the second. And the third. And the fourth.
Meyer has remained busy. He teaches a leadership class at Ohio State and works in the athletics administration, coaching the Buckeyes' coaches. He hosts a podcast. He spends his weekends in LA, working on Fox's college football studio show.
And now, as we sit here today on Sept. 25, 2019, Meyer says he's happy living without football.
Of course, one quote isn't going to kill the Urban-to-USC rumors. Nothing will, short of USC handing Clay Helton a contract extension or hiring someone other than Urban Meyer. But even if that comes to pass, it's only a matter of time until the Urban-to-School X start up, and then the Urban-to-School Y rumors. When one couple breaks up and gets back together as often as Urban and football have, it's going to take more than a few months for everyone to buy that this breakup is for real. One rumor Urban can shoot down though?
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.