Urban Meyer has officially resurfaced.
The former Jaguars coach is planning to rejoin Fox Sports following a disastrous, less-than-a-season-long tenure in Jacksonville. On Thursday, he appeared on Big Ten Network to discuss the recent news that UCLA and USC will be joining the conference.
How does the now-disgraced former coach view Thursday’s stunning news?
“I’ve seen conference realignment like we all have over the years, and to be quite honest with you, it didn’t make a lot of sense, where this school is going to jump to this conference and there’s not really a rivalry there, there’s not a foundation for recruiting, but this one makes sense to me,” Meyer said.
Meyer is somewhat of an authority on the Big Ten, having spent seven years as the head coach of Ohio State and winning a national championship in 2014. He resigned after the 2018 season after news leaked that he was aware of wide receivers coach Zach Smith’s domestic violence allegations well before he was fired from the team.
While some are skeptical about the natural fit for the two West Coast schools in the largely Midwest-based conference, Meyer seemed excited.
“There are some great, great football players in Los Angeles. That, when USC and UCLA are down a little bit, you can go cherry pick them a little bit. But now you’re going to see the floodgates open up in my opinion because now those families will be able see their sons play. It makes a lot of sense to me. And academically, reputation, and there are natural rivalries between UCLA, USC and the Big Ten Conference.”
Meyer had perhaps one of the worst tenures as a head coach in NFL history with the Jaguars, with highlights including a video leaking of a woman who is not his wife dancing on his lap after a loss to the Bengals and several reports of him berating and ridiculing his staff.
After the Tampa Bay Times reported that Meyer physically kicked ex-Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo, he was fired. He finished with a 2-11 record.
Ex-Eagles coach Doug Pederson was hired to replace Meyer in 2022.