Honest question: Urban Meyer hate?

[Dallas]

There seems to be legitimate dislike of Urban Meyer out there. Can y’all explain why? Is it based on anything objectively objectionable or is it just bias and jealousy, like the way coogs hate on KW but would really kill their own grandmothers for him to be their coach. I’ve never heard of Meyer doing anything objectionable that isn’t the norm in college football.

[pedro]

For me, it is not a strong hate, but I dislike the way he handled leaving Utah. We all knew he was going to bolt, so it wasn’t the disappointment that he left. It was the constant denial by him and Shelly literally right up until it was announced that p**sed me off. IOW’s, the complete lack of integrity. Otherwise, I think he is a hell of a coach who understands the game as well as anyone.

[AlohaUte]

Meh, literally every coach has done this since the dawn of time. A silly think to still be bent about.

[Ute Dub]

What other option does he have while he’s actively recruiting kids to Utah?

[Central Coast Ute]

It seems like the hate really started when he had an assistant coach’s wife call him and tell him she was abused by him. She said he said all of the right things, but he didn’t fire him right away. My thinking was the man hadn’t been convicted of anything, so you’d have to wait to fire him right away. Once that broke, he was fired, and it seems people really started hating him from there.

I didn’t really have any reason to hate him, and I still don’t. I’m kind of disgusted with him, though, from when he went to the restaurant in Ohio while he was coaching the Jaguars and was rubbing up on that young woman while his wife was at home. Just my two cents.

[Ute Dub]

To me, the good the Urban Meyer brought to my university and to my sports fandom outweighs the bad like 100 to 1. I harbor little or no hate. I offer forgiveness for indiscretions, esprcially since I can’t say I would not have faults of my own being in that much spotlight and pressure.

2004 and 2008 had a lot to do with Urban Meyer. I’m grateful for his brief and amazing stop here in SLC.

[SkinyUte]

I fully appreciate what Urban did for Utah while he was here. His contribution to Utah athletics can never be understated.

However, the dude is an absolute dumpster fire. Just a garbage person all around.

[GameForAnyFuss]

A story:

My wife was the Director of Student Employment at the U during Meyer’s tenure. She decided to hold an employment fair one February, but in the past they had traditionally been poorly attended by students. We brainstormed how to get more students out, and she finally decided to invite all the athletic teams out to sign autographs in the hopes it would draw more students.

She emailed every head coach of every Utah team. Only three even responded. One said no, Rich Manning (women’s soccer) said yes. And Urban Meyer responded: “We’ll be there.”

The day of the fair came around. The women’s soccer team was signing posters. About an hour after it started, in comes Urban Meyer and about 15 football players. “Sorry we’re late – it’s kind of a busy day for the football program.” That’s when it hit me: It was National Signing Day, one of the busiest days of the year for any college coach. My wife had inadvertently scheduled the career fair on Signing Day, which might explain why so few teams showed up. And yet, Urban Meyer (and 15 players) showed up at a lowly job fair on Signing Day because he said he would.

I get the dislike of UM given the circumstances of his departure, but I promise you: While he was here, he was a Utah Man through and through.

[MDUte]

Wow, that’s a really cool story. Thanks for sharing!

[utefansince79]

One thing I will always appreciate is Urban lit a fire under a once mostly apathetic student body and motivate them to pack the student section at Rice-Eccles. (Now if only someone could do that for basketball)

[Jim Vanderhoof]

I agree utefan79. He motivated not only the student body forming the MUSS but also mentored Whitt with his attention to details. Mac brought in talent and made Utah competitive. Meyers took the talent and developed it. Meyers put us on the map in college football. Scalley is next in line. We should all be behind him as HC. He is a “Utah Man” all the way!!Go utes

[UtesRule]

Yup, it has to do with his last few weeks at Utah and how he handled that situation. He flat out lied several times.

[UrbanLiar]

Hence my Moniker…

[Utegator]

Im not sure why any Utah fan would dislike him, he left a job and went to another job to make significantly more money. He then won a national championship at his new job, which wouldn’t have happened at Utah.

Florida fans do not like him because they feel like he faked health problems to quit and then go coach at Ohio state.

He frankly sucked at coaching while at Ohio. There was also that scandal with him caught on video dancing with some girl (not his wife) at a bar after a game.

and then he sucked and had a lot of controversy coaching in Jacksonville.

[belli1976]

So when you are looking for a new job or you are being recruited to another company, and you current manager ask you “are leaving”? Are you going to say yes? Of course not. You only give your notice once you have a signed contract. UM did the same thing but he is just on a bigger stage.

[UteThunder]

This is true, but if you are entertaining other options, you aren’t going to tell your boss you love it here, and you love your clients, and you and your family plan to be here for a long, long time the way Urban did. Urban was unnecessarily over the top in the way he talked about staying at Utah. That said, you would’ve had to be pretty naive to believe Urban planned on staying when he was being courted by Notre Dame and Florida.

[Waybackutefan]

I think he also gets accused of running interference with various legal issues for Aaron Hernandez, some of which were pretty criminal.

[D T]

Don’t dislike UM at all….Actually, I’m grateful to him for what he accomplished for our program & the impact he had on KW, which continues to benefit us & hopefully that is getting passed down to MS.

[ProudUte]

I doubt UM will ever consider coaching at Utah. But, if he does, we should definitely listen. That being said, I am all in on Scalley being our next head coach. He has learned from the best.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

I’ve got nothin’ but LOVE for Urban Meyer!

[Utah#1]

Totally agree!

[Utah#1]

UM was not an angel, and neither are we. He’s was known to do questionable things as head coach at Utah, Florida, and OSU. Some would consider these things unethical when it came to conducting daily business and do anything to win. He can be credited with putting Utah on the map and he still, to some degree, is involved in the Utah football program. When Utah played USC for the Pac12 championship, he was the only commentator on the set who picked Utah because he said, “I gotta go with my heart”, and Utah thankfully won in a route of USC. To me, his connection to the football program still holds some level of significance knowing name recognition alone still has meaning and holds a place in Utah football history.

[NashvilleUte]

I was pretty butt hurt when he left, I’ll admit that. But in retrospect, everything that went down with him leaving are more understandable (many of which have already been detailed above). I’m not saying they were okay, but more understandable than it felt at the time.
Since then, at every chance he gets UM is always representing Utah well. He’s consistently advocating for the Utes. He definitely has personal issues, but maybe not his same issue who of us don’t have issues?
He’s gone, but he’s still an Utah Man. Good enough for me!
one of many examples

[Central Coast Ute]

I can not understand how mad people are at the way he left. I was 24 years old, and even I understood it when it happened. Of course I was hopeful he would stay, but why would he say he’s leaving or even not say he’s not leaving? Be serious. Everyone else would do the same thing and he wasn’t in the wrong for it.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

I remember when Utah played Wyoming in Laramie late in Meyers final year. It was a national televised game and was Utahs chance at some exposure. The old stadium couldn’t handle the power surge and knocked out the power. The game was delayed for a couple hours. The tv broadcast was canceled and the game started after 9:00 pm. It was a cold November night in Laramie. I knew Meyers would be gone after that debacle. MWC was not on his radar any more.

[UrbanLiar]

I’ve softened my bitterness on how he left, but I’ve kept my moniker since December 2004. We knew him directly because our kids were friends. The “lying” part involves a series of statements and commitments he made regarding “if you do X, then I guarantee I’ll remain at Utah.” Those donors immediately stepped up to hold up their end of the deal, but he didn’t honor his end of the deal (we’re talking multimillion dollar commitments at the time which was huge back then). Plus, there were a slew of promotional sponsor events he signed up for and then completely abandoned them without a single word of apology. Over time I’m not as bitter and I’d welcome his involvement back on campus but his explicit statements of commitment created craters of resentment that were unnecessary if he would have been a little bit better at communicating.

[MDUte]

I believe the financial commitments you’re referring to have to do with UM demanding Utah build an indoor practice field which we didn’t have at the time…correct? I’m glad he got Utah donors to step up, regardless of him not fulfilling his commitment to stay. Because Utah Football desperately needed those upgrades and many more to begin being more competitive and grow as a program whether UM stayed or not.

[Central Coast Ute]

It seems you had personal interactions with him, which I obviously didn’t and can see where you’re coming from.

In the end, those financial commitments and promises don’t hurt the university at all. As MD has pointed out, it probably helped. Everyone knew that after busting the BCS, he was more than likely gone. Utah was a MWC school for crying out loud. Going to Florida was for all intents and purposes, a promotion. He received better pay, had better resources, and was able to recruit better athletes, which all led to a Heisman QB and a natty. There was no way for him to know that if he stuck around, Utah would be in the PAC 12, and he’d have a shot at a natty then.

If reporters ask him if he’s leaving, I would expect him to say no. Especially during the season. Why would he bring that kind of distraction onto his players? It makes no sense. If I had to bet, I would say Chris Hill was 99% sure he was gone after that season.

[MDUte]

Agreed. I too am surprised to see how many people were upset by the way UM left. I thought all of the negative comments about him would be because of his personal issues or scandals surrounding his teams after Utah. Chris Hill went on the record saying that he knew UM was a red hot, up and coming coach when he made the move to bring him to Utah. And that his hiring of UM was likely going to be a very short-term proposition because he knew UM was not wanting to build a program and stay long term but be successful and continue climbing to bigger jobs. Chris Hill and Utah got far more from the hiring of UM than anyone could’ve dreamed of. And as others have said, he’s remained a close friend of Whitt’s and the program and is a Utah man to this day. I’ll forever be grateful for the HUGE impact UM had on Utah Football!!! #LEGEND!!

[2008 National Champ]

imagine that you get to go into the way-back machine to 2002. Your football program has traditionally been below average in a below average conference. You’ve just fired a long-time coach who showed promise early but the program has stagnated under his watch. As far as national exposure, the only mention is when your school is mistaken for another one 45 minutes south or something scandalous happens.

then imagine that the football genie tells you that you can hire a guy who will only lose two games in the next two years before leaving to win 3 National titles elsewhere. Under his leadership, your football program will turn the world of college football on it’s ear by forcing itself into the conversations previously reserved for the traditional powers and media darlings. He will leave behind the structure that allows his replacement to have 20 years of unprecedented success including, but not limited to, moving up a level in conference affiliation, a National title (as recognized by multiple outlets), and recognition as one of the top programs in the country.

Every one of you jumps on that in December 2002. The state of the Utah football program in 2024 bears no resemblance to it’s current form without 2 years of Urban Meyer at the helm. So if you are happy with where it’s currently at, why lament the steps necessary to get it to this point?

[MDUte]

This ^^^ 100%!!! Spot on Champ!

[Charlie]

We have sometimes had an assistant coach that is in the sunset phase of career, like Pease, that is less than full time. Dennis Erickson, I think, ended his career at Utah as an assistant coach with the RBs. I would love to see Meyer come to Utah to be a QB coach with whatever limits he would like on off season work. If we could get him to just be involved in recruiting QBs and WRs and mostly only work as he wanted. It would not give him the money that media would pay but it could give him access to the locker room and sidelines that he may miss. Likely he has the money he needs already and a part year job might attract him. 30% of Meyer’s time is greater than 100% of most any offensive coaches. Dial up a custom job for him and do the same for Andre Miller…

[CityCreekUte]

It’s really hard to be upset about his tenure at Utah. He brought so much not just to the football team, or just the school, he had a gigantic impact on the community’s relationship with the school. (I do think he benefitted that both Majerus and Mac primed the pump too)

In terms of some of the more personal traits, over time those demons have been exposed and so it’s not as much about hating that it’s finding it sad for him and his family.

[Author]

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