From Deseret News archives:
Urban's development: U.'s Meyer loves coaching football
In his living room.
On television.
Urban Meyer, the Utah coach whose name is being linked to jobs from Seattle to Gainesville, used to tell his parents he wanted to be an architect, but his actions said otherwise.
"I knew exactly that he would go into coaching," said his father, Bud Meyer. "That's all he would talk about. That's what he would do on Saturday afternoons. He wouldn't look at buildings, he would watch football and tell me how the coach was mishandling the team or whatever was going on wrong. . . . That's when he began to ... interpret things in the game."
Two years after taking over a Utah program that generated little interest outside of Salt Lake City, Urban Meyer's ability to interpret the game has never been better.
His Utes are 9-0, ranked No. 7 and threatening to crash the BCS party generally reserved for the big-time conference teams.
At 40, Meyer earns $500,000 per season with a contract that runs through 2009. But with a buyout clause of $250,000 and the ability to leave for Ohio State, Michigan or Notre Dame with penalty, the biggest question surrounding Meyer is where he'll be coaching next season.
He is considered one of the leading candidates to replace Ron Zook at Florida, particularly because he was hired at Utah by Bernie Machen, now Florida's president.
"Urban Meyer is a tremendous coach," said South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, who hired Meyer as an assistant at Notre Dame in 1996. "He's going to have all kinds of opportunities and all he has to do is decide where he wants to go or if he wants to stay at Utah."
Bud Meyer isn't surprised by his son's success. He saw it coming nearly a decade ago.
"Eight years ago, I said 'You know someday you're going to be standing around with a coaching jacket on and a whistle on the middle of a football field and it's going to be your first day: Do you know what the hell you're going to do?' And he said, 'I've kind of got an idea.' I think he's been building this for 10 years."
Meyer has distilled 13 years' experience as an assistant and head coach into one of the most innovative offenses in years.
His scheme has opponents baffled and the rest of the country taking note. It all starts with junior quarterback Alex Smith.
With Smith in the shotgun formation, Utah uses a three-wideout, spread offense. After the snap, where the ball goes is a mystery: Smith might pass or run, hand off to the tailback or pitch to another player.
