Thank Meyer — instead of feeling jilted

It's funny how yesterday's toast of the town so quickly becomes today's goat.

Take Urban Meyer.

Meyer had the temerity to be successful, so much so that people on the "outside" started to notice.

Next thing you know, other people wanted the same degree of success at their respective institutions and they're willing to offer a whole lot more for the privilege. Is it so surprising, really, that Meyer would want to explore some of these offers? Isn't that what successful people do?

Instead of being grateful for two spectacular years of football and for restoring respectability to the University of Utah's football program off the field, a lot of Utahns are licking their wounds and whining aloud: "How could he leave us? He said he loved it here. He said he planned to stay."

The simple answer is, the plan changed. Big time.

In some ways, it was more palatable to lose Meyer to Notre Dame. He's always said it was his dream job. As a Catholic from Ohio, it seemed the perfect fit.

But the Florida offer apparently came first. According to Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley, the first contact between Meyer and the University of Florida was Nov. 22, two days after the U.'s drubbing of Brigham Young University. UF athletic director Jeremy Foley's first visit to Utah was Nov. 24. "Foley's mission was to let Meyer know the University of Florida is a special place. Meyer made it clear that Utah is as well," Dooley wrote. The men talked for four hours.

There were subsequent visits and phone calls, even a pitch to Shelley Meyer by Christine Donovan, wife of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan. Billy Donovan also called Urban Meyer to talk about what it was like to work at UF, Dooley wrote.

There's no pretending that a contract worth $2 million a year for seven years plus other incentives has a way of appearing more "special" than anything Meyer could have negotiated at Utah, but give the guy credit for appreciating what he had at the U.

All I've heard since the official announcement was that it was all about the money and that a national championship would be easier to come by at a university that is not as academically demanding as Notre Dame. Seemingly every one of Meyer's sound bites is being dissected for clues that Meyer had designs on leaving Utah all along.

Sounds like "jilted lover" talk to me.