Florida set to begin its Urban renewal

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer's eyes widened as he looked around Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

He saw references to the school's six Southeastern Conference titles, two Heisman Trophy winners and the 1996 national championship.

It wasn't his first trip to The Swamp, but it sure felt different.

This was home now.

"This is a place you can put your feet down hopefully for a long time," Meyer said.

The former Utah coach toured the Florida campus Tuesday and met his new team for the first time since agreeing to a seven-year, $14 million contract last week. He also was formally introduced as the Gators' next coach.

And he said all the right things. He talked about exceeding expectations, praised coach Steve Spurrier, said he has no aspirations to coach in the NFL and even took shots at rivals Florida State and Tennessee.

"In this profession, this is the premier job in the country," he said. "You have a chance to win right away, you play in a great conference, you have all the resources you need and you have the top recruits in your back yard."

Although Meyer will coach the fifth-ranked Utes against No. 19 Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, he already has started working for the Gators. He called recruits over the weekend and started what will be a difficult month of transition from one program to the other.

He spent the weekend celebrating his team's Bowl Championship Series berth, had dinner with Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley on Monday and flew to Gainesville on a private jet with his wife and three children Tuesday morning. Then he got a complete tour, capped by his visit to the recently renovated stadium that displayed an altered photo of Meyer on both scoreboards wearing an orange and blue Gators jacket.

The 40-year-old Meyer, partly because of his presence and mostly because of his wide-open offense, should be a welcomed change.

"It gets you very excited," quarterback Chris Leak said.

Meyer acknowledged that expectations will be higher than ever now. Instead of building programs at Bowling Green and Utah, he replaces Ron Zook, who was fired despite three winning seasons and several top recruiting classes.

Bowling Green went 17-6 in two seasons under Meyer. Utah has gone a combined 21-2 the last two years, which made Meyer the most wanted coach in the country and prompted Foley to call him a "perfect fit" for the Gators.

Meyer chose the Gators over Notre Dame, a team he said remains in the front of his mind but not a place he plans to go.