Urban Meyer's about-face not surprising

The big news of the week was the retirement and "un-retirement" of former Utah coach and current Florida coach Urban Meyer. The Saturday announcement was a shocker because Meyer is only 45 years old and in a profession where 83-year-old Joe Paterno is still coaching and 80-year-old Bobby Bowden is stepping down after this year.

Then we hear, less than 24 hours later, that Meyer had reconsidered and was going to just take a leave of absence instead.

When I heard Meyer was quitting for health reasons, I was a bit skeptical. Not that he doesn't have health concerns. But so many other coaches have succeeded in their professions with much worse health. If he loved coaching, surely there could be a way to do it in a way to cut down the stress level.

Before Sunday's news that he was back, I had written on Saturday night that Meyer would be back in coaching within a couple of years. After all, if Rick Majerus could come back to coaching in his late 50s after all of his health problems, Meyer certainly could.

It looks like it only took Meyer less than a day …

One of the names mentioned to replace Meyer that came up in several stories and by Lou Holtz on ESPN was Utah's Kyle Whittingham. But Ute fans shouldn't worry about Whittingham leaving for Florida or anywhere else. Whittingham is a homebody without a large ego or a desire for more money. Even though he could triple his salary, I think he's quite content to live off his million-dollar salary at Utah, where he has a pretty good thing going …

Break up the Mountain West Conference. The MWC is dominating the bowl season so far with three victories in three tries, thanks to the "upsets" by BYU and Utah last week as well as Wyoming's earlier victory over Fresno State. With a 3-0 record, the MWC is leading all of the other conferences, although the Big East is close behind with a 2-0 record. Meanwhile, Conference USA is 2-2, while the Pac-10 and ACC are 1-2 and the SEC is 0-1 …

Then there's the wacky WAC, which is 0-2 already. What makes it even worse is that the two teams that lost — Fresno State and Nevada — were the two biggest favorites among the 34 bowl games before losing. The WAC can save some face with two more chances — Boise State against TCU in the Fiesta Bowl and Idaho against Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl. But the WAC, which still thinks it's on par with the MWC, could end up 0-4, while the MWC, if Air Force beats Houston and TCU wins, could be 5-0 …