12-06-2002, 03:13 PM
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Staying Put
Dec. 6, 2002
By JACK CARLE Sentinel Sports Editor
Urban Meyer's two-year anniversary is today. It was on Dec. 4, 2000 Meyer was named Bowling Green's head football coach, replacing Gary Blackney who resigned after 10 years.
Meyer took over a team which had endured six straight losing seasons. In Meyer's first two seasons the Falcons are 17-6 overall, including an 11-5 mark in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons, 9-3 this season, won their first eight games this fall, were ranked as high as No. 16 in the country, were the brief flavor-of-the-month for the national media and had one of the nation's highest-scoring offenses.
It's Bowling Green's success and Meyer's contagious, enthusiastic approach which have put his name into the national spotlight every time there is a new head coaching opening. The Detroit newspapers consider Meyer a prime candidate for the vacant Michigan State job. Reports from Wyoming have the athletic director from that school attending last Saturday's Bowling Green-Toledo game to get a first-hand look at Meyer. However, Meyer says there is unfinished business in Bowling Green and he wants an opportunity to take the Falcons to the MAC championship and a bowl game.
"We are nowhere near what we can do here. That's what's driving me right now," Meyer said Tuesday afternoon. "Everybody's worried about those other places; nothing's going on."
"I was contacted by one, but I'm not interested. I love it here. We have a lot of work to do. That's the bottom line."
Meyer said the talk of him leaving started when he took the Bowling Green job. Coaches from other schools tell recruits Meyer is not going to stay with the Falcons.
"With recruits, that's been for two years, even before we won," he said. "(They say) "that guy's not going to be there very long"; that's silly ... The future is fantastic here ... I'm proud to be the football coach here.
"Once they get to know me, know my family, know how important it is to have continuity, my kids going to school somewhere."
The Falcons' success has other schools also looking at Bowling Green's assistant coaches. Meyer is worried about keeping his coaching staff intact for a third straight season.
Meyer said Gregg Brandon, the offensive coordinator, and Tim Beckman, the defensive coordinator, and other staff members could be hot commodities this off-season.
The Falcon offensive coaches have been invited to discuss their strategy and philosophy to the members of the American Football Coaches Association.
"It's an honor. Our coaches are excited ... that's a chance for them to better themselves," Meyer said. "As a head football coach, it's a problem, but I'm proud of them."
"If we lose one, I think we can hire a good one." As for the players, Meyer demands a lot from them, including representing the football program and the university in a positive light at every opportunity.
Among other things, Meyer has changed the team's attitude, helped improve the weight training facility, and redone the locker room.
The final piece of the puzzle is a new athletic facility, which would benefit the university and the athletic department as well as the football team.
"I think you all but guarantee that you are one of the top two, three teams in the league every year if you get that here," Meyer said about the new facility. "I feel so strong about the academics, about the community, the environment, about the people. It's the last piece; it's a significant piece. "The problem is, the piece is not going to come from the student body. Someone's going to have to dive into it."
Meyer has preliminary drawings of such a facility in his office with an estimate of at least $9 million to complete. "It needs to be addressed. I saw the scoreboards at Northern Illinois and (Toledo). Kids like to see that kind of stuff," Meyer said. "We have the indoor. Some of those places don't have indoors, which is big time."
"I think it's the missing piece."
Staying Put
Dec. 6, 2002
By JACK CARLE Sentinel Sports Editor
Urban Meyer's two-year anniversary is today. It was on Dec. 4, 2000 Meyer was named Bowling Green's head football coach, replacing Gary Blackney who resigned after 10 years.
Meyer took over a team which had endured six straight losing seasons. In Meyer's first two seasons the Falcons are 17-6 overall, including an 11-5 mark in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons, 9-3 this season, won their first eight games this fall, were ranked as high as No. 16 in the country, were the brief flavor-of-the-month for the national media and had one of the nation's highest-scoring offenses.
It's Bowling Green's success and Meyer's contagious, enthusiastic approach which have put his name into the national spotlight every time there is a new head coaching opening. The Detroit newspapers consider Meyer a prime candidate for the vacant Michigan State job. Reports from Wyoming have the athletic director from that school attending last Saturday's Bowling Green-Toledo game to get a first-hand look at Meyer. However, Meyer says there is unfinished business in Bowling Green and he wants an opportunity to take the Falcons to the MAC championship and a bowl game.
"We are nowhere near what we can do here. That's what's driving me right now," Meyer said Tuesday afternoon. "Everybody's worried about those other places; nothing's going on."
"I was contacted by one, but I'm not interested. I love it here. We have a lot of work to do. That's the bottom line."
Meyer said the talk of him leaving started when he took the Bowling Green job. Coaches from other schools tell recruits Meyer is not going to stay with the Falcons.
"With recruits, that's been for two years, even before we won," he said. "(They say) "that guy's not going to be there very long"; that's silly ... The future is fantastic here ... I'm proud to be the football coach here.
"Once they get to know me, know my family, know how important it is to have continuity, my kids going to school somewhere."
The Falcons' success has other schools also looking at Bowling Green's assistant coaches. Meyer is worried about keeping his coaching staff intact for a third straight season.
Meyer said Gregg Brandon, the offensive coordinator, and Tim Beckman, the defensive coordinator, and other staff members could be hot commodities this off-season.
The Falcon offensive coaches have been invited to discuss their strategy and philosophy to the members of the American Football Coaches Association.
"It's an honor. Our coaches are excited ... that's a chance for them to better themselves," Meyer said. "As a head football coach, it's a problem, but I'm proud of them."
"If we lose one, I think we can hire a good one." As for the players, Meyer demands a lot from them, including representing the football program and the university in a positive light at every opportunity.
Among other things, Meyer has changed the team's attitude, helped improve the weight training facility, and redone the locker room.
The final piece of the puzzle is a new athletic facility, which would benefit the university and the athletic department as well as the football team.
"I think you all but guarantee that you are one of the top two, three teams in the league every year if you get that here," Meyer said about the new facility. "I feel so strong about the academics, about the community, the environment, about the people. It's the last piece; it's a significant piece. "The problem is, the piece is not going to come from the student body. Someone's going to have to dive into it."
Meyer has preliminary drawings of such a facility in his office with an estimate of at least $9 million to complete. "It needs to be addressed. I saw the scoreboards at Northern Illinois and (Toledo). Kids like to see that kind of stuff," Meyer said. "We have the indoor. Some of those places don't have indoors, which is big time."
"I think it's the missing piece."
