Meyer is gone and will accept the job at Utah.

Quote:BG's Meyer leaving for Utah

BOWLING GREEN - Bowling Green State University football coach Urban Meyer has accepted the head-coaching job at the University of Utah, The Blade has learned.

Meyer and his wife made the decision about 3:30 this morning. They will leave Bowling Green after two years.

Over the past week, Meyer, who has led Bowling Green to a 17-6 record in his two seasons as head coach, met twice with Utah athletic director Chris Hill. The most recent meeting took place on Tuesday after Hill picked Meyer up at the Salt Lake City International Airport, sources said.

Hill, who has interviewed at least a half-dozen other candidates for the Utah job over the past 10 days, would not comment on the process or confirm that he had met with Meyer, a spokesman for the Utah athletic department said.

Hill fired Utah head coach Ron McBride two days after the end of a 5-6 season in which the Utes lost six straight games. McBride was 88-63 in 13 seasons with the Utes and led his team to six bowl games, where they went 3-3. He failed to win a conference championship outright at Utah, finishing in a four-way tie for the Western Athletic Conference title in 1995, and sharing the Mountain West championship three ways in 1999. McBride had nine winning seasons, but Hill said the program had "stagnated" in recent years.

Meyer, who was hired by Bowling Green athletic director Paul Krebs in December of 2000 to revive its slumping football fortunes, received a base salary of $125,000 this year with additional income from radio and television appearances, and other areas. Sources near the Utah athletic department said yesterday that the new head coach of the Utes is expected to be paid up to $500,000 in base salary, supplemental income and bonuses.

Utah averaged about 35,000 fans per home game this past season, but that figure is based on tickets sold, not actual attendance.

<!--EDIT|herdfannindy|Dec 11 2002, 08:29 AM-->

Here's the story from this morning's Salt Lake Tribune:

<a href='http://www.sltrib.com/2002/Dec/12112002/sports/sports.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.sltrib.com/2002/Dec/12112002/sp...orts/sports.asp</a>

Very interesting indeed. That info didn't make the print edition of today's Blade, but it's certainly on the web site.
I feel bad for bugs. I thought they had something going with this guy. Turns out he talked out of both sides of his mouth. And before anyone jumps to conclusions...hell yes I'd take that kind of jump in pay to move. It's not about that. It's about talking the talk he talked just last week. Be vague if you want, but why lie?

I guess the Urban renewal is over. Back to the slums for BUGS.

Tim Rose has done a great job as defensive coordinator at ECU -- they did a particularly nice job in their bowl game last year.

I think BUGS should hire Rose.

:D

If you want to retain quality coaches, there are several things that have to be done.

1. Pay him a decent salary. Rather obviously, no MAC school is going to be competitive with an SEC or ACC compensation package but, there is absolute no reason the MAC shouldn't be competitive with the MWC. Unfortunately for most MAC schools, that means the alums will actually have to contribute more than their one ticket to a game per year.

2. Drum up fan support. This has been hammered time and again on this board and I'm sure that each school - including Marshall - could do a better job of marketing their program and getting butts in the seats. I can't imagine the difficulty of coaching in front of <10,000 people in a 35,000 seat stadium nor do I have any difficulty imagining why a coach would want to go somewhere the fans actually show up for games.

3. Hire someone with ties to the school. When you hire someone in his mid-30's, who has absolutely no ties whatsoever to the school, you really shouldn't be surprised when he bolts.

4. Change the attitude. Cradle of coaches my ******. All that really means is that you can't keep a coach around who has any success.

5. Look for older coaches. They are less likely to want to move than someone who is younger for many reasons. Especially if you can hire someone with ties to the school, you may just keep him there through retirement. Bobby P. turned down a $1 million offer from Houston. My guess is that Amstutz the Hut would do the same. They are both in their retirement jobs.

MAKO, I have to agree about the "Cradle of Coaches" thing. I've always thought of that as a backhanded compliment.