GAINESVILLE, Fla. — No wonder Tim Tebow has been crying so much. Maybe he knew Urban Meyer was leaving the University of Florida.
The Gators tried to talk Meyer out of it. School administrators told Meyer to take a long vacation if that’s what he wanted. They told him to take a leave of absence for a couple of months if that’s what he needed.
For the past two weeks, they tried to work out some sort of scenario whereby Meyer would stay on as the coach of the Florida football program.
But in the end, according to sources at Florida, Meyer came to the decision that he could no longer continue at his current pace. The intense, driven and focused coach had given so much to the championship program he built that he had nothing left to give. And that’s why he — shockingly — stepped down Saturday.
After two national championships and a 22-game winning streak in five seasons, and numerous health scares especially in the last month, Meyer is stepping down to “re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family.”
Meyer, 45, who consulted with athletic director Jeremy Foley and president Bernie Machen before the decision, checked himself into a hospital at least twice in December for chest pains, nausea and sickness, according to a Florida staff member close to Meyer.
The coaching staff did not know of Meyer’s decision to step down until Saturday, when he also informed his players after an evening practice. One player reached Saturday said he was “completely shocked” but declined further comment.
Meyer’s chest pains are not life-threatening, according to the source, but the coach became scared for his future.
He will coach his last game with Florida on Friday against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program,” said Meyer, who has a wife and three children. “I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family. After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family.”
Meyer leaves Florida with a 56-10 record, including a 22-game winning streak that ended at the hands of Alabama on Dec. 5 — the day before a well-publicized hospital visit in Gainesville.
A Florida spokesman said reports of Meyer being diagnosed with muscle-heart-valve defect and having a heart attack are inaccurate.
The team does not have an official medical diagnosis for Meyer.
WKMG-Channel 6 in Orlando, Fla., reported that Meyer suffered a heart attack during the season.
Meyer revealed in a recent Sports Illustrated story that doctors discovered an arachnoid cyst on his brain while he was working as an assistant at Notre Dame in the late 1990s. The cyst was not life-threatening, doctors told Meyer, but could flare up when the coach became stressed.
“He’s really worried he’s going to lose his family,” the staff source told the Orlando Sentinel. “He’s had a huge weight on his shoulders of, ‘Am I going to drop dead one day?’ “
Meyer will be available to the media today at 2:30 p.m. MST in New Orleans for a Sugar Bowl news conference.
Meyer, scarcely available for interviews in December, said last week he lost “ridiculous amounts” of weight during the 2009 season because of illnesses and not eating.
Foley likely will move quickly to find a replacement, and the list of candidates could be long.
Among those sure to receive consideration: Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, Houston’s Kevin Sumlin, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Boise State’s Chris Peterson and TCU’s Gary Patterson.
Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh and Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino could get calls too.
