Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer plans to step down after Rose Bowl

OC Ryan Day will replace him

Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts after a play against the Maryland Terrapins during the second half at Capital One Field on November 17, 2018 in College Park, Maryland. (Will Newton/Getty Images)

COLUMBUS, Ohio. – Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer is stepping down after the Rose Bowl.

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports broke the news on Twitter Tuesday morning. 

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The university confirmed the news, announcing a 2 p.m. press conference for Tuesday. 

Yahoo reports Meyer still plans to coach his final game in the Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes. Ohio State will officially name Day as the permanent replacement on Tuesday. 

Meyer is coming off back-to-back Big Ten championships and is heading into a Jan. 1 Rose Bowl matchup against Washington. 

Shortly before Halloween, Meyer addressed speculation that he could step down at the end of the season, saying he felt fine and definitely would be back next year.

“I plan on coaching,” he said on Oct. 29. Asked if he would definitely return to Ohio State next year, he answered, “Yes.”

Ohio State followed that with five straight wins, including a rout of archrival Michigan that gave the Buckeyes another division title and a win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship.

Meyer has piled up wins at Ohio State after a similar run over six years at Florida that included two national championships. After stepping down at Florida due to stress-related health concerns, he took the Ohio State job before the 2012 season after Jim Tressel was forced out for lying to the NCAA amid a memorabilia-for-tattoos scandal. It appeared to be a dream job for the Toledo native and success quickly followed.

His contract was extended in April by two years through 2022, increasing Meyer’s salary to $7.6 million in 2018 with annual 6 percent raises. Meyer has about $38 million left on his contract.

He started his head-coaching career at Bowling Green in 2001 and moved on to Utah two seasons later before taking the Florida job in 2005 and rocketing to the top of the college football coaching ranks, a peer of Alabama coach Nick Saban in terms of respect and ability.

 


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Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.