Urban Meyer: A Perfect Match for the Scarlet & Gray

You must pass through the valley to travel from mountaintop to mountaintop.

After a tumultuous past few months, Ohio State’s Jim Tressel decided to resign amid a fury of allegations sprung forth by the media.  Whether one believes that this was a virtuous decision made by Tressel, a forced resignation, or a “gotta get outta Dodge” moment, one thing is clear: the next head football coach hiring at OSU will define the program’s trajectory for decades to come.  Luke Fickell will serve as a more-than-adequate interim coach, OSU will continue to boast a top-10 recruiting class, and Ohio State will continue to beat Michigan in the last game of the regular season.

Nonetheless, the choice for the next head football coach of Ohio State University is clear:

Urban Meyer.

Meyer’s credentials are immaculate: he has a 104-23 record as a head coach, led Utah to a perfect 12-0 season, and won two National Championships at Florida.  His ties to OSU and the state of Ohio are well-documented: Meyer was born in Toledo and attended the University of Cincinnati, his first coaching job was as a graduate assistant at OSU, and he even had a clause in his contract while coaching at Utah that allowed him to leave if he was offered the OSU, Notre Dame, or Michigan job. And those who know the sports world know that after taking a year off from coaching, one of the most prestigious coaching jobs in sports cannot compare to being an analyst at ESPN.

The hire of Urban Meyer will ensure that OSU will continue to be one of the best Division I college football programs in the nation, and will lead to Big Ten title after Big Ten title — not to mention the constant ticking of the “days since Ohio State lost to Michigan” clock.