Urban Meyer: OSU coach already a living legend

Why Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer is a living legend in college football

In life we all go through painful experiences. Pain can occur for a number of reasons including examples of physical, mental, and emotional pain.

Thankfully those feelings of pain occur in our lives to make us stronger. For the Ohio State Buckeyes the most painful experience of their 2014-15 season wasn’t the shoulder injury that quarterback Braxton Miller had, and it wasn’t losing their starting quarterback J.T. Barrett with three games remaining in the season.

The most difficult experience of the season came when their defensive lineman Kosta Karageorge who at age of 22 years old was found dead from an evident self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

For anyone who’s ever experienced the tragedy of losing a family member, it’s unbearable pain. For this close knit Ohio State team, who refers to their teammates as soldiers, it’s tough to want to pick up a rifle after getting such mortifying news about one of their brothers.

Even when everything looked grim in Columbus, Ohio, thankfully all was not lost, and the Buckeyes got beauty for their ashes. Behind the leadership of one of the greatest college coaches, Urban Meyer, Ohio State got to rally around their head coach and go to a place they haven’t been since 2008, the National Championship game.

Asking if coach Meyer is better than Alabama head coach Nick Saban isn’t fair yet. Saban has a lot more coaching experience, 13 years more exactly. Even though Saban has more experience on his side, keep in mind that only two coaches have ever won a national championship at multiple schools, those two are Saban and Meyer. But the question that should get asked is if coach Meyer already is one of the best college coaches to ever walk the sideline. Is coach Meyer already a living legend?

Look no further than the historic run that Ohio State just completed.

In the College Football Playoff National Semifinal game Ohio State had to play against Alabama. A lot of people knew Ohio State would show up to play, but many didn’t think they could pull off the upset. As the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff, and having the perception as the team who took a bid away from TCU, people weren’t sure what to expect.

However, coach Meyer knew exactly what to expect. His team didn’t shy away from the physical style that Alabama plays, and Ohio State was ready to compete. Ohio State took it to Alabama and matched every one of their haymakers, counter attacking when they could. They defeated Alabama 42-35, and then they faced Oregon.

As much as a lot of people wanted the Oregon Ducks to win, the game wasn’t fair and Ohio State looked like the superior team. Ohio State had four turnovers, but were still able to roll Oregon by three touchdowns winning 42-20.

Looking backwards, we could even look at Meyer’s former success in college football when he had the Florida Gators as the team to defeat in 2006 and in 2008. Meyer had Tim Tebow looking like the greatest college football player to ever play, and in 2007 he was named as the youngest Heisman Trophy winner when he took home the award as a sophomore.

Had it not been for a serious health scare from Meyer, the Florida Gators might still be on top of the college football world, and Meyer might’ve had a few more National Championships to his name.

Speaking on his health Meyer said this to Brett McMurphy of ESPN:

"“You start thinking, ‘There’s something wrong with me mentally, you know? What is going on here?’…. I thought I was dying. Mentally, I was broke.”"

Can we even forget about Utah? Meyer led Utah, a school with little to no football tradition, to an undefeated season (12-0), and got them into the 2004 Fiesta Bowl, which was the first time in their school’s history. Once again Meyer did wonders with his quarterback and Alex Smith (Utah’ starting quarterback), turned into the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.

Something that successful people do when they start to go through trials and tribulation is that they know how to manage no matter the circumstance. Whether it’s a health scare, a death of a teammate, a loss of starting players, coach Meyer understands how to remain content and thankful for the situations he’s in and because of his humility he’s become one of the greatest winners in college football history.

Coming from a die hard Miami Hurricanes fan, it’s painful to say….Now only if the Miami Hurricanes head coach Al Golden could learn a few things.

Next: A Second Open Letter to Miami Hurricanes Star QB, Brad Kaaya