Urban Meyer will be stepping down as head coach at Ohio State after the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl.
For the second time this decade, Urban Meyer is quitting his job at a major college football program.
Roughly eight years after he stepped down as head coach of the Florida Gators, Meyer will be leaving Ohio State following the team’s appearance in this year’s Rose Bowl. The news bookends one of the most tumultuous years of Meyer’s coaching career, one that saw him suspended for the first three games of the year amid a cover-up scandal involving one of his coaches and domestic abuse.
Ryan Day, who was seen as the head coach in waiting, even before the drama with Meyer, will take over the program starting in 2019.
Meyer’s year started with an investigation into whether or not he knew about and subsequently covered up domestic abuse by then-wide receivers coach Zach Smith. He was never directly clear about what he knew, but evidence was released that showed Meyer knew enough as far back as his days at Florida to have possibly done something.
The result was a three-game suspension for Meyer, who remained a polarizing figure in college football the remainder of the season. Ohio State won the Big Ten under his guidance this year, but failed to make the College Football Playoff. Instead, the Buckeyes will be headed to the Rose Bowl to face the Washington Huskies, after which Meyer will step down as head coach.