A week after saying he was staying put due to the fact he had much more to accomplish here at Bowling Green, head football coach Urban Meyer is now a candidate for the University of Utah coaching vacancy, sources confirmed yesterday.
“Everybody’s worried about those other places; nothings going on,” Meyer told the media last week in his final media gathering of the season. “I was contacted by one, but I’m not interested. I love it here. We have a lot of work to do. That’s the bottom line. The future is fantastic here . . . I’m proud to be the football coach here.”
Meyer, 17-6 in his two years at the helm in Bowling Green, was greeted at the Salt Lake City International airport by Utah Athletics Director Chris Hill. It was not yet confirmed, however, that he has interviewed for the job.
Hill has not commented on anything related to his coaching search since it started over two weeks ago when Ron McBride was fired as the coach. Since then, the school has interviewed many candidates, including Southern California offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Colorado offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, Kansas State co-defensive coordinator Bob Elliott, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Kent Baer and Texas tech assistant Greg McMackin.
Utah sports information director Liz Abel said that Hill would not comment on the job search, and said Hill has a goal of having someone in place by Christmas.
Bowling Green sports information director J.D. Campbell said that Meyer had been recruiting this week.
Athletic Director Paul Krebs said yesterday afternoon that he had indeed granted permission for the two sides to talk.
This turn of events comes after Meyer has quickly established himself as one of the nation’s hottest young coaches in America. His team went 9-3 this season, earning its first spot in the national rankings since 1985. The team was ranked as high as No. 16. The Falcons’ offense led the nation for much of the 2002 campaign, at times averaging over 45 points per game.
McBride had an 88-63 overall record in 13 years at Utah, and the Utes tied for two conference championships. Utah finished in a four-way tie for first in 1995 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference and was the 1999 MWC tri-champion. He never won an outright conference title or represented the conference in a championship bowl.
Utah finished 5-6 in 2002, and was not bowl eligible.
