Urban Meyer says no to the NFL… for now

Now that we’ve tired of wondering about which players might go pro, it’s reasonable to wonder about coaches too. Certainly, Urban Meyer would be a desirable candidate for many NFL franchises that are constantly looking for new ways to get a leg up on competition. When asked today about that possibility, Urban Meyer didn’t rule it out, but pretty plainly said it’s not happening right now.

“Not right now. I have a commitment to Ohio State and these players,” Meyer said.

If nothing else, Urban Meyer is smart not to rule it out because even if he has no intention of making the jump, the option has been used by college football coaches before to get newer, richer contracts. Urban Meyer already makes a lot of money, but until he’s the top paid coach in the entire country, he’ll always have an opportunity to leverage something against his current employers.

And maybe Urban Meyer does want to try his hand at the next level. Maybe he’d like to take a shot at putting his system in place at the NFL level. I do tend to believe him when he says “Not right now.” It’s one thing to leave the college ranks ahead of NCAA sanctions like Pete Carroll did. It’s quite another to follow up a championship season where a large portion of your players are returning and deciding that that’s the opportune moment to bolt to a team that just fired their coach.

It’s just such a difficult transition. These guys can all coach, but it’s a different kind of project than the one they’re used to. In college, Urban Meyer is such a good recruiter he basically has five first round picks in the draft every year where most other teams in the Big Ten only have one. The demands of coaching up and motivating a bunch of kids – likely hungry to be drafted someday – is largely different than a guy who is trying his best to win, but also stay in the league as long as possible making NFL paychecks. I know I’ve used some sweeping generalizations here, but we all know there are differences.

So I do think it’s more than possible that Urban Meyer someday decides to make that jump and give it a shot. I just can’t possibly fathom he won’t stick around Ohio State for at least one or two more seasons to try and defend the title and add to his résumé.

So keep hoping Browns fans. It’s only a matter of time. Tressell’s name got thrown around over the last coaching search. You know it’ll happen again eventually.