TAMPA - The long goodbye of Urban Meyer finally begins its conclusion today at the Outback Bowl, where Florida arrives to begin preparation for the New Year's Day game against Penn State.
Meyer announced in early December that he was stepping aside as the Gators' head coach after six years that included the 2006 and 2008 national titles, resigning last December before the Sugar bowl, taking it back the next day, then resigning again after a disappointing 7-5 season in 2010.
Along the way he's mentioned his health, he's talked about missing time with family. Now there are discussions with ESPN about a broadcasting future and he's vowed not to coach in 2011. If that holds true, the Tampa bowl will be the last game Meyer, 46, coaches for at least a while.
Much of the shock has subsided in Gainesville.
Running back Jeff Demps said players were "running around like chickens with our heads cut off'' when Meyer first resigned. There's a little more certainty about the future, with Will Muschamp quickly hired as the new coach.
"He's a great coach, and he told us he's going to bring in the best possible person to help turn this offense around, so we're not really worried anymore,'' Demps said.
It will create a strange situation in Tampa, however, because the former Texas defensive coordinator will be watching the Gators' workouts and evaluating players and coaches.
ESPN's Desmond Howard knows what it's like to have to pick up the pieces when a big name coach steps aside. He was recruited by Bo Schembechler but after one season at Michigan Howard had to adjust to Gary Moeller taking over. Howard went on to win the Heisman in 1991 by what was, at the time, the largest margin ever in the voting.
He predicts the Gators will focus on sending Meyer out the right way - with a win - before turning their attention to the future.
"Once you get out there on the field or you start going to your meetings and you start to prepare for that bowl game, you kind of maintain a sense of normalcy,'' Howard said. "You get back into a routine and then your focus becomes squarely on the Penn State Nittany Lions.
"So I think at one point they just get back into the groove and they really start to focus on winning the bowl game because at the end of the day they know that's what it's all about. They want to win this bowl game, and then when you have a coach like Urban Meyer who most of these players have so much respect for because they've been around him for so long, they want to make sure that they send him out on a good note. That becomes their focus.''
Mike Bellotti, the former Oregon coach and athletic director who also does work for ESPN, said UF players should be motivated.
"They're going to want to put a stamp on that,'' predicted Bellotti, who stepped aside a couple of years ago as the Ducks' head coach, being replaced by Chip Kelly. "I think that that doesn't mean the players are going to want it any more but the coaches may give them a little bit more impetus, a little bit more motivation to, Let's go out on top, let's win this game, let's stamp Urban's career, let's stamp his time at Florida.'''
Regardless, Bellotti called Meyer a "Hall of Fame coach.''
"What he's accomplished, two national championships (at Florida), the undefeated season at Utah (in 2004), just some amazing things,'' Bellotti said. "He coached in a style and a manner that's taken its toll on his body and his family and I think he's recognizing that now. I don't think he's saying that there's not more that I can accomplish, but he's saying that I want to spend a little time with my family while I still can have quality time in influencing my own biological children as well as I've influenced all the other players I've coached over the years.
"It was a great run. It's not the way he would have chosen to end it. I won't say it's just frustration. It's just recognition of the type of energy he wanted to coach with and maybe that was detrimental to his health. I don't know that you can step back and say, 'Gosh I'm not going to be as intense, I'm not going to want it as much, I'm not going to let this affect me as much,' because then you wouldn't be the coach that you were."
