It's Real Simple: Urban Meyer Must Leave

Memo to Urban Meyer: You should study the lessons learned (and not learned) by those who had your "dream job" at Notre Dame. If you do, you will stop coaching football NOW. Then, after a year or so, you could return to Florida, or you could take your X's and O's elsewhere, or you could stay away forever.

At the moment, you should just go, because you're one more "something" away from hurting somebody, yourself or both.

Have a nice day.

And, if you take this advice, you'll have a nice life.

Now back to Notre Dame history, which shows that burned-out coaches such as Meyer should do something about it -- or have somebody do it for them.

During an exclusive FanHouse interview, former Notre Dame athletic director Gene Corrigan had more than a few revelations. For instance: soon after he took over the Fighting Irish in 1981, former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian confessed to Corrigan that, even though he knew he was suffering from exhaustion during much of his legendary 11 seasons with the Irish through 1974, he didn't decide to delegate responsibility until it was too late. Not only that, he privately fumed after he told university president Theodore Hesburgh about his idea of becoming more of a CEO, only to have the priest force Parseghian to retire anyway.

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According to Corrigan, Parseghian (right) added of his ouster, "I couldn't see it then, but I was done, and I didn't know it. I'm telling you now that [Hesburgh] saved my life."

The following didn't come from Corrigan, but from the public record: Frank Leahy evolved into a maniac. He was so obsessed with coaching Notre Dame to greatness during the 1940s and early 1950s that he even received the last rites of the Catholic church at halftime of a game. He also was shoved out of Notre Dame, but unlike Parseghian, Leahy took his bitterness to his Oregon grave.

Then there was Lou Holtz, the famously intense coach who was brought to Notre Dame by Corrigan in 1986. According to Corrigan, Holtz would have lasted with the Irish beyond 11 seasons, but only if he would have heeded Corrigan's advice to take a sabbatical near the end. Instead, Holtz kept going, and he eventually resigned (with a nudge from the Notre Dame hierarchy) within a season. He re-surfaced three years later, but only at inferior South Carolina.

The point is, all those Notre Dame coaches needed a break along the way, but they didn't take one until it was too late.

For that reason and others, Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley should do the right thing and ask Meyer to go -- not to go apologize for his bizarre outburst at a reporter for essentially quoting one of his players (ahem) accurately, and not to go coach another team, but to go seek help for those demons in his head.

If Meyer refuses, then ...
"I've often thought that taking a year off any time would be a good thing for a coach. They allow faculty to do that, and they don't work under the same kind of pressure that a coach does. ... Doing that kind of thing really does make some sense."
- Former Notre Dame Athletic director Gene Corrigan
"That's a hard one, because it's their life," said Corrigan, 81, now retired after more than three decades as one of the most respected administrators in the history of intercollegiate sports. "I've often thought that taking a year off any time would be a good thing for a coach. They allow faculty to do that, and they don't work under the same kind of pressure that a coach does. At any academic institution, it would seem to me that doing that kind of thing really does make some sense."

It really does, especially when you have a coach such as Meyer screaming loudly by his actions for help.

The guy was so overwhelmed by stress and whatever else after his Gators lost last year's SEC Championship Game that his wife called paramedics in the middle of the night. He was hospitalized. He stayed away from specifics regarding his medical issues, but he admitted that he has suffered chest discomfort for years.

Then in late December, Meyer almost got it right by saying he would take a leave of absence. The thing is, he never has. He is back at Florida's spring practice, where he is wound even tighter than before. Thus, his tirade this week against an Orlando reporter for having the audacity to quote Gators wide receiver Deonte Thompson verbatim (as is shown in a video of the interview): That former Florida quarterback/runner/linebacker Tim Tebow isn't a "real quarterback."

The rest is a YouTube classic, with Meyer looking crazy while saying among other things to the Orlando reporter, "You're a bad guy, man," and "If that was my son, we'd be going at it right now."

Yep, time for Meyer to go -- at least for a year.

That's what Corrigan wanted Holtz to do in 1995 when Holtz was an icon filled with pressure at Notre Dame, and Corrigan was commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference by then, and Holtz (photo right) was preparing for surgery on his neck.

"I called him, and I said, 'Lou, take the rest of the year off, and he said, 'Hey, I just can't do that,' and then I said, 'I'm just telling you, DO IT,' " said Corrigan, who heard mostly silence on the other end of the phone.

So Corrigan needed help. "I got Mike Krzyzewski to call him," said Corrigan, referring to the Duke basketball coach, who left the Blue Devils for most of the 1994-1995 season for seclusion due to back and stress issues. He returned refreshed, and he was still vibrant enough to coach Duke into a No. 1 seed again this season. But back to 1995, when Corrigan made that call to Durham, N.C., "I said, 'Mike, do me a favor and call Lou and talk to him and tell him how much that time off meant to you.' But Lou didn't do it. And not long after that, Lou was out of there.

"It's not the outside pressure on these guys, at least I don't think it is. It's the pressure that they put on themselves to meet the standards that they already set, and that's enormous. It's not the money. It's just the intensity in which they approach what they do.

"There's more coverage. There's 24-hour sports on TV that goes on for seven days a week and 365 days a year. It's hard to get away from it."

Actually, it isn't. You just do it.

Are you listening, Mr. Meyer?