Alligator Army

From The Paper of Record, Urban Meyer on the record;

"There was no heart damage," Meyer said. "But I didn’t want there to be a bad day where there were three kids sitting around wondering what to do next. It was the pattern of what I was doing and how I was doing it. It was self-destructive."

The man was literally falling apart, all for the glory of our University.

Meyer said in a telephone interview late Saturday night that that the hospital trip prompted weeks of soul searching that ended on Christmas night. He told his family he would be leaving his job at Florida. He said that his 18-year-old daughter Nicki hugged him and said, "I get my daddy back."

"I saw it as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do," Meyer said of his daughter’s reaction. "I was worried about letting people down. I was feeling so awful and concerned about my health. That was among several other signs that said it’s time to back away."

This does reveal the timeline; Meyer was not set until Christmas Day. But it also reveals the burden this season had on Meyer and his family.

He said that his 16-year-old daughter had told him that she had not felt like she talked to him in the past two years. In a 10-day period around the SEC title game Meyer said that he had lost 20 pounds.

"When your health flashes before your eyes, what’s before you means more than anything," he said. "I have a strong faith that there’s a reason for everything, and God has a plan for us. I just don’t know what it is."

Asked if he would return to coaching in the future, Meyer said he had not thought about it. But it appeared clear that he would not return anytime soon. 

The team reacted well and Meyer, while not addressing future jobs, at least sounds like all of us when our time at the University of Florida ends.

"I haven’t even thought about anything after that, other than I’m a Gator and I’ll always be a Gator."

Ultimately, Meyer had to make the decision to end his career at Florida before he ended his relationship with his family.