While gator fans are crowing "We got our coach back!," trying hard to believe everything is right with their world again, some of college football's top writers aren't buying it. They're more confused than ever after Meyer's bizarre, confusing press conference on Sunday. And their reviews pretty much amount to one and a half thumbs down about the state of Florida football.
The cynics out there believe that this whole thing is just a ploy to salvage this recruiting class and get Florida through national signing day in February. In the absence of answers, that kind of cynicism will thrive until it is proven wrong—or confirmed. It is a risky place for the Florida program to be.
--Tony Barnhart
Nobody knows what is going to happen down the road. Meyer said his gut feeling is he'll be back as Florida's coach next year. But only if he figures it out. But if he does come back, can he ratchet it down? Can he delegate? Can he not go full bore all the time?
He has to or Meyer has no business coming back.--Pat Dooley Gainesville Sun
Those close to Meyer had long been familiar with his health problems -- ranging from in-season weight loss to searing headaches to the ongoing threat of an arachnoid cyst on his brain -- and his intense, inherently at-odds devotion to family and coaching made his recent flip-flopping almost inevitable.
Anyone who knows Meyer understands he had no choice but to change his mind, throwing himself and the Florida program into months -- perhaps years -- of uncertainty.
--S.L. Price, Sports Illustrated
Florida could be in for some rough sledding ahead. The demands of the job are too great, the SEC too competitive to be without one's head coach for an extended period...Florida will be at a disadvantage recruiting-wise for as long as Meyer's status is in limbo, and even when he returns, the famously relentless recruiter might not be able to pick off where he left off.
-- Stewart Mandel, Sports Illustrated
There is something that Meyer is not telling us...Meyer has to understand that inquiring minds will want to know about the future of their franchise with or without him. All the pointed questions at Sunday's Sugar Bowl news conference in New Orleans announcing that the coach had indeed changed his mind and will return at some future date, were left unanswered.
--Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports
Urban Meyer went to Florida’s Sugar Bowl practice Sunday and had a change of heart? What happened to his health? What happened to his daughter hugging him because she had her daddy back?...But a “spirited practice” made all of those personal and family concerns secondary? I just don’t believe this story is over yet.--Ivan Meisel, ESPN
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