27 Dec, 2009, Gainesville

Until the Saturday night, everyone thought that the Urban Meyer would be the head football coach at Florida for a long time. But then came the shocking news that Meyer was stepping down as the Florida’s coach after the Friday’s Sugar Bowl. He cited some health concerns.

The concerns date back longer than Dec. 6, when he went to a Gainesville hospital hours after a loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game complaining the chest pain. The concerns probably may be longer than 1998, when in a game against Michigan, Notre Dame Assistant Meyer got sucker-punched by surge of pain inside his head.

Meyer labored under intense stress every day of the working life. Meyer was a kind of guy who would drive himself so hard that he would even forget to eat. H worked great for five years. Nobody walks away from $24 million on a whim. Nobody walks away from a program that has won two of the past three national titles and remains stocked with high-caliber recruits without giving it serious thought. But his recent developments have forced him to re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family.

Now Meyer plans to stay in Gainesville. According to a Florida associate athletic director, Steve McClain, Meyer will help the athletic director, Jeremy Foley to find Florida’s next coach.