November 30th Update

Big Coaching Moves in Sports

• Massive coaching moves were made to start the week as one of the biggest baseball jobs and college football jobs were both filled by big name skippers. After a couple weeks of repeated denial, Urban Meyer caved in and admitted that he had, in fact, accepted the Ohio State football job that was left vacant by Jim Tressel this spring. Meyer who led the University of Florida to national championships in 2006 and 2008 nearly retired after the 2009 season citing heart problems, came back a day later, then retired after the next season saying he needed to be with his family (more on Meyer below).
• The Boston Red Sox made the other big hire, naming Bobby Valentine as their next skipper. Valentine knows a thing or two about being the manager of a very highly scrutinized team as he led the New York Mets to the NLCS in 1999 and the World Series in 2000. He's always been known as a boisterous, opinionated type who would fit in well in New York (think a skinnier Rex Ryan) and he once wore a fake mustache as a disguise in order to return to a game he had been thrown out of. But despite his New York roots, he now becomes public enemy #1 in the Big Apple as he will take over a Red Sox team that has the talent to displace the New York Yankees atop the American League East in 2012 and beyond.
• The first coaching casualty of the NFL Season came today. The Jacksonville Jaguars announced they will be parting ways with long-time coach Jack Del Rio. The 3-8 Jaguars regressed from their 8-8 record from last year. Owner WayneWeaver also announced he is planning on selling the team, which leaves the long term coach in question.

Wednesday Spotlight: Urban Meyer

• Urban Meyer was recently announced as the new head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team (the basketball team had a good Tuesday too). For Meyer it is a return to the place where he got his first coaching job after graduating college. For Ohio State, it is a big splash hiring in an attempt to return to greatness that left with the firing of former coach Jim Tressel.
• Meyer played college football at the University of Cincinnati. After graduating and coaching at a local high school for a year Meyer got a job as a graduate assistant at Ohio State University. From there he worked his way through 3 other schools as an assistant coach, the last 5 at Notre Dame. He was hired as the head coach of Bowling Green in 2001. After going 8-3 in his first year, and a 9-3 record his second year Meyer jumped to coach at the University of Utah. Meyer only stayed at Utah for two years, but went 10-2 and 12-0 in those two seasons. The second season Meyer lead the Utes to their first BCS bowl game.
• Meyer, the hottest coach on the market, was hired to coach the University of Florida in 2005. He had immediate success in Gainsville. His second year Meyer won a national championship using a young freshman quarterback named Tim Tebow. In 2008 the Gators won their second national championship under Meyer. Meyer’s tenure at Florida will forever be tied to the successes of his most famous player, Tim Tebow. After some health issues (that developed from the insane pace Meyer pushes himself) he retired after the 2010 season to go into TV working as a commentator for ESPN.
• Regardless of how great the guy is as a coach, it's tough to say how long he'll actually coach Ohio State. His lifetime record is 104-23 and is 7-1 in bowl games including the aforementioned 2-0 in national championship games but he has only stayed for a total of 10 seasons at his 3 positions.