COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Just as Ohio State was about to tee up the ball for the opening kickoff against Penn State on Saturday afternoon, Urban Meyer was in Ann Arbor, wrapping up ESPN’s telecast of the Michigan-Nebraska game.
Maybe Meyer will chill out in the trendy college town for a week and meet the Buckeyes when they arrive for Saturday’s annual showdown against the Wolverines. That way he can eyeball the storied rivalry and learn instantly the importance of beating "that team up north," Woody Hayes’ defamatory reference to Michigan.
Hey, isn’t waylaying the Wolverines one of the requirements of a successful OSU coach? Wasn’t that a big part of John Cooper’s undoing?
But Meyer isn’t coaching the Buckeyes. Technically, that’s true, of course. But the internet isn’t interested in technicalities. And there was enough Meyer-to-Ohio-State traffic on the Web last week to clog I-71 all the way from Mansfield to Medina.
Just to give you a little taste:
Sportsbybrooks.com claims anonymous sources have revealed that Meyer has accepted the job and already is assembling a staff that will include OSU interim coach Luke Fickell and his receivers coach, Stan Drayton; former Buckeye quarterback and current ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit; North Carolina State linebacker coach Jon Tenuta and LSU offensive line coach Greg Studwara.
The Web site cites other unnamed sources that say Meyer has coaxed the athletic department into hiring the most expensive group of coaches in the history of college football. Sportsbybrooks.com also reported that Jon Gruden was approached about the job but wasn’t interested.
A CBS operative tweeted that a Scout.com report included the news that Meyer had agreed to a seven-year, $35 million contract, but apparently that communication turned out to be a hoax.
One supposedly clued-in tweeter disclosed that last Wednesday, he tracked a small private jet flying from Gainesville, Fla., to the Ohio State airport and back to Gainesville the same day. Meyer lives in Gainesville, where he coached the University of Florida to two national championships before quitting in 2010.
Elevenwarriors.com, an OSU fan site with credible credentials, didn’t hesitate to spread its findings with great confidence. To wit: Meyer and the university have reached a contractual agreement in principle; both sides are waiting only for the NCAA to deliver its final hammer before announcing Meyer’s hiring, and that whatever penalties the NCAA assesses, it probably won’t kill Meyer’s interest.
"We are 99.7 percent sure that Urban Meyer has agreed to the deal," Elevenwarriors.com said.
ESPN.com joined the party Saturday afternoon with a restrained proclamation that "the two sides are talking, but that there will be no announcement until the end of the regular season."
Before the game in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Meyer was quoted as saying, "There is no truth to that," when asked if he had agreed to coach Ohio State.
"I know it’s that time of year," he said. "But I’ve not been offered any job, and I certainly haven’t accepted any job."
So what does all this mean? An anthropologist probably would conclude that all of this information (if that’s what it is) says more about the state of our bizarre fascination with the Web than it does about the truth of what is being conveyed.source
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