The last time Urban Meyer coached in College Football was with Ohio State back in 2018. After a disastrous stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL in 2021, the former Florida and Ohio State head coach has been linked with a return to College Football.
Currently, there are some top jobs open in the SEC. After LSU’s decision to fire Brian Kelly, there are also openings at Florida, which fired Billy Napier, as well as the Arkansas Razorbacks, who fired Sam Pittman. This does not include the vacancies that will surely follow amid the ongoing coaching carousel.
Urban Meyer Rumored To Be Interested in Major SEC Head Coach Opening
During the latest episode of the “Paul Finebaum show,” the conversation around the current college football carousel ended up on the topic of the vacancy at Florida. During this discussion, Meyer’s name emerged as a potential option.
“I’ve heard some speculation that there’s mutual interest between Urban Meyer and Florida. I think after four seasons of Billy Napier, you’d sell your soul to Urban Meyer to fix the program. I think that’s the best case scenario.” SEC Mike shared.
Urban Meyer had the ultimate getback on Georgia a year after the Gator stomp 🐊
He called all of his remaining timeouts in the last minute to get the crowd fired up.
pic.twitter.com/u3N7e19zaq— Florida Gators 🐊🔥 (@gatorsszn) October 31, 2025
Florida fell to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in SEC play after a loss to Texas A&M under Napier. He was fired after a victory against Mississippi State. According to PFSN’s playoff predictor, they are projected to finish the season 4-7, knocking them out of bowl contention.
According to the former head coach’s contract, Florida owes Napier around $21 million following his departure. Napier signed a seven-year deal with over $50 million guaranteed in November 2021.
After Florida’s decision to fire Napier, Gonzales will take over for the rest of the season. His first game as head coach will be against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are coming off a massive win against Ole Miss, which shot them up the AP Poll Top 25 rankings.
Florida’s interim head coach, Gonzales, has a strong relationship with Meyer. It began in 1990 at Colorado State, where Gonzales played as a wide receiver, while Meyer was his position coach. They then continued to Bowling Green in 2001, where the interim head coach was a position coach.
The two stayed together for the years to come. This included a stint at Utah in 2004 and a stint at Florida from 2005 to 2009. The two also won two national championships together in 2006 and 2008 in Florida.
“Both of us just had a conversation. The most important thing is these darn players. And everything is going to be on film. A player could ruin his draft stock and his career by screwing around right now, or by not getting coached.” Meyer revealed the two had a conversation after Gonzales was hired.
The last time Meyer coached in College Football was with Ohio State. After announcing his retirement from coaching during his time with Florida, it was allegedly reported that he ended things on bad terms with the Gators, creating a toxic culture within the program.
“I love Florida; I’ll always be a Gator. My motives were pure as gold when I left. We left Florida because I was dealing with health issues that I’ve since learned how to control.” Meyer stated following his departure.
During his last College Football job at Ohio, Meyer’s contract guaranteed him at least $4 million annually. However, with the current climate in College Football, it would undoubtedly cost the Gators much more to hire the former head coach.
