Former Florida State coach Urban Meyer has become one of the most renowned analysts on Fox Sports’ “Big Noon Kickoff” and various other shows since retiring from coaching in 2021. Meyer is one of only four coaches to win the national championship at two different universities.
Although Meyer is best known for his successful tenure as coach of the Florida Gators, he was already successful before he went to Gainesville, coaching the Utah Utes for two years.
Despite Utah Roots, Urban Meyer Admits Kalani Sitake Admiration
Meyer was the head coach of the Utes from 2003 to 2004. He led the Utes to back-to-back Mountain West Conference titles, their first conference championships since 1957. During his last year in charge of the program, he led Utah to a flawless 12-0 season and a Fiesta Bowl win. The Gators courted him after a big win against bitter rivals, the BYU Cougars, in what is known as the “Holy War.”
During Tuesday’s segment of the Triple Option podcast, Meyer corrected his mistake when he first affiliated himself with BYU over Utah, although he expressed his admiration for the No. 12 Cougars’ coach, Kalani Sitake, despite their Week 11 loss to the No. 8 Texas Tech Red Raiders (14:45).
“I’m a BYU guy, actually a Utah guy, but I really appreciate coach Sitake. I used to not even say the letters BYU,” Urban Meyer said. “But, how do you not love that guy? How do you not love the way his team play? They (BYU) ran into a bus. I stood next to Texas Tech and sized them up; they’re an SEC-looking team. They got the skillset, they’ve got to keep the quarterback happy. If they stay healthy, they’re gonna swing at some SEC and Big Ten schools.”
Meyer was part of the “Big Noon Kickoff” team in Provo on Oct. 19, during the BYU versus Utah rivalry game, when the then-No. 15 Cougars narrowly beat the then-No. 23 Utes 24-21 to win this season’s Holy War.
Meyer Got Florida Offer After Beating BYU
Meyer committed to the “Holy War” rivalry when he was the coach of the Utes, even going so far as to remove blue pens and markers from coaches’ offices and cover any letter “Y” at Utah’s training facilities. During the “Big Noon Kickoff” segment in Provo, he revealed that he got the job offer from Florida after beating the Cougars 52-51 in 2004.
READ MORE: Heisman Trophy Rankings: 5 Players Who Strengthened Their Resume in Week 11
“I was driving home from a rivalry game against the Cougars…” Meyer said. “The athletic director from the University of Florida said, ‘We’re coming after you.’”
In the 30 years before he arrived in Salt Lake City, the Utes had a woeful 8-22 record against the Cougars. But during his tenure as coach of Utah, Meyer went 2-0 in the series against BYU.
Now, the tables have turned. According to the PFSN CFB Playoff Metric, BYU has a 31.4% chance of making the playoffs, while Utah sits at just 2.8%.
Utah never had a 8-23 record against byu unless your looking at a specific period of time. Utah has the overall record by 62-37-4.
Hi, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this article. I have updated the piece with the correct timescale — Oliver Hodgkinson (Deputy Editor)