Urban Meyer: New Ohio State Head Coach

Urban Meyer’s $4 Million Dollar a year as Ohio States new Head Coach was announced yesterday came with a lot of controversy. Ohio State had an operating budget of $18.2 Million in 2010, which is expected to shrink by 5.9% because they played in one less home game during the 6-6 season marked by Jim Tressel’s resignation and the scandal involving some of the Buckeyes top players.
Meyer’s salary has caused an uproar about the role sports plays in Universities. Meyer’s salary triples the salary of the school’s president Gordon Gee. This is the nature of the market in college sports today. Think about it, if Ohio State pays Meyer $4 Million a year and he generates $6 Million, he will have made the school $2 Million more dollars than they initially invested. Revenue that the school could use.
Urban Meyer coached Florida to a 65-15 record and won two National titles before he stepped down for health reasons in 2010. The 47 year old Meyer has a record of 104 wins and 23 losses over 10 years with Florida, the University of Utah, and Bowling Green. Meyer led the Gators to win a championship game against the Buckeyes in 2006. Gene Smith the Ohio State Athletic director said in a news conference yesterday “We wanted a football coach who can attract some of the best home state players to Columbus, who would create an environment here with the aspiration for every single football player in the state of Ohio to become a Buckeye and to come to the Ohio State University and have no other thought”.
Meyer who is a native of Ashtabula,Ohio, went to the University of Cincinnati signed a deal that is expected to pay him $4 Million a year with bonuses. This may be just what the doctor ordered for Ohio State to get back on track after Tressel gate.