BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) — Bowling Green football coach Urban Meyer accepted the coaching job at Utah on Wednesday.
Meyer informed his players and staff in a morning meeting that he was leaving, Bowling Green athletic director Paul Krebs said. Utah spokeswoman Liz Abel said the school could not confirm Meyer had been hired, and no news conference has been scheduled.
He leaves just a week after insisting he wasn't pursuing any other jobs.
Utah fired coach Ron McBride last month after the Utes second losing record in three seasons.
Meyer, 38, was 17-6 in two seasons at Bowling Green. He was 9-3 this year, when the Falcons won their first eight games and climbed to No. 20 in The Associated Press poll before losing three of its last four games.
He inherited a program that had endured six straight losing seasons and finished 2-9 in 2000, but quickly turned it around.
This season the Falcons set a Mid-American Conference record for most points scored, averaging 41 points per game.
"Urban is one of the brightest stars in the coaching fraternity and he has left our program in tremendous shape," Krebs said.
Meyer likes an up-tempo offense and he likes to take chances with fake punts and trick plays. This season the Falcons beat Missouri and Kansas.
His success brought his name to surface for other coaching jobs, including Michigan State and Wyoming.
A week ago, Meyer said talk of him leaving was silly.
"If we would have won the MAC championship and we would have taken this to the absolute level where it can go, then I think I would say what else can I do, but we are nowhere near what we can do here," Meyer said last week.
"Once people get to know me and know my family and know how important it is to me to have continuity, then they'll know," he said.
Meyer, a native of Ashtabula in northeast Ohio, served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame, Colorado State, Illinois State and Ohio State and as a student assistant coach at Cincinnati.
Meyer met twice with Utah athletic director Chris Hill in the last week and was in Utah on Monday.
Other candidates contacted by Utah were Utes defensive coordinator Kyle Wittingham, Southern California offensive coordinator and former Brigham Young assistant Norm Chow, Colorado assistant Shawn Watson, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Kent Baer and Kansas State defensive coordinator Bob Elliott.
McBride coached Utah for 13 seasons and took the Utes to six of their nine bowl appearances.