Utah football fans wanted excitement and offense.
That's what they will get — their own Urban legend.
Utah administrators confirmed Wednesday morning that they will hold a news conference Thursday at 1 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium to announce Urban Meyer as their new football coach.
Meyer, 38, is a fast-rising star after a 17-6 two-year record at Ohio's Bowling Green, where he took a team that was 2-9 in 2000 and had six straight losing seasons to 8-3 and was named Mid-America Conference coach of the year. It was the nation's biggest turnaround that year.
Meyer takes his 41-points-a-game scoring average and jumps from the MAC to the house that Mac built.
A Bowling Green State University news release Wednesday morning said Meyer had resigned, but it did not mention Utah.
Neither Meyer nor Utah officials were available for comment Wednesday morning.
Meyer met with Utah athletic director Chris Hill Monday and Tuesday — first reported in the Deseret News — then flew home Tuesday to consult with his family.
Toledo Blade reporter Matt Markey cited a source "close to the family" as saying that Meyer and his wife, Shelley, decided at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to accept Utah's coaching position, which was vacated Nov. 25 when Ron McBride was fired after 13 years and an 88-63 record.
Meyer met very briefly with his BGSU team and assistant coaches, most of them called back from recruiting trips, at 5 a.m. Wednesday to give them the news.
"He did tell the team today that he is leaving. We're announcing that he's not returning," said Bowling Green sports information director J.D. Campbell Wednesday morning. Campbell said he was no longer handling anything regarding Meyer.
"People here are bitter," said Markey, because Meyer is leaving so quickly.
Meyer's 2002 offense broke three MAC offensive records and tied two more, all previously owned by the Marshall Thundering Herd teams led by Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich.
Meyer's Falcons, ultimately 9-3, had five weeks of glory on the 2002 USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Polls, ranking as high as 16th after starting the season 8-0.
Even when they lost three of their last four games, Meyer remained a respected name mentioned for many of the nation's coaching vacancies, including the one at Michigan State. Wyoming athletic director Lee Moon traveled to watch Bowling Green play its final game. Wyoming SID Kevin McKinney said he did not know if Meyer was offered the Cowboy job, but reports in Ohio say he turned it down.
Meyer is familiar with the West, having spent 1990-95 on Sonny Lubick's Colorado State staff. He was also an assistant at Ohio State, Notre Dame and Illinois State. He was a student assistant coach at his alma mater, Cincinnati. Meyer also spent a couple of years as a baseball player in the Atlanta Braves' organization.
Bowling Green was his first head-coaching assignment.
With all the older, more-experienced coaches who had contact with Hill for the Utah job — including USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Kent Baer, Texas Tech defensive coordinator Greg McMackin, Colorado offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, Utah defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham and Kansas State co-defensive coordinator Bob Elliott — a man with just two years as a head coach at a small school may seem a strange choice.
But, then, Rick Majerus was an up-and-comer from the same area of the Midwest (Ball State) when Hill snapped him up, and he's had some success.
Meyer has been endorsed by South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, formerly of Notre Dame, and by CSU's Lubick.
Meyer leaves a position that paid $125,000 in base salary. His radio and TV shows and Adidas contract pushed that figure to $175,000. Incentives could have brought him up to $200,000 had he won the MAC title.
McBride also had a $125,000 base, but his camps, shows and other deals put him around $250,000, with incentives making $300,000-plus possible. His buyout for the last year of his contract is $156,000 plus benefits, said Hill.
Meyer will likely be allowed to decide on his own assistant coaches, but Whittingham should be a consideration to remain on the Utah staff since his defenses have been nationally ranked since the mid-90s and usually lead the Mountain West Conference.
Bowling Green team radio broadcaster Norm Wamer said he thinks Meyer will bring three assistants with him. Assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon, 46, is thought to be one. The Arizona native coached for seven years under Gary Barnett at Northwestern and Colorado and played for Barnett at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs. Brandon was an assistant coach at Weber State from 1981-86 and at Utah State in 1991.
Brandon said Wednesday morning he is seeking the Bowling Green head coaching job and has an interview Wednesday afternoon. If he doesn't get the post, he'll come to Utah with Meyer.
Receivers coach Billy Gonzales is from Thornton, Colo., and a '94 graduate of Colorado State, so he's likely another who will move. Quarterbacks coach Dan Mullen is thought by Wamer to be the other one who will come to Utah.
Most of Meyer's assistants are from Ohio or the East. The defensive coordinator is from northeast Ohio and is thought to prefer staying there. He had the MAC's top defense this season.
Markey said Meyer is "a real principled and classy guy. I like him as a person and respect him as a coach. He has done everything here by the book." Markey said when Meyer finished his first spring camp, a total of 21 players had quit the team. Rather than saying something politically correct, the direct Meyer said, "Good riddance. If they're not as committed as the guy next to them, we don't want them."
In 1999, Meyer's Notre Dame receivers broke the school single-season record for pass receptions (192) and receiving yards (2,858). This season, BGSU broke Marshall's MAC marks for points in a season (490), touchdowns rushing and passing (61) and touchdowns scored or passed for (41). It tied Marshall MAC records for most offensive plays in a season (539).
His teams also had a record-setting kicker who made 57 of 59 PAT attempts.
Meyer is a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, and he and his wife have a son, Nathan, and two daughters, Nicole and Gigi.
McBride was fired after a 5-6 season that included a six-game losing streak. It was Utah's second losing season in the last three. In 2001, the Utes were 8-4, but they were 4-7 in 2000. In 2002, they were picked in the preseason to challenge Colorado State for the MWC championship. The Utes did finish on a three-game win streak, including their sixth win in the last 10 years over BYU.
Those who called for McBride's head over the last several years complained of a boring, run-based offense that sometimes seemed confused about time management at critical points of games and lost one or two games a season that observers thought they should have won.
Another problem was a large-capacity Rice-Eccles Stadium that looked empty with the same 30,000 who had been cramped in the old Rice Stadium. Actual attendance dwindled over the past few seasons, with maybe 10,000-15,000 attending the Nov. 9 UNLV game.
Much of that was due to factors such as poor parking, street construction that made it difficult to get to parking areas and the selling of the best seats to corporations, which didn't always distribute tickets to people who wanted them.
These are problems Meyer will face, too, though he takes over a team with pretty good talent at most positions.
Urban Meyer bio
Personal
Born July 10, 1964
Native of Ashtabula, Ohio
Married (Shelley) with three children (Nicole, Gigi and Nathan)
Bachelor's degree in psychology (Cincinnati, 1986)
Master's degree in sports adminsitration (Ohio State, 1988)
Athletics
Defensive back, University of Cincinnati
13th-round draft pick, 1982 amateur baseball draft
Played two years in the Atlanta Braves' organization
Professional
Head coach: Bowling Green (2001-02), won 17, lost 6 (9-3 in 2002)
Assistant coach: Notre Dame (1996-2000), Colorado State (1990-95), Illinois State (1988-89), Ohio State (1986-87)
Mentors include Earle Bruce, Lou Holtz, Sonny Lubick, Bob Davie
Record-breakers
MAC records set or tied by Bowling Green under Urban Meyer this season (old record in parentheses)
Points in a season: 490 (453, Marshall, 1997)
TDs: 65 (tie Marshall, 1997)
TDs rushing and passing: 61 (58, Marshall, 2001)
Plays in a season: 539, Josh Harris (tie, 539, Byron Leftwich, Marshall, 2001)
TDs scored or passed for: 41, Josh Harris, (40, Chad Pennington, Marshall, 1997)
PATs in a season: 57, Shaun Suisham (53, John Scott, Miami, 1997)
PAT attempts in a season: 59, Suisham (57, Curtis Head, Marshall, 2001)
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com