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| The dream is a reality |
Luke Fickell, who has served as Ohio State's head football coach since May, will continue to serve as the current team's head coach through any possible bowl appearance. He will remain on Coach Meyer's staff, but doesn't say if he'll have a future role.
According to Urban Meyer's agent Trace Armstrong, and Mike and Mike in the Morning, Urban Meyer, the former coach of the Florida Gators and now former ESPN analyst, has accepted the job to be Ohio State's 24th Head Coach.
This doesn't come as a huge shock to Buckeye fans, as rumors have been swirling for months that Urban Meyer was going to be named the next head coach, but this is the final period. As of now, there is not an official set contract, but the most likely scenario is a 7 year deal worth $40 million.
Ed. Note: I've decided to move all the updates up on the post, as it's getting a little bit crowded. You can read the rest of this post after the jump, while updates will stay on the front of the page. Keep it here for all the latest news and updates.
Update #1: The press conference introducing Meyer is expected to occur at OSU late this afternoon. Ohio State has still not announced that the hiring is official
Update #2: According to Rivals.com, former Arizona head coach Mike Stoops, brother of Bob Stoops who's the head coach for Oklahoma, could be announced as Ohio State's defensive coordinator in the next 48 hours.
Update #3: According to Clay Hall of ABC6/FOX28, Ohio State will be releasing official details on the Urban Meyer hiring at 11 AM EST.
Update #4: According to Dom Tiberi of 10TV, Urban Meyer will be introduced as Ohio State's 24th Head Coach today at a 5 PM EST Press Conference.
Update #5: 10TV is now reporting that Luke Fickell will be retained on Ohio State's staff. This only means that Mike Vrabel will indeed be staying at Ohio State as well. Marcus Hartman has confirmed that Mark Pantoni will be joining Urban Meyer's staff as director of football administration. To dumb this down a bit, this means that Pantoni is basically the head of recruiting, and was once referred to as Urban Meyer's right hand man. Great news for Buckeye fans.
Update #6: A Bucknuts trusted user is reporting that Florida's current strength and conditioning coach, Mickey Marotti, is coming to Columbus as well with Urban Meyer, as OSU's new Director of Operations.
Update #7: Urban Meyer will NOT be introduced as Ohio State's head coach at the Duke Basketball game, which takes place tomorrow.
Update #8: Urban Meyer is officially the head coach of Ohio State. Luke Fickell has also accepted the job as defensive coordinator.
Update #9: Contract states that it's a 6-year deal is six years, 4 million per. Retention payments of 450K, 750k and 1.2M for dates on 14, 16 and 18.
Meyer had been working as a game analyst this season for ESPN. But Meyer requested off of his appearance this weekend as reports swirled of his imminent hire with the Buckeyes. He'll now replace interim head coach Luke Fickell, after the Buckeyes finished the regular season 6-6, with three straight losses to end the season, including one of those losses to arch-rival Michigan.
Urban Meyer last coached for the Florida Gators from 2005 until 2010, when he retired twice due to "health conditions" and "family-oriented" problems. Meyer compiled a record of 104-23 throughout his career at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida. With Florida alone, Urban wrapped up 2 MNC's, and ended with a 65-15 record with the Gators, which is an .813 winning percentage and 2nd best in school history for Florida.
He became the first coach in the history of the Football Bowl Subdivision to post consecutive 13-win seasons (2008 and 2009) and he is also the only coach to post three 13-win seasons in a four-year span. Meyer guided the 2008 and 2009 team to a school-record 22 game winning streak, the fourth-longest in the history of the SEC and the longest in the league in 15 years. Between Oct. 4, 2008 and Oct. 2, 2010, his teams won 16-straight SEC games, the second-longest in school history.
More information as it comes. Stay tuned, and continue to check back to the site today for the latest on the Urban Meyer developments.
