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| Could this picture become reality? |
You probably haven't heard the news (Insert sarcasm font here). Many sites, pundits, reporters, and everyone else in the sports world are now reporting that Urban Meyer is headed to Columbus to coach the Ohio State football team. The rumors have been swirling since May 31st, when Jim Tressel was forced to resign and Luke Fickell stepped into the role of interim head coach. The rumor mill really started to set in motion on Monday of last week, when it was announced that Urban had met with Arizona University officials to discuss becoming the next head coach there. As we all know by now, Meyer declined the job, but did state his interest in returning to coaching in college football.
Things heated up even more when an online message board (Bucknuts forums) had tracked a plane headed to Columbus from Miami on Monday evening. Using a flight tracking website, rumors started to spread like wildfire that Urban was on his way to meet with Ohio State officials to discuss the job. Eventually the rumor was dismissed by many people, and was not looked at again.
Of course the following day, on Wednesday, things turned from message board rumors and quiet whispers to a random tweet that went completely insane. The tweet in question was from CBS's Mike Freeman, where he stated that Scout.com was reporting that Urban Meyer had agreed to coach Ohio State for 7 years, for a total of $35 million. Chaos ensued, and soon Twitter had turned into a horrible game of telephone, when people started to twist his words and take his thought as fact.
Twitter folk then lashed out, when Mike backtracked by saying that it wasn't even on the Scout page, and that it's not "official".
In response to the Internet blowing up, Ohio State released a short statement that basically said that there was nothing to the rumor going around. Of course, they also used the words "At this time".
Then, sweeping in to take the trophy home, 11W released some interesting information. In this business, especially with such an accurate and level-headed site like Eleven Warriors is, being 99.7% sure that something is going to happen that relates to the topic in question, usually means it's going to happen. They have been plenty right before. It takes a lot of balls to come out with info like this, and if they end up being correct, which I have a strong suspicion they will, then they will be rewarded with even more much-deserved credibility.
Now, starting today, the countdown is on. Ohio State has just come off of a crushing loss to Penn State, the rumor mill is swirling out of control, and the info that most of the media agrees is that both Urban Meyer and Ohio State are waiting on the NCAA decision to move forward. That meeting, will be taking place on November 28th. From that point on, if the outcome is favorable, we could see Urban Meyer in the scarlet and gray soon after. The staff Urban would bring with him might be star-studded as well. Current LSU offensive coordinator, Greg Studwara, who coached with Meyer at Bowling Green might be joining Urban in Columbus for next year.
Here's an interesting tidbit for you as well: A rumor has been swirling since early November that Urban would be introduced as the head coach at halftime of the Ohio State-Duke basketball game on November 29th, a day after the NCAA should release their sanctions. At the time when the rumor was first released, people shrugged it off, claiming it was too good to be true. Now it appears the dominoes are in place, and there are too many confidences for this not to have some truth to it.
At least this much is true: It's going to be an interesting November.
