Urban Meyer stepping down at UF

Urban Meyer led Florida to 2 National Championships

Just a quick blurb here that definitely needs some recognition. Citing that he wants to spend more time with his family, Urban Meyer will step down after Florida’s bowl game as head coach. A huge surprise here; I understand that he did the “same thing” last year after having health issues, but this one looks to stick, at least for a while. He’s been at Florida for 6 years and has been highly successful, boasting a 64-15 record, and winning 2 National Championships. The question quickly becomes who replaces him? That one, obviously, is up in the air since it is so early in the process, but early names that come to mind have to be Dan Mullen and Charlie Strong. Both were coordinators under Meyer and are now head coaches at Mississippi St. and Louisville, respectively. College football just lost a damn good coach…for now.

TCU to the Big East; A wise decision?

TCU has accepted the Big East's invitation to join the conference in all sports

Beginning July 1, 2012, TCU will no longer be a member of the Mountain West Conference. They have decided to take their services elsewhere, joining the Big East, and in the process, creating another hole, competition wise, in the MWC (Boise St. is joining, but Utah is bolting for the Pac-10). The over-arching factor here is by allowing TCU to join the Big East, it will be joining an automatic BCS-qualifier and not have to worry about what has plagued them for a while now, and that is being in a league that is not automatically qualified. Also, this should generate more revenue for the program and will probably be a boon for them in recruiting as well now that they are finally joining a “big boy” conference.

Interesting to note, though, is that they will be joining in all sports. Meaning they will play in what is generally regarded as the best basketball conference in the country. That does not bode too well for the Horned Frogs (they were 12-18 last year in a weak basketball conference). Also, geography wise, this is a real head-scratcher. Imagine the plane expenses for their teams when they have to go and play Connecticut and Syracuse on the road in back-to-back games. Ouch. However, the exposure in the Eastern market should be a plus for this program. And, more importantly, no more second-guessing this team from a football perspective. If they run the table, then they deserve what they get, no questions asked. I understand that Big East football is not typically the strongest, yet it is still a viable conference which has had some very good football teams in recent years (West Virginia, Louisville, Rutgers). Because of this, you can’t help but think TCU pulled the trigger on something they thought would better their program exponentially in the immediate future and beyond.