SARASOTA — As head coach, Urban Meyer won two college football national titles at Florida and a third at Ohio State. In 17 seasons, he compiled a record of 187-32.
But now a Sarasota resident, Meyer has put down his coaching whistle for a tennis racket and a competitive game at the Payne Park Tennis Center.
Still, the 60-year-old remains in football as a college football analyst for Fox Sports, and in a manner that may mean more to Meyer than any championship ring.
Friday at Booker High School was the final day of his five-day program titled “The Urban Edge.” Similar to his “Real Life Wednesday” program when he coached at OSU, Meyer, in partnership with Chief Rex Troche and the Sarasota Police Department’s Community Relations Unit, wants “to equip the next generation to take ownership of their lives and be a positive force in their community.”
Said Meyer, “The mission is we equip them with the skill set necessary to own their own lives. Not have someone else control what you do. You pick your job, you become great at your job, you become great with your family, you take ownership of your life.”
At the heart of Meyer’s program is what he calls “the five pillars” — leadership, communication, fiscal responsibility, interpersonal skills, and career planning.
“The driving force is that 95 percent of Americans don’t like their jobs,” he said. “They get stuck. Worse than that, 70 million Americans count on the government. I believe, if you become an expert on the five pillars we’re teaching, you’ll never have problems with either of those. You won’t have to worry about anyone else.”
The Booker High football team learned about a pillar a day by guest speakers. Former Tornado and Duke University player Keith DuBose, a Sarasota lawyer, spoke to the players on communication and conflict resolution. At the end of the five-day program, a mentor will be assigned to three players, and the four-person group will meet once every two weeks. The bigger group will meet once a month.
“The big thing is,” said Meyer, who will serve as one of the mentors, “is to get them shadow opportunities. That means I’m going to find out what my three guys are interested in, and I have enough contacts in this town (to help them).
“I believe a lot of kids get labeled bad kids or bad people, and they’re not,” he said. “They’ve just gone through some tough times, and no one has cared about them. My passion has always been that underdog. Someone who just needs a little boost, a chance, and I’ve always been that way, ever since I started coaching.”
A pilot program Meyer hopes to expand upon throughout Sarasota County, it got traction after Meyer became friends with Troche.
“We were driving to an event together,” Troche said, “and he told me about an idea. He didn’t have the personnel and the time. I said, ‘I have the personnel and the time.’ We linked him with Booker High.”
“I needed some direction,” Meyer said, “and Rex and I became pretty good friends. He loves this community. We got in his police car and drove around Newtown. We drove through some other areas, and I said, ‘Let me give you this thought.’ And he said, ‘Done.’ ”
As for the Booker players selected for the program, Meyer left that up to Tornado head coach Scottie Littles.
“I said I didn’t want bad guys,” Meyer said. “This is not a behavioral program, where the kid is an idiot and disrespectful. This is for good dudes who just come from tough situations.”
That was Meyer’s aim when he started the program at Ohio State in 2009.
“We had just won our second national title,” he said, “and coaches got bonuses for graduation rates, so you did everything you possibly could to graduate guys. But I was having guys come back to me and say, ‘I can’t get a job.’ Back when we were young, if you graduated, you usually got a job. Everyone has a degree now. So I said, ‘OK, we’ve got to do something about this. We’ve got to get these guys ready for life after sports.’ I did it there and it really took off. (Real Life Wednesday) was a huge hit.”
What he accomplished at the college level, Meyer hopes to duplicate in high school.
“I believe these things ought to be in the base curriculum for every kid in high school and college,” he said. “It blows my mind. I had guys in college with no idea of fiscal responsibility, credit score. I had one player ask me who FICA was. No idea of paying taxes. And certainly I don’t believe they teach leadership enough. They don’t teach people how to communicate, they don’t teach people about conflict resolution. So instead of complaining about it, we’re going to do it. And it’s been extremely successful.”
On Thursday, as Booker players listened to Meyer, a couple of members of the Sarasota Police Department’s Community Relations Unit stood in the back of the school’s media center. Troche, who later spoke about investing time wisely, said the program is a great way for the kids “to interact with us when they’re not calling 911.”
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