Courtesy of Utah
IRVING, Texas – Former University of Utah head football coach Urban Meyer, who led the Utes to an undefeated season in 2004, was announced on Wednesday as part of the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame class. Meyer and the rest of the 22-member class were revealed by the National Football Foundation during College Football Live on ESPN.
The 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class will officially be inducted during the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 9, 2025, at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Meyer will become one of three members of the College Football Hall of Fame to have a Utah connection. Utah head coach Ike Armstrong was inducted in 1957 after helming the program from 1925-49. Legendary quarterback Alex Smith was part of the 2024 class after starring with the Utes in 2003 and ’04 under Meyer.
Though he was only in Salt Lake City for two seasons (2003-04), Meyer left an indelible mark on the Utah football program that can still be felt today. He went 22-2 as Utah’s leader, capped off by a BCS-busting season in 2004. In addition to Utah, Meyer made collegiate head coaching stops at Bowling Green (2001-02), Florida (2005-10) and Ohio State (2012-18), compiling a 187-32 career record and .854 winning percentage.
When hired in December 2002, the 38-year old Meyer was coming off a remarkable two-year stretch at Bowling Green that saw him earn MAC Coach of the Year in 2001—his first season as a college head coach—before engineering a 2002 campaign that saw the Falcons finish 9-3 with five weeks in the national rankings.
Meyer said at the time, “I became sold on the Utah job after my visit to the campus. Seeing the facilities now in place and learning more about the quality of the University confirmed what I always felt when I coached (as an assistant) at Colorado State: you can recruit good players to Utah.”
That final sentence held true: he coached eight players at Utah that developed into NFL Draft selections, headlined by Smith as the No. 1 overall pick in 2005. Eric Weddle went on to be a second-round selection in 2007; he lettered two seasons under Meyer and two more under Meyer’s defensive coordinator and eventual successor, current Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.
Under Meyer’s leadership, the Utes became the first Mountain West Conference team to win back-to-back league titles, doing so in 2003 and ’04.
His inaugural Utah team went 10-2, won the Liberty Bowl and finished No. 21 in the national rankings, with Meyer voted 2003 Mountain West Coach of the Year. The squad made national noise after knocking off California in a battle between future NFL quarterbacks in Smith and Aaron Rodgers, with the Utes rallying for a victory. The team added a second Pac-10 and BCS win when it upset No. 19 Oregon later in the 2003 season.
Utah went 12-0 in his final season, recording its first undefeated campaign since 1930. The Utes took down Texas A&M in the 2004 season opener, were victorious at Arizona the following week and dominated North Carolina in October as well. Then with a rivalry game win over BYU inside Rice-Eccles Stadium on the chilly evening of Nov. 20, 2004, Utah busted the BCS as the first team from a non-automatically qualifying conference to reach a BCS bowl game.
Though he was named Florida’s head coach on Dec. 4, 2004, Meyer remained with the Utes for the Fiesta Bowl and served as co-head coach alongside Whittingham.
When the game against Pittsburgh kicked off on Jan. 1, 2005, a sea of red was estimated to make up three-quarters of the sellout crowd of 73,519 inside Sun Devil Stadium. Favored by 16 points, Utah dominated in a 35-7 victory.
“This is the best group of young men I’ve ever been around,” Meyer said. “It’s going to be hard to say goodbye, but we’re saying goodbye 12-0.”
The Associated Press slotted the Utes No. 4 in its final 2004 rankings. Meyer once again won Mountain West Coach of the Year and also hauled in Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year honors. Smith went on to be named a Heisman Trophy finalist and the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.
After departing Utah, he won two national championships at Florida and one more at Ohio State. He set a major college record with 165 wins in his first 15 seasons, and his 85.4 winning percentage ranks third all-time in college football history. His postseason success was equally impressive, with a 12-3 bowl record (78.5% win rate), the second-highest in FBS history.
Across his entire collegiate head coaching career, Meyer coached 44 first-team All-Americans, 77 first-team all-conference players, four NFF National Scholar-Athletes and two College Football Hall of Fame inductees. He won seven conference championships overall.
Beyond football, Meyer has made a lasting impact through civic service, serving on the boards of the Veterans Golfers Association, Folds of Honor, and the Tim Tebow Foundation. He and his wife established the Urban and Shelley Meyer Fund for Cancer Research at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Meyer earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Cincinnati (1986), lettering one season (1984) with the Bearcats as a defensive back. While launching his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Buckeyes, he earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio State in 1988. Meyer’s coaching career also includes assistant positions at Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame. He was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021.
The 2004 Utah Football team was inducted into the U’s Crimson Club Hall of Fame in 2019. In addition, Meyer is a member of the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame and the Ashtabula County Football Hall of Fame. He currently serves as a host and analyst on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
