OHIO STATE

Meyer says OSU's crown took more than talent

Jon Spencer
Reporter

COLUMBUS – It wasn't part of the program agenda, but the unveiling of Ohio State's 2014 national championship ring took place Thursday night, courtesy of head coach Urban Meyer.

"This is a special day," Meyer said to a banquet crowd of 700 guests at the third annual benefit for Team Focus, a national organization founded by Crestline natives Mike and Mickey Gottfried that mentors fatherless boys. "Kids nowadays, when you win a championship get a ring."

Meyer paused to pretend he was wiping his brow. What he was really doing was showing off the rock on his finger, sparkling under the lights inside the Villa Milano Banquet and Conference Center.

"I was joking around with the players," Meyer said. "When we win this (national title), we're going to get a ring this big. Look at that thing."

The players will receive their rings in a ceremony Friday as part of what has been an exhilarating and exhausting week for the head coach. It began with Meyer receiving a contract extension through 2020 that will average $6.5 million a year. He spent part of his Thursday watching his son, Nate, play in a high school baseball game, has more than 1,000 high school football coaches arriving on campus for a Friday clinic and puts the finishing touches on spring drills with the annual scrimmage inside Ohio Stadium on Saturday.

Oh, and on Monday there's this small matter of the team getting honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.

After the unexpected unveiling of his third national championship ring as a head coach, Meyer almost made bigger news.

"We have three stud quarterbacks," he said, referring to two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Braxton Miller, 2014 Heisman finalist J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones, the third-stringer who went 3-0 in the postseason with the other two out of commission. "We're going to figure out tonight who's going to play (next season). If you guys would like to raise your hands ..."

Meyer waited for the laughter in the banquet room to die down.

"No one tweet that!" he said. "I see phones out. It's a joke."

Before Meyer's address, a 2014 highlight video was shown. When the lights came back up, he was wearing the biggest grin.

"What a video," Meyer said as he stepped to the podium. "I've probably watched it 4,000 times. When I leave the office tonight, I'll probably watch it one more time because of how proud I am of the players."

After winning a third national championship — the first two at Florida — you'd think life would get easier for the rock star head coach. It doesn't.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Meyer said. "I called the staff together and got real emotional. I told them life isn't going to be easier. It might be more difficult, but what will be different is that you'll share a bond and brotherhood with those people you won a national championship with. You're brothers; that will never be taken away.

"Every time I speak now, I want to give credit to the players. I hear 'Coach Meyer, great job.' Coach Meyer would not have done a great job without those players. You hear coaches say 'It was the pregame speech.' No it's not. It has nothing to do with it, to be honest with you. We recruited well and pushed really hard, but we won because our great players played great."

After the Buckeyes blew a late lead to Michigan State in the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game, costing them a chance to play for a national championship, and then fell to Clemson in the Orange Bowl, Meyer made it his mission to find out what happened.

He discovered only six of nine units on the team were playing at maximum capacity against MSU. So he set up a five-week workshop for his staff, hosted by leadership consultant Tim Kight.

Meyer had started a leadership program with the players after the 2012 season. Last off-season it was the coaches' turn. The workshop was called Brotherhood of Trust.

"My dream always hasn't been to win a national championship; it's to operate at maximum capacity," Meyer said. "We had to fix three units. The workshop was over the top. The (coaches) who were having trouble with their units were taking notes and learning up how they could get the trust of 18- to 20-year-olds to do difficult things."

Every position coach was instructed to have his players over to dinner and do a service project together.

"Two days before our first game (last season), our star Heisman (candidate) quarterback goes down," said Meyer, referring to Miller's season-ending shoulder injury. "We had every excuse not to perform or keep going.

"How did (the national championship) happen? We had great players and nine unit leaders, nine assistant coaches take care of their units.

"I think there will be a book written; someday there will be a movie about the journey of a guy like Cardale Jones. I'm still trying to figure that one out."

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