Questions about Urban Meyer’s future at Ohio State have remained a constant the entire season, and for the most part, he’s been reluctant to answer them.
With the exception of one private session with reporters from a few local media outlets in October, in which he revealed that he has been dealing with severe headaches caused by an enlarged arachnoid cyst in his brain, Meyer has mostly given either short answers or declined comment when fielding questions this season about his health or how long he plans to continue coaching at Ohio State.
That was the case on Friday, when he declined comment on a report by Football Scoop’s Scott Roussel that Meyer “continues to contemplate his future on an ongoing basis, and we hear he has told Gene Smith that he doesn’t expect to continue to coach past the 2019 season.”
On Saturday, Meyer gave only a brief response (and the same response he gave when asked about it on Monday) when queried about his future.
“I plan on coaching, and enjoying this championship,” Meyer said.
Despite saying now on multiple occasions that he plans to continue coaching, rumors about his potential departure and concern about his health haven’t gone away. Chances are, he’s going to continue answering in the same fashion if he continues to be asked the same questions, but his latest answers probably aren’t going to make the questions go away.
That said, Urban Meyer’s wife Shelley was willing to shed some light on her husband’s health during an interview session with reporters after Ohio State’s 45-24 win over Northwestern in Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship Game, and she said he has been feeling better in recent weeks than he was earlier in the season.
“He’s feeling really good right now,” Shelley Meyer said. “Winning cures a lot of things, and all I can say is he’s been feeling pretty good the last few weeks, after getting all the headaches under control, and we’re feeling really good today. Really good today.”
Asked about how long her husband would continue to coach at Ohio State, Shelley said she didn’t have an answer.
“I can’t say anything about that, because I don’t know,” Shelley said. “I don’t know.”
Shelley did say, though, that she believes her husband loves the Buckeyes and loves coaching them as much as ever.
“I can’t say more than he ever does, because he always enjoys his team,” Shelley said. “He loves his team. He loves his team, and he loves winning. And we’ve been winning the last few weeks.”
“He’s feeling really good right now. Winning cures a lot of things.”– Shelley Meyer after the Big Ten Championship Game
Shelley said she does worry about her husband’s well-being, but that’s nothing new.
“I love my husband, obviously, and of course, I always worry about him, because he’s always been very intense, as long as I’ve known him,” Shelley said. “I know no other Urban Meyer, he’s been intense as long as I’ve known him.”
On Saturday night, though, Shelley said she felt nothing but happiness as Ohio State celebrated its third conference title in five years – and she believed her husband, whose mantra is “enjoy every win,” was going to relish the victory, too.
“We are going to enjoy this win so much. It’s another Big Ten championship,” Shelley said. “We love this team so much, and they rallied and rallied and rallied and played their hearts out.”
