Ohio State's Urban Meyer Named Big Ten Coach Of The Decade By BTN

By Colin Hass-Hill on July 3, 2020 at 2:04 pm
Urban Meyer
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One of the most successful coaches in college football history has been named the best of the 2010s.

Urban Meyer, now retired after a seven-year run at Ohio State, was honored as the Big Ten coach of the decade by BTN, earning the selection over James Franklin, Mark Dantonio, Paul Chryst, Ryan Day, Kirk Ferentz, Jim Harbaugh and others.

A panel of 24 experts – including Meyer, former Buckeyes players Joshua Perry, James Laurinaitis and Stanley Jackson – voted on the Big Ten All-Decade team, which has been released throughout the week.

Meyer's seven years in Columbus featured an 83-9 record with a 54-4 mark in Big Ten games. He led the Buckeyes to a national championship victory to end the 2014 season, capturing the ultimate prize in the first-ever College Football Playoff. His teams captured the conference title in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Perhaps most importantly to a large swath of the fan base, the Buckeyes won all seven games they played against Michigan while Meyer patrolled the sideline. He dominated the Wolverines in the Brady Hoke era, and he never slipped up to Jim Harbaugh.

Even with his final season as Ohio State's coach marred by a three-game suspension stemming from the Zach Smith scandal, his on-field success was unmatched among fellow Big Ten coaches in the 2010s. No other Big Ten coach won a national title, made multiple playoff appearances, beat their chief rival with such consistency, averaged fewer than one in-conference loss a year or managed over 11 wins per season.

Meyer accomplished it all, making him the only reasonable choice as the Big Ten's coach of the decade.

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