Scott Stricklin shares importance of honoring Urban Meyer, engaging with Florida legends

Florida AD Scott Stricklin recently shared the importance of honoring Urban Meyer with the Florida Ring of Honor. The former coach won two national titles with the Gators in the BCS era.

Meyer was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, so it’s only natural he’s immortalized in Gainesville forever. But Stricklin wants Meyer around the program and athletic department alongside other Florida legends.

“Well, certainly coach Meyer is one of the all time greats,” Stricklin said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “He just got inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. You know, he’s done something at Florida twice that is the career goal of anybody, right? Two national titles for the Gators. And so he is, you know, he’s someone that we value and treasure. And the fact that he lives here in Florida, he’s two hours, two and a half hours away down in Sarasota, he can get up here a lot. 

“It’s important to us that all those who have come before are around. You know, it’s important to me that coach Spurrier is still part of our program. It’s important to me that Jeremy Foley is still part of our program. It’s important to me that Urban and you know, (former basketball coach) Billy Donovan (are still part of it).” 

Meyer went 65-15 from 2005-10 at Florida, winning national titles in 2006 and ‘08. Overall, Meyer won a third national title at Ohio State in 2014 and went 187-32 in stints with Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State.

As far as when Meyer will be honored by Florida for his accomplishments in the Sunshine State, it’s to-be-determined. After all, the coach has a cushy TV gig!

“There’s so many and again, people move on with their lives, they can’t always be in Gainesville, but when we can have those people back, I think it’s really important,” Stricklin said. “I love that Brandon Spikes is a part of our Gator-Made program and is pouring into our young men every day in football from a leadership standpoint, and, you know, sharing his experiences. So yeah, it’s been great to have Urban back. 

“It was great to have him to the game the other night. It’ll be, you know, a real treat to install him into the Ring of Honor this fall. Not sure when that’s going to happen … because with his day job, which is working for FOX on their Big Noon show, which comes on Saturday, which that’s when we play our games. It’s going to have to be a night game. So we’re going to have to wait … And then we have to figure out which potential FOX games he might be working, where he can fly here and get here in time for that.”