Last week, the former Gator coach and first-year Buckeye coach sat down with The Plain Dealer.
AP file"I'm part of the Big Ten now," Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer said in an exclusive interview with The Plain Dealer. "For us to say we want (the Big Ten) to be like the SEC, I don't know if that's fair. In what ways? Do we want to win six straight national championships? Absolutely, yes we do." COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State is three weeks away from the start of spring football practice, 22 days from Urban Meyer truly getting his mitts on his new team.
Last week, in his office decorated with a Woody Hayes painting, at least 25 photos of his family and football binders from his years at Florida, the former Gator coach and first-year Buckeye coach sat down with The Plain Dealer.
How close is this roster getting to what Urban Meyer wants a roster to be?
"I can tell you about weight room stuff. I can't tell you football. On purpose, I have not beat myself up and beat these kids up watching the videotape. I'd probably get some preconceived ideas and I think everybody deserves a chance to push the restart button. So I can't tell you that.
"There are some positions that are glaringly weak right now, that I don't know about. I hope they are better. I worry about the quality of offensive skill, and quantity. Offensive line is much improved in just a month and a half in how they look. I don't know if they'll play. So to say how much does the roster look like a roster I want, I can't give you a real answer because I don't know yet. In the spring, I'll be very direct about that."
You won the national title in your second year at Florida. Do you have a sense of the roster you walked into at Florida compared to the roster you're walking into here?
"It's too early. Florida, I didn't know. That first year, we were brutal. We won some games (9-3) because of a pretty salty defense and we won some close games that at times I was like, 'How did that happen?' And we had some devastating injuries on offense. We lost three receivers that year. We were going backward half the time.
"But I knew going into that second season we had a legit shot because we brought in Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes, Brandon James the returner; I knew we had a legitimate outfit now because certain areas we stressed and also that defense became real good. You could see that happening."
You say your offensive linemen are looking better. When it comes to different positions, how do you want guys to look physically and how much are you changing some of them to get them where you want them to be for your style of football?
"A great example, in the offensive line, we are looking for angular, athletic tackles. You have to move. You have to run. We don't want big slow guys. We just don't. There's no room at the inn for those guys.
"At the center-guard position, we still have to run. Every position has to run, because we're going to pull you. Our center, I like to pull him. So we need to have a center that can run. So it's kind of speaking with a forked tongue -- I'm looking for big powerful guys that can run inside, but not the sloppy. I don't want the sloppy.
"There were some body fats where I was like, 'Wow.' I think because maybe [the last coaching staff] wanted mass. Some offenses are mass oriented. The big giants. We don't want that. We want big powerful guys, but you've got to run."
AP file"I think everything that has happened here at Ohio State in the past 12 months, 15 months, has created a stir around the country." How much do you want Big Ten football to be like SEC football? Is there anything wrong with the idea that the Big Ten should be more like the SEC?
"What I found out, there's lot of competition between the two conferences -- for television contracts, for notoriety, for bowl bids, for national championship games. I experienced that first-hand in '06. There were a lot of people in this country who felt like a rematch (for the national title between Ohio State and Michigan) was going to take place. There were a lot of people in other parts of the country who said that should not happen. I represented a team that I thought, no way should that happen.
"So I think you've got to be careful what you say. I'm part of the Big Ten now. For us to say we want to be like the SEC, I don't know if that's fair. In what ways?
"Do we want to win six straight national championships? Absolutely, yes we do. Do we want to improve our recruiting so we have more teams in the top 20, in the top 10? Of course.
"I would imagine there's not a coach or fan or player that wouldn't say that we want more draft picks, we want more guys going to the combine, we want more national championships.But to say we want to be like them? There was a time where they wanted to be like us, I imagine.
"So I think it's pretty cyclical and I think you're going to see a little bit of a transition of power. The SEC is always going to be great, but I think the Big Ten is going to be real strong.
Why do you say that?
"I just see the recruiting, some of the recruiting going on. I can speak for our team -- I think we've got some pretty good players here."
Do you think you put opponents on edge at all -- opposing coaches, opposing fans?
"I don't know."
Do you take people aback? Do you want to? Do you want to send people a message, do you want people to be worried about Ohio State?
"Yeah, I want it, but not because of me. Not because of crazy talk or accusations. No, I want it because we play really hard and we play really fair and we have really good players. Absolutely. I thought at Florida we did that.
"I was really proud of that Florida team. That was really well-coached, great football players. Everyone was looking at them and I guess some people were on edge. But it wasn't because of some coach opening his mouth. It was because of some really good football players playing hard."
But it's not what you say, but how you act, isn't it?
"Every coach I know is like that. The guy they got at Illinois [Tim Beckman] who was on my staff, I know what he's saying, I was with him. I don't know the guy at Penn State [Bill O'Brien], but I know where he worked, with the New England Patriots. I imagine he's doing that.
"I've never met a coach that says we're going to sit back."
Do you feel you have made some waves in how Ohio State has gone about its business?
"No. I've got a little bit of a problem with that. No. I can give you 15 examples right now of people that have tried to take our [recruits] and that's the only headline that I can remember, the only thing that has been brought back to me that was making waves was when there were some comments made."
But not in a negative, but in trying to be great.
"Well, the guy before me was great."
They won a lot of games.
"Great. Wisconsin's been great. So I don't know. Penn State for years and years was great. So I think everybody wants to be great. I think everything that has happened here at Ohio State in the past 12 months, 15 months, has created a stir around the country. That produced a lot of headlines, not because of some guy wanting to be great.