Urban Meyer’s career
Year; School;Overall;Conference; Final Ranking (AP/Coaches)
2001;Bowling Green; 8-3;5-3; NR
2002;Bowling Green; 9-3;6-2; NR
2003;Utah;10-2;6-1 (First);21/21
2004;Utah;12-0;7-0 (First);4/5
2005;Florida;9-3;5-3;12/16
2006;Florida;13-1;7-1 (First);1/1
2007;Florida;9-4 5-3 13/16
2008;Florida;13-1;7-1 (First);1/1
2009;Florida;13-1;8-0 (First, East);3/3
2010;Florida;8-5;4-4;NR
2012;Ohio State;12-0 8-0 3/NA
2013;Ohio State;12-2 8-0 (1st/Lea.) 12/10
2014;Ohio State 14-1 8-0 (First); 1/1
Ohio State extended head football coach Urban Meyer’s contract through the 2020 season, Athletic Director Gene Smith announced Monday. In terms of annual compensation, Smith said, Meyer will be the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten Conference.
Meyer completed his third season with the Buckeyes in January and won the first College Football Playoff national championship. His previous contract ran through 2017 and would have paid him $4.9 million for 2015. His new salary in 2015 will be $5.8 million.
The new contract is retroactive to Feb. 1, 2015. Its end date is Jan. 31, 2021. His salary over the next six seasons will average at least $6.5 million.
“I am honored to serve as football coach at The Ohio State University and to represent this great university,” Meyer said in a press release. “It is a privilege to coach and mentor the young men in this program, and I want to thank President (Michael) Drake and Mr. Smith for their support and their trust in me.”
The contract is subject to approve by Ohio State’s Board of Trustees, which next meets June 3-4.
According to a report listing 2014 coaching salaries in USA Today, Meyer was the sixth highest-paid coach in college football last season. Alabama’s Nick Saban ($7.1 million) and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio ($5.6 million) ranked first and second.
Meyer is 38-3 at Ohio State and 24-0 in regular-season Big Ten play. He was 12-0 in 2012, his first season. The team was ineligible to participate in the postseason that year.
In 2013, the Buckeyes went 12-0 again and lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten title game and to Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Last season, the Buckeyes lost their second game of the season to Virginia Tech and then won their next 13, beating Wisconsin the Big Ten title game, Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon in the national championship game.
Meyer won two national championships in six seasons at Florida. Meyer and Saban are the only coaches to win national championships at two schools.
“Urban Meyer has done an excellent job strengthening our culture of commitment to academics, career development and winning championships,” Smith said in a press release. “Our young men continue to thrive under his leadership, whether on the playing field where they are national champions, through life skills pursuits like Real Life Wednesdays, internships and job fairs, and academically through program-wide efforts to monitor the progress of every student-athlete which has helped the team achieve its highest graduation success rate at 78 percent.”
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