Ohio State great Cris Carter on Urban Meyer: ‘He wants to coach, but he can’t do it anymore’

>>READ MORE: Ohio State announces future coaching plans

A Middletown High School grad who starred at Ohio State before a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, Carter revealed some details about just what Meyer has been dealing with from a health standpoint this season.

“He wants to coach, but physically he can’t,” Carter said Tuesday on FoxSports1. “He can’t do this anymore. I think it’s been well-documented as far as the cyst on his brain. When he gets agitated, upset, when he gets in coaching mode…it becomes very to almost impossible for him to coach.”

Meyer acknowledged in October he has been dealing with headaches again from the cyst, but Carter’s account offers some of the most vivid details that have been made public.

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“Urban and I had a very, very frank conversation,” Carter said. “Urban was my wide receivers coach at Ohio State, and what I was afraid of was happening over the last four weeks.

“I thought something else was going to happen on the sideline (at the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday) before we were able to get to this day,” he said. “I was worried that I was going to have to speak at my friend’s funeral, and that’s not something you want to do. You don’t want to have to think about that.”

According to Carter, Meyer’s family is relieved he is retiring.

Carter also suggested Meyer’s doctor was not encouraging another medical procedure such as the one he had in 2014 to relieve the pressure on his brain from the cyst.

Beyond that, Meyer believes the program will be in good hands with his successor, Ryan Day.

“Urban thinks he’s the best offensive coordinator he’s ever had,” Carter said. “Now, he’s got three or four guys out there. Dan Mullen, Tom Herman — these guys are running Florida, Texas — says Ryan Day is even better than them. You can see it in the way he runs his offense, it’s definitely far more creative. And you’ve seen him develop Dwayne Haskins in a very special way.”