Sports
Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Gators football
Football is more than family affair
The Meyers are fully involved in creating a family atmosphere.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published December 8, 2004
GAINESVILLE - When Urban and Shelley Meyer move to Gainesville next month, it will be their third move since 2000. Shelley Meyer has a good feeling she won't be packing boxes anymore for a long, long time.
"I knew when we went to Utah that there might be one more move," she said Tuesday afternoon, shortly after her husband was introduced as the new Florida coach. "I knew that there was one more step to take. Now this is it. There's nowhere to go from Florida. We made it to the top of the mountain."
The Meyers made the decision to come to Florida sight unseen. Urban had been to Gainesville twice - once as a Cincinnati player and once as a recruiter while an assistant at Notre Dame.
They relied heavily on the advice and recommendations of basketball coach Billy Donovan and his wife, Christine, who have lived in Gainesville nine years; and Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, a former Florida assistant who still owns a home in Florida. And Shelley Meyer did her research, including checking the UF media guides to see the tenure of Florida coaches.
But long before Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley offered Meyer the job, Shelley Meyer knew this move would be different from the others.
"I think the word hysteria would be used when we told them (the three children) we were leaving Bowling Green," she said. "But they heard rumors about this at school. They came home and asked me, are we moving to Florida? This was a long time ago before there was anything going on for real, just all the rumors. My 14-year-old looked at me and said, "I'll move to Florida.' So I said, "Okay that's one hurdle we won't even have to tackle.' They are very excited about it. They love Salt Lake, but they love warm weather."
Football is a family affair, Shelley said, because it requires so much of the family. When Foley came to interview Urban, Shelley sat in saying, "I wanted to know what he had to say."
Meyer added: "The bottom line is that I have three kids and a wife to take care of and a football team to coach, in that order."
A psychiatric nurse and university instructor, Shelley Meyer is an avid supporter of her husband and his teams.
"I'm very involved," she said. "I know some wives in the profession who aren't involved and I just think you can't be a team in your marriage in this kind of career if the wife is not directly involved with the players.
"I get to know the players. I love our players. They get to know our kids. We spend time with them."
She's also known for being one of the biggest cheerleaders in the stadium and said she already has told Foley she isn't interested in a suite. She wants to sit in the stands among the fans.
"The one I'm worried about is my wife in the Swamp," Urban Meyer said. "She has a reputation for getting carried away with the student body."
Shelley and their three children - Nicole (14) Gigi (11) and Nathan (6) - will arrive in Gainesville by the end of the third week of January. By football season, Shelley knows the focus will be on Urban and whether he's up to the task.
"I know how the pressure is, Florida people want to win and there's just no other way," she said. "You've got to win. So I hope I'm ready for it."
[Last modified December 7, 2004, 23:48:19]
Share your thoughts on this story
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
