Add ESPN.com’s Edward Aschoff to the list of folks who think Urban Meyer would have a hard time turning down Ohio State if the Buckeyes called him.  And Aschoff wrote for The Gainesville Sun before joining ESPN’s army of sports drones, so he should have some insight into Meyer’s desire to coach again as well as his love for his homestate Buckeyes.  In the writer’s words:


“Oh, and there’s the itch.  It’s a coaching itch that won’t leave a man, who ‘retired’ at the age of 46, anytime soon.  He’s won everywhere he’s been and led the Gators to two national championships and three SEC title games in his six years in Gainesville.  His health might be in question (for now), but that coaching fire that made him one of the most exciting young coaches in the country is still inside him somewhere.

Don’t expect a new recruiting base to deter him either.  He coached at Bowling Green, where the Midwest was his home and if he can dominate recruiting in the SEC, the Big Ten shouldn’t be an issue.  OSU’s recruiting grounds stretched all the way to the southeast, especially Florida, and Meyer owned that area.

As far as family is concerned, it might not have much input this time around.  Meyer said in a book in 2008 that OSU, Notre Dame and Michigan were the only coaching jobs that his wife had no power to veto.

Check and mate.”


Well, hell, why don’t Meyer and the Bucks just announce the hire today?  Aschoff makes this thing sound as locked-in as most Ohio State fans hope it is.

But at least the writer’s final statement leaves him a hair’s width of wiggle room on the subject:


“If OSU makes that phone call after next season, the truth is it will be hard for Meyer to say no.”

The folks at The Mobile Press-Register have pointed out today that for just the second time in league history four 1,000-yard rushers will be back in action across SEC stadiums this fall.

The only other time four SEC backs returned after 1,000-yard seasons was in 1988 when five such backs came back.  Those rushers were Bobby Humphrey of Alabama, Lars Tate of Georgia, Harvey Williams of LSU, Reggie Cobb of Tennessee, and some guy named Emmitt Smith at Florida.

Here are this year’s returning 1,000-yard backs:

For those trying to figure out which schools would be for and against changes to the league’s “roster management” policies, Mississippi State has most often been categorized as a “no” vote.  But that’s not necessarily the case according to none other than the school’s athletic director.

Parrish Alford of The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that MSU AD Scott Stricklin has told him that “his school would be fine with proposed legislation that is expected to limit SEC schools to 25 signees — a one-to-one ratio of scholarship offers to scholarship signees, no juggling numbers between signing day and the August 1st deadline to whittle down to 25.”

According to Stricklin — in the words of Alford — “a world with no oversigning would be OK with MSU, because the program retains and develops its players.”

Hmmm.

And on the other side of the fence, you already know that Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt has said that he is ready to “fight” for the current right to manage his roster any ol’ way he sees fit.

It’s no surprise that MSU and UM don’t see eye to eye on something.  It is a bit of a surprise that the SEC West isn’t as unified against “roster management” legislation as originally thought.

Once the presidents get involved, expect the numbers to skew more pro-change.  We may be proven wrong, but we believe the league’s presidents will show that the power in the SEC rests with them… and not their football coaches.

1.  Here’s a look back at some of the juicier SEC spring meetings in recent years.  (And doesn’t it say something about a league’s clout that it can have “juicy” spring meetings?)

2.  Considering all of the character questions that eventually dropped him into the third round of the NFL draft, isn’t it a bit surprising that former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett was invited to a Texas’ middle school’s Career Day?

3.  It’s been a remarkably bad year for athletics at Ole Miss.

It’s only Tuesday and we’ve already had our fill of oversigning talk.  Imagine how much chatter we’re going to hear on that topic by Friday?

With the SEC meetings kicking off today, stories like this one and like this one attempt to frame and explain the battle lines that are being drawn with regards to “roster management.”

Commissioner Mike Slive has hinted at making gradual changes to the current system rather than wholesale changes.  Mississippi AD Pete Boone has said the league won’t be adopting a Big Ten-style rule this week in Destin.

But what if the league did go cold turkey on oversigning altogether?  What if the SEC was forced to play by — you know — the same rules that most other schools choose to play by?

If that happened — and we don’t expect that it will — we here at MrSEC.com, would turn a deaf ear to the whining and whimpering that multi-millionaire coaches would no doubt make over the fact that they would now have to face the same roster-building limitations that other coaches in other leagues face.

Does that make us anti-SEC?  Nope.  It actually means we have more faith in the coaches, the money and facilities they have to work with, and the ridiculous depth of talent that’s produced in the nine SEC states than the coaches themselves seem to have.

The SEC has enough history, tradition, and talent to dominate the national landscape without having a built-in advantage when it comes to roster-building.  So here’s hoping the SEC’s presidents don’t put too much stock in the boogeyman stories their coaches have been telling them about life with an — egads — level playing field.

For that matter, perhaps some of the league presidents might want to ask their coaches why they demand such exorbitant salaries if, in fact, they’re simply benefiting from a big, built-in advantage they have over coaches in other leagues.

1.  This writer wouldn’t be shocked if the “a compromise measure” is reached in Destin this week… kick-starting an overhaul of the oversigning system.

2.  Four former Auburn footballers accused of armed robbery will argue for youthful-offender status.

3.  This writer credits Mike Slive’s handling of Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl for making “sacred cows” and big-time winners like Jim Tressel more accountable.

Kentucky’s Joker Phillips makes no bones about it — he’s worried that his Wildcat offense won’t be able to score points in 2011 like it has in recent years:


“Our ability to put the ball in the end zone (is the biggest post-spring concern).  We didn’t score the way we have been scoring points around here for a while.  We ditched the running game in the spring because we thought it was so important to be efficient in the throw game.  That skewed the outlook on offense and our ability to put the ball in the end zone because we did ditch the running game.  We will probably run more in the fall.”

1.  Meet 10 Florida footballers who could emerge as stars this fall.

2.  Kentucky’s John Calipari has been tweeting some odd stuff about his critics.

3.  This writer says the SEC’s schools aren’t afraid to spend money in order to win.

For Vanderbilt fans out there who still roll their eyes at the mention of former VU president Gordon Gee — now overseeing the trainwreck at Ohio State — Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes something today that you might approve of:


“Gee should follow (Jim) Tressel out the door.  He exuded pomposity at Vanderbilt when he disbanded the athletic department, and more recently downplayed Tressel’s alleged NCAA infractions.  Asked whether he considered firing Tressel, he giggled and responded, ‘I’m just hoping the coach doesn’t dismiss me.’

Further proof that a wall full of diplomas doesn’t ensure a man has integrity.”

As soon as Jim Tressel’s resignation was publicized, the name “Urban Meyer” popped up on everyone’s “Next Buckeye Coach” list.  But Meyer said yesterday that he won’t pursue any coaching job this fall.  (Of course, OSU said it won’t start looking for a new coach until after this fall anyway.)

On the surface, it makes sense for a BCS title-winning coach to pair up with one of college football’s greatest dynasties.  But scratch beneath the surface and you’ll see that this pairing isn’t nearly as likely as some talking heads — and Buckeye fans — would like.

First, the OSU job figures to be a mess when the next guy takes over.  Second, Meyer just walked away from a cushier gig at Florida.  Do you really think he’d want to tackler a tougher situation in Columbus?  And while some writers think Meyer will take the Buckeye gig, this writer spent time with the ex-Gator coach last week and he claims Meyer doesn’t miss everything about the coaching profession.

Our take?  If Meyer burned out at Florida — to the point of having to be rushed to the hospital after an SEC title game loss — he’s going to enjoy his time at ESPN. 

Everyone expected Jon Gruden to jump back into the coaching ranks after a year in the broadcast booth, but that young, driven coach found that he can keep one foot in the game and still have a life by limiting himself to the broadcast booth.  He found he can also make a lot of money working a lot less hours.

We expect Meyer to follow the Gruden path.  He may love coaching, but here’s betting he loves living more.  If Meyer gets back into coaching, we believe it will be as Mack Brown’s replacement at Texas or as Brian Kelly’s eventual replacement at Notre Dame. 

We don’t think he’ll be on the sideline at the Horseshoe in 2012.