College Football: 10 toughest coaching careers to follow

8. Urban Meyer (Florida)

Urban Meyer only just retired from the Buckeyes after last season, so the jury is still out on how tough he will be to follow in Columbus. If the transition goes like his gig at Utah, Ryan Day is destined to become the next iteration of Kyle Whittingham at Utah. Ohio State will certainly hope for that outcome, given what happened at his previous stop.

Meyer is on this list of hard coaching acts to follow not because of his time in Columbus or Salt Lake City but rather because he proved to be such a tough act to follow at his first Power Five opportunity. Florida, it must be remembered, regressed after the Steve Spurrier era ended and Ron Zook took over the program.

In came Meyer, reawakening a dormant powerhouse and returning it to the pinnacle of the game. Taking advantage of the talent-rich Sunshine State, Meyer nearly had the Gators in the SEC championship in his first season in 2005. But an loss to former Florida coach Steve Spurrier in the conference finale for both teams prevented the Gators from squaring off against LSU for the conference crown.

A year later, Meyer’s Gators were in the in the BCS national championship game by his second season in Gainesville. Dominating a favored Ohio State squad, Meyer brought Florida faithful their first national title in a decade, and followed it up with another in 2008. Despite the same advantages of geography, a deep local talent pool, and strong institutional support, neither Will Muschamp nor Jim McElwain managed to come anywhere near Meyer’s level of coaching success.