Urban Meyer fibbed to protect family, players

By Adam Silverstein
December 31, 2009

Speaking at press conference for the 2010 Sugar Bowl Thursday, Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer admitted he and the University of Florida attempted to cover up the reason for his hospital visit after the 2009 Southeastern Conference Championship in order to protect his family and players.

“I have three children [11, 16, 19] that mean more to me than anything. I have a football team that means more to me than anything. […] I didn’t want it to get out at all. And then we were very careful. I didn’t want anybody alarmed” Meyer said. “You do what you’ve got to do to protect them. I think at some point, whether you’re a football coach, whether you’re a lawyer or whatever, you think at some point there would be a lot of respect for families involved. If that means not coming clean with full details about something very personal, if you can’t understand that, then, first of all, I think you’ve got to recheck yourself.”

Avoiding additional questions about his health, Meyer tried to focus the media on the upcoming game. “I love my players. I’m not ashamed to say that. I love Florida. And I want to win this game in the worst possible way,” Meyer said. “Not for myself, not for our staff, not for Steve, not for whomever, but for our players. And so has there been a little bit of a good push, I think there’s been a good push.”

2 Comments

  1. Gatorfan33 says:

    I may be alone as a Gator fan when I say this but…………………… I am ready for this junk to be over with and everything to get back to normal.

  2. Brittany says:

    Nope, I agree. I am ready for this to blow over and for things to go back to normal. (And hopefully normal is Urban dialing it back, getting healthy, and remaining in the position of head coach.)

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