Urban Meyer rejects college football GM position after conversations, issues sharp warning
Urban Meyer has been out of coaching since 2021 and last led a college program in 2018, when he retired from Ohio State. Yet his name still surfaces whenever a major job opens. In today’s rapidly shifting college football landscape — where roster management, NIL strategy and recruiting logistics have given rise to NFL-style front office roles — many programs started hiring general managers. These hires often come from NFL backgrounds or have deep ties to talent evaluation and player development.
Meyer, who won three national championships during his 13 seasons at Florida (2005-10) and Ohio State (2012-18), said one school recently approached him about stepping into that kind of role. He entertained the conversation, until he heard what the job actually entailed.
“I had a school come see me this year and ask if I wanted to be the GM, and a couple other phone calls,” Meyer said last week on The Triple Option podcast while interviewing Oklahoma football general manager Jim Nagy. “And you start to think, ‘OK, they actually came to see me,’ so I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll meet and I’ll sit down with you guys.’ I said, ‘OK, what is the job description?’ They said, ‘Well, basically you meet with all the agents of the 17- and 18-year-olds, and I thought, ‘I’d rather step on a rusty nail and pull it out myself.’ I mean, what in the world — if that’s what you gotta do, Jim, God bless you.”
Meyer did not name which program specifically reached out to gauge his interest.
While a general manager role may not carry the public pressure or the X’s and O’s of coaching, it’s hardly a retirement gig. The job demands deep involvement in every aspect of roster building, from managing scholarship counts and navigating the transfer portal to evaluating talent and negotiating NIL deals. It’s time-consuming work that still requires total buy-in from those willing to take it on.
Nagy, a longtime NFL scout and executive director of the Senior Bowl, was hired in February to bring that professional expertise to Oklahoma’s front office, helping bridge the gap between NFL evaluation models and college football’s unique challenges.
“There’s no succinct way to sum it up because there are a lot of parts to this job,” Nagy said of his job description. “But really, I’m here more than anything to help the coaching staff, help build this roster and streamline the process. Everyone says they’re trying to go to an NFL model, and yes, my background is in the NFL — I’ve never worked in college football before — but I think there are some process things we’ve brought to Oklahoma that are going to help the evaluation process and certainly the valuation process. We’ve never had to really value players.”
But for Meyer, the reality of such a demanding role only reaffirmed why he’s chosen to stay retired rather than return to college football.
