Florida football: Urban Meyer and Tom Brady are cut from the same cloth
Urban Meyer, the former head coach of Florida football, was very good at what he did. He could recruit, innovate, and run a program with extremely high expectations. Meyer didn’t exactly run the cleanest of ships in Gainesville, but most fans were willing to look the other way with two national titles hanging up in the trophy case.
In the aftermath of his “retirement,” Meyer found out what Tom Brady is finding out now; you can be consumed by football or you can be consumed by your family, but it is really hard to be consumed by both.
Florida football: A tale of two sons
When Meyer announced he was stepping down as the head coach of Florida football, there were certainly some fans that were already disgruntled by Meyer’s demeanor. Still, most were appreciative of what Meyer had done in Gainesville. Those that had grown tired of Meyer felt that he was so self-consumed that he had lost the ability to just be a genuine human being with empathy.
This was best illustrated at his farewell to Florida football press conference when he admitted that he had never actually seen his daughter play in a high school volleyball match despite being a D1 prospect in the sport.
Meyer had been too consumed by football.
Meyer’s newfound commitment to family was short-lived. He was soon after calling games for ESPN, then magically the health problems that drove him away from the Florida Gators had magically healed and he was back on the sidelines at Ohio State.
Meyer was too consumed by football.
As we know, he added another national title ring to his collection before being forced away again. And again he was on TV. And again he wound up back on a sideline wearing a headset.
Meyer was too consumed by football.
Tom Brady is beginning to follow in the footsteps of Meyer. To our knowledge, Brady hasn’t kicked a kicker or been given a seductive dance in a bar by a college girl, but Brady has tried to step away from the game to spend time with family only to wind up where he started.
Brady is too consumed by football.
Like Meyer, Brady will be in a TV booth next season and traveling around the country every weekend for 20 straight weeks.
Brady is too consumed by football.
But just like Meyer stepped away from Florida football but not football altogether, Brady is finding out that being consumed by football and being consumed by family is an almost impossible balance to strike.