Back in Salt Lake City, Urban Meyer reminisces on undefeated 2004 season and gives his thoughts on Utah’s 2024 team

Former Utah coach Urban Meyer speaks at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday, March 23, 2024.

Walking back onto the Rice-Eccles Stadium field to watch practice with his old defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham, Urban Meyer couldn’t help but marvel on how the place has changed in the 20 years since he’s been gone.

The stadium is an enclosed bowl now, and there’s a fancy new south end zone with luxury boxes and a snazzy new locker room for the team — a far cry from when Meyer coached the Utes for two seasons in 2003 and 2004.

“I walked through the, I think that south end zone’s the best in college football and to think, we didn’t even have a training table when I was here before. It was so cool to see what’s happening,” Meyer said.

The former Ute coach, and three-time national champion, was back in Salt Lake City to speak at a clinic for high school coaches put on by Utah.

One of the most successful coaches in the modern era of college football, Meyer hasn’t coached since 2021 — he was fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars following a disastrous 13-game stint — and currently works as an analyst for Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show.

Meyer took the Utah program to new heights as a young coach, leading the Utes to their first outright conference championship since 1957 in 2003 and capping that 10-2 season off with a win over Southern Miss in the Liberty Bowl.

The next year, the Meyer-coached Utes became the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in a Bowl Championship Series game after going 11-0 in the regular season, and they defeated Pittsburgh 35-7 to win the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.

The school’s first-ever undefeated season in the modern era was led by Meyer’s spread offense, run to perfection by quarterback Alex Smith, who finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting and was the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/back-salt-lake-city-urban-025339122.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-03-24 02:53:39

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