Urban Meyer Names Major SEC Program That Is ‘Painful to Watch'

Former college and NFL head football coach Urban Meyer can hardly watch what's going on at one SEC school this season.

Meyer was once a very successful coach at the University of Florida from 2005 to 2010 and took the Tim Tebow-led Gators to a national championship in 2008. That success is now a distant memory as the program's current state upsets Meyer.

Florida is in the third year of head coach Billy Napier's tenure, and no signs point to a fourth year. The Gators lost their season-opener at home to the rival Miami Hurricanes in embarrassing fashion, 41-17. The loss follows two straight losing seasons to start his tenure.

Through 26 games coaching Florida, Napier holds an 11-15 record.

"I mean, I have a vested interest in Florida," Meyer said on the September 4 episode of " The Triple Option " podcast. "That’s painful to watch that.”

What makes the results doubly painful is how good of a job Meyer knows Florida is, especially with the fanbase's passion and the fertile recruiting ground.

“Gainesville, it’s a tough, tough job,“ he said. "It’s a great job. It’s one of the top five jobs in the country. You’ve got everything you need."

But with great opportunity comes great challenges.

"You’ve got a recruiting base that’s second to none and you’ve got a great stadium, you’ve got a great fanbase, you’ve got a great student body," Meyer continued. "You’ve got it all. But I’ll tell you what, Gainesville is a tough town to live in when you’re the coach at Florida. It really is.”

Like many SEC towns, Gainesville is no metropolitan area, merely a mid-size city that becomes home to 100,000+ fans on a handful of Saturday evenings every fall. That place orbits around "The Swamp."

So, as Meyer suggested, when the times are good, they're really good. But when they're bad? It can be a brutal gig for the guy in charge.

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