Nick Saban hung up his boots at 72. Former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno did it until he was 84. 74-year-old Bill Belichick is trying to get UNC to the top. Curt Cignetti just won Indiana its first natty at age 65. But Urban Meyer almost retired at 46, before finally bidding college football goodbye at 55. The three-time national championship-winning head coach reflected on that decision while discussing what it takes to coach a college team.

“When I look at what a college coach does, as far as preparation, every movement on a field is choreographed,” Meyer said on the June 15 episode of the Breaking Sales Podcast. “You know, there’s nothing left to chance, and that’s one of the reasons that at age 55, I said I was done. The hours spent that you try to choreograph and cover every movement and every situation, which obviously is impossible to do, but you try.

“That’s your job as a coach to get that player. So, when they’re in a situation, it’s not the first time they’ve experienced that, and it would break my heart when that player was put in a situation that we didn’t cover.”

After over two decades of coaching college football programs, Meyer announced his first retirement following his hospitalization after the 2009 SEC Championship game due to chest pains. He had discussed his daughter’s excitement about the decision and referenced his health challenge as a sign from God to step away. However, the next day, he returned. His first attempt at retirement turned into an indefinite leave of absence that lasted until March.

His decision to return was not just undermining the wishes of his family members but also the doctors’. A Sports Illustrated chronicle of Meyer’s career revealed that he suffered from persistent headaches that are triggered by an arachnoid cyst that becomes inflamed by stress, rage, and excitement.

After his return, in March 2010, the Gators performed poorly by their standards, with an 8-5 record. In Meyer’s ears, the voice of a poor season was louder than those of his family members and doctors. Or perhaps, it just made him see more reasons to quit. Again, Meyer quit college football after the 2010 season. In his interview, he stated his reason: “It’s all about family.”

However, the Buckeyes came with an irresistible offer. The idea of coaching in his native state, where he worked as a graduate assistant under coach Earle Bruce, was one he could not decline. And that journey lasted six years, until several circumstances forced him out of college football. A combination of his arachnoid cyst health problem and his mishandling of a domestic assault affair against WR coach Zach Smith was why he stepped down for his handpicked successor, Ryan Day, to take over.

A noticeable pattern with Meyer is his inability to resist huge coaching offers, even if they came at the expense of his well-being. The NFL came calling just two years after he left the Buckeyes, and he answered. Unfortunately, his stint at the Jacksonville Jaguars was his worst, with a 2-11 record and other off-field controversies that led to his firing before the season ended. The NFL dealt Meyer the ultimate blow, and he has not returned to coaching ever since.

Reason for Urban Meyer’s tireless attitude to work

Meyer did not deny his excessive work ethic. However, he claimed it was more about his upbringing than his decision. Due to his family background and the kind of coaches that mentored him, Meyer became the tireless coach he grew to be, despite the health warnings.

“I coached with and for some of the greatest to have ever done it,” Meyer added. “I had an upbringing where there is no such thing as lack of preparation. I came from a very academic family. My father’s a chemical engineer; my two sisters were really brilliant girls, one of whom became an associate provost at the University of Cincinnati. And then it carried on with Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, and then Earl Bruce was my mentor.”

That same attitude got Meyer to the mountaintop of college football three times. He won two national championships with the Gators and one with the Buckeyes. However, every success came with its own toll until Meyer couldn’t do it anymore.