Lately, with college football coaching on a full-ride carousel, some pretty wild rumors have been flying around. One such rumor suggests former super coach Urban Meyer might be coming out of retirement to coach at Penn State. It’s a match made in heaven for Penn State and Urban Meyer if you actually think about it. But the three-time national champion shut all of it down instantly. Enjoying the fruit of his labor during retirement, he wouldn’t take that job even if someone dropped $15 million in front of him.

The speculation began after radio host Zach Gelb spilled the tea that Meyer had a “great interest” in the vacancy that opened up after James Franklin was fired. Gelb claimed talks between Meyer and Penn State officials reportedly broke down over Meyer’s understanding of name, image, and likeness (NIL) issues. It’s something he hasn’t had to deal with during his coaching career. Since then, the rumors have been flying on another level until Urban Meyer put an end to it on Colin Cowherd’s podcast.

On November 7, The Fox’s Big Noon host appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd to discuss Week 11 football. Colin, ever the cunning charmer, threw a question right off the bat: “By the way, I want to cut to the chase here. There’s a big story out there. It was all over the newspaper industry, the interweb, that you met with Penn State. Can you offer some clarity on that? Did you meet with Penn State?”

Urban Meyer chuckled before setting the story straight: “I certainly did not meet with Penn State about the job. And yeah, my phone started blowing up last week. I got a lot of respect for Penn State.” He has also confirmed that he has zero interest in coaching in college football again. After winning three championships with Florida and Ohio State, Meyer’s gone from the coaching game for good. But that didn’t stop Colin Cowherd from being Colin Cowherd.

The host doubled down and threw a loyalty question attached with $15 million: “I know your agent guy. Larry. My friend Larry Jones. Does he get… what if somebody called him and said, “Here’s 15 million a year for Urban Meyer.” What would you say?”  Urban Meyer kept it stoic and said, “Big Noon, baby!”

Colin Cowherd had no play left but to praise Meyer’s loyalty. Even after all this, Zach Gelb is still hell-bent on Urban Meyer and Penn State.

Urban Meyer and Gelb’s Penn State job accusation

Urban Meyer laughed off the specific claims from the radio host: “First of all, that never happened. How do we get the two sources on our show here? Just cracks me up.” Meyer said on his Triple Option Podcast. Even poking fun at the report that he had spoken with a Pennsylvania senator about the job, clarifying that his interaction was only about politics.

Despite Meyer’s direct and repeated denials, radio host Gelb has stood by his reporting. He has challenged Meyer’s version of events and even dared the three-time national champion to take a lie detector test to prove he wasn’t interested in the position. Gelb was adamant that his sources confirmed Meyer’s interest. He brought another angle to Meyer, stating that Penn State had turned him down due to concerns over his readiness for the modern NIL landscape.

This back-and-forth has created a media spectacle, leaving fans wondering what truly happened behind the scenes. While Meyer has done everything short of taking Gelb’s lie detector test to confirm his lack of interest, the public spat and continued search for a new coach at Penn State will probably keep the rumor mill churning for a while longer.

The word on the street is that Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz and Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm are the top candidates for the job. In fact, Urban Meyer even put in a word with Penn State for his former apprentice, Ohio State OC Brian Hartline, for the HC job. For now, the successful-but-controversial former coach seems content with his life in broadcasting.