Urban Meyer's Assistant Coach Wish List

Chuck Heater, DC Temple

·         Assistant under Meyer at Utah and Florida

·         Highly regarded as top DB coach in country

·         Tiffin, OH native who is an excellent recruiter but is Michigan Alum

·         Has done terrific job this year at Temple

·         Has worked at Ohio State in past (1985-87)

Scott Loeffler, OC/QB Coach Temple

·         Barberton, OH native who is Michigan Alum (this is a negative)

·         Former Michigan, Central Michigan, and Florida assistant

·         Also worked with the Detroit Lions

Sean Cronin, DL Coach Temple

·         Attended perennial power Cincinnati Moeller (OH) HS

·         Graduate assistant under Meyer at Florida

·         Has worked under Addazio and Holliday at Temple and Marshall

Justin Frye, OL Coach Temple

·         Former Indiana offensive lineman and is from the state

·         Former GA under Meyer at Florida and played for Addazio at Indiana

Zach Smith, WR Coach/STC Temple

·         Dublin, OH native who played for Urban Meyer at Bowling Green

·         Worked for Meyer as GA at Florida and has worked for Holliday and Addazio ever since.

D.J. Durkin, LB Coach/STC Florida

·         Worked under Meyer as GA at Bowling Green and as LB coach at Florida

·         I believe Durkin is one of the fast rising assistant coaches in the country

·         Did a fantastic job with the special teams at Florida this year

Brian White, RB Coach Florida

·         Worked under Meyer at Florida and spent 12 years in the Big 10 at Wisconsin

Anthony Weaver, LB Coach North Texas

·         Killeen, TX native who played at Notre Dame while Urban was there and worked under Meyer at Florida as GA

Vance Bedford, DC Louisville

·         Former Texas defensive back and NFL assistant

·         Worked with Meyer at Colorado State and under him at Florida

·         Charlie Strong heir apparent who has coordinated a defense that has only given up 30 points once all season (West Virginia)

·         Was Michigan’s DB Coach from 1995-1998

Kenny Carter, RB Coach/STC Louisville

·         Former assistant under Meyer at Florida

·         Worked in the Big 10 at Penn State coaching their WR’s

Mike Sanford, Former OC at Louisville

·         Probably a stretch and most likely headed to New Mexico as OC

·         Worked with Meyer at Notre Dame (97-98) and under Meyer at Utah

Zach Azzani, OC/WR Coach Western Kentucky

·         Former Bowling Green GA under Meyer

·         Michigan native who coached WR’s/PGC for Meyer at Florida in 2010

·         Has done a nice job running pro-style offense (coming from a spread background) for Western Kentucky

 Tony Alford, WR Coach Notre Dame

·         Grew up in Akron, OH before moving to Colorado Springs in high school

·         Played under Meyer at Colorado State

John Peterson, TE Coach/RC Ohio State

·         Current Ohio State coach that will probably be retained

·         Possibly becoming OL Coach?

Stan Drayton, WR Coach Ohio State

·         Former assistant under Meyer at Florida who will most certainly be retained

Paul Haynes, Co-DC/S Coach Ohio State

·         Columbus native who will look to be retained

Luke Fickell, Interim Head Coach Ohio State

·         Columbus native and Ohio State alum who I think would be more than happy to serve as Meyer’s DC if rumors serve to be true

·         He may be looking at getting a Head Coaching gig in the MAC at possibly Akron or another school such as Toledo or Bowling Green if those jobs open up

Taver Johnson, CB Coach Ohio State

·         Cincinnati native who was a GA at Notre Dame in 1999 while Meyer was there as an assistant

Nick Siciliano, QB Coach Ohio State

·         Good pedigree as a GA or QC under Jim Tressell and Bob Stoops at Youngstown State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma

Mike Vrabel, LB Coach Ohio State

·         Akron native who essentially retired from football to coach at Ohio State, he will definitely want retained

Tommy Thigpen, S Coach Auburn

·         Former assistant under Meyer at Bowling Green

·         Big 10 experience spending 2 seasons at Illinois

·         Some Auburn defensive coaches could be on their way out so he may be looking for a new job

Gregg Brandon, OC/QB Coach Wyoming

·         Former OC at Bowling Green under Meyer who then replaced him when he left for Utah in 2003

·         Has done an outstanding job at Wyoming this season and has always been known as a top of the line offensive mind

Mick McCall, OC/QB Coach Northwestern

·         Has put together prolific offense after prolific offense with lesser talent in the Big 10 since taking over in 2008 as the Northwestern OC.

·         Worked under Gregg Brandon at Bowling Green who kept close relationship with Urban Meyer

Rob Ianello, Head Coach Akron

·         Unfortunately things haven’t worked out for Ianello at Akron but he is still regarded as one of the best Midwest recruiters and Urban Meyer has a great deal of respect for Barry Alvarez who is Ianello’s protégé and mentor.

If all holds to be true and Urban Meyer is announced as Ohio State’s head football coach next week, look for many of these names to be at the top of Meyer’s wish list.  Expect Gregg Brandon, Mick McCall, and Scott Loeffler to be his top choices for OC and Chuck Heater, Luke Fickell, Vance Bedford, and D.J. Durkin to be his top choices for defensive coordinator.  I believe that there may be some truth that Luke Fickell may be kept on staff as Associate Head Coach/Linebackers Coach (Head-coach-in-waiting type deal).  That is if he isn’t given a shot at a MAC school or possibly even Illinois if they were to fire Ron Zook.