Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam Says Urban Meyer Currently Not Being Considered

Update:

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam told reporters on Thursday that they’re currently focused on head-coaching candidates with prior NFL experience when asked about the report of their interest in Urban Meyer. 

“Right now, we are just focusing on people with NFL experience,’’ Haslam said.

According to Bruce Feldman, the Browns have strong interest in former Ohio State HC Urban Meyer as a candidate for their head coaching vacancy. 

Per Mark Maske, Meyer has reportedly caught “the itch” to return to coaching and will consider any NFL head coaching offers. 

Meyer retired from his position at Ohio State after the 2018 season, citing health as the primary reason. He has worked for the past year at ESPN as a college football analyst, but has reportedly been privately open to returning to coaching in the NFL. 

Meyer’s name has also come up in connection with the Cowboys’ potential head coaching vacancy. The two sides are believed to have spoken and have mutual interest.

A few months ago, Meyer also appeared on The Herd With Colin Cowherd. Cowherd asked Meyer if he would be interested in talking with the Cowboys.

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Meyer said. “That one? Yes.”

Meyer, 55, got his start in coaching in 1986 as a graduate assistant at Ohio State. He worked as an assistant coach at Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame before getting his first head coaching position at Bowling Green in 2001. 

Meyer moved on to become the head coach at Utah in 2003. In 2005, he was hired as the head coach at Florida before retiring due to health reasons in 2010. Meyer came out of retirement to take the lead job at Ohio State in 2012 and was in that position until 2018 before retiring again citing health reasons. 

It’s worth mentioning while Meyer has been hospitalized for chest pains and migraines, both of his health-related retirements have followed off-the-field controversies, including how he handled a domestic violence accusation for one of his assistant coaches at Ohio State. 

As a head coach, Meyer has a career college coaching record of 187-32 and has won three national titles at two different schools. 

We’ll have more on Meyer as the news is available.