Wright Thompson on Urban Meyer

It's a good one. Better than any other Meyer profile I've read. Here, Thompson's eye for detail suits this story, rather than obscuring it, in part because Meyer's given him the access, and because Meyer clearly has a passion for details himself.

Troubled guy, Meyer, when you really think about it. And the story ends on just the right image.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8239451/ohio-state-coach-urban-meyer-new-commitment-balancing-work-family-life

 

Yeah, it's not easy to get a profile like that on someone like Meyer done and Wright did it as well as it can be done...

That's where Thompson is at his best. Writing college football profiles and that was one of the better things I've read in a long time...

 

Certainly well written and packed with detail. But I sort of feel like you could write similar profiles about most college football coaches--relationships with father, work v. family, work v. health (heck, I suppose you could probably write profiles about most successful people with that pretty standard narrative). And, at this point, I just don't really care that much about reading that sort of work. Maybe I'm a cold-hearted bastard, but I'd be much more interested in reading about the big-picture issues about society this article raises--and there are many of them. And, in some ways, I feel the media does the public a disservice but failing to pull all these strings together.

 

I'll read this tonight, but I really loved S.L. Price's profile of Meyer from 2009. It was right before his health issues popped up nationally, but Price had the story about the cyst on his brain and did a lot to explain issues that hadn't yet been brought to the table.

Sports Illustrated's Vault hasn't been functioning properly for me the past few days, but here's the link, I think: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1163435/1/index.htm

 

The "Lead for God's Sake" book referenced in the article is very good. Hit home for me on a number of fronts.

 

Good story. Thought the last graf was a little weird and over-written. But I enjoyed the story.

 

Most college football coaches aren't Urban Meyer. I've read some good stories on him. I've read the one Price did. Andy Staples wrote a great story when Meyer quit at Florida, but this was the most definitive profile I've read on the guy.

People have to realize that just getting access to Meyer is next to impossible, at least the kind of access needed to write what Thompson did. There's a reason why you haven't seen a profile like that written about Saban recently...

 

Maybe I didn't make that point clear enough. The narrative on Urban Meyer doesn't seem all that different than the narrative of most other college football coaches--many similar themes connect them, as I was getting in my earlier post. Perhaps it would be a journalistic coup to get the access to write a profile on Nick Saban, but I imagine there isn't all that much inherently interesting to write about him, other than the shear novelty that no one else has. These are men defined by their work--most, at least in front of reporters, recognizing it puts them in constant conflict with their families. You say "must college coaches aren't Urban Meyer", but I didn't see much to distinguish him other than a couple National Championships. The names and results may change, but the narratives remain the same. It's why I'm much more interested in reading an essay connecting these larger themes and discussing the societal implications of sport in America, rather than another similar narrative about another college coach.

 

Well, we assume most college coaches have that issue... I don't remember hearing that storyline with Bowden or Switzer or Jimmy Johnson or Spurrier or Saban or Les Miles...

With Meyer, because of his meltdown, or whatever you want to call it, it's different...

 

Anything Wright Thompson touches turns to gold.

Great, great talent.

This effort is no exception.

 

Really good stuff. Loved the observational perspective instead of relying on blah-blah-blabber from Meyer.

 

Um, those "couple National Championships" put him in elite company. I do agree it's fascinating that so many may be similar to him as far as what he deals with on an everyday basis, but very, very few have reached the pinnacle multiple times in their profession.