Pat McAfee Quips That Urban Meyer Is a Bum Before Questioning if He Can Succeed in NFL
Before we begin, a little bit of context on the ongoing beef between Urban Meyer and Pat McAfee. A couple weeks ago, Meyer took a veiled shot at McAfee in an interview with Big Ten Network, and McAfee returned with double barrels:
I know it can be hard to remember things but it was a river not a lake.
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 4, 2019
My mom as soon as it happened said “When you were in the air, I started having heart complications OUT OF NOWHERE”
She’s been completely fine ever since.. happy for her.
Anyways, thanks 4 watching Coach. https://t.co/7yjDJAlGIP
With that as the backdrop, McAfee was on Get Up this morning and quipped that Meyer is a bum for taking this shot at him. He then proceeded to explain that Meyer would have an uphill battle to succeed in the NFL, because coaches need to work with players who in some cases make more money than they do as opposed to being life-controlling authoritarians:
This is what Urban Meyer has done at a lot of places he's gone in, won, scandal, left.. I don't know if he can do that in the NFL @GetUpESPN pic.twitter.com/guKtBzy18J
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 16, 2019
McAfee is right about Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban flaming out on the NFL and along with Steve Spurrier, they all stand out as cautionary tales. However, people like Jim Harbaugh, Pete Carroll (who had flamed out of the NFL, succeeded in college, then successfully returned to the pros), and Jimmy Johnson don't get remembered as much. In 2014, former TBL managing editor Jason Lisk wrote that former college coaches succeeded more than any other class of NFL coaching hires (i.e. offensive or defensive coordinators) over the previous 25-year period.
Who knows whether or not Urban Meyer will be successful if he takes an NFL coaching job, but I wouldn't reflexively rule it out.