Meyer, 41, possesses 19 years of college coaching experience, including four as a head coach. Meyer turned around the football program at Bowling Green State University in 2001-02 and engineered a reversal of fortune at the University of Utah in 2003-04. Meyer, who sports a 11-1 record against Bowl Championship Series teams as a head coach, guided the Utes to a perfect 12-0 campaign in 2004 and an berth against Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. He has an overall mark of 39-8 (.830) and is 24-6 (.800) in conference play as head coach. His .830 winning percentage ranks fifth nationally among active college coaches during the last four years. Utah finished as a consensus top-five team in the nation, including a final ranking of third by Sports Illustrated.

"Urban Meyer represents the qualities that we were looking for in our head coach," Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley said. "He is an innovator of the game with proven success as a head coach. He has shown the ability to attract recruits and is a tremendous teacher. Urban's accomplishments speak for themselves. He is a man of high values and principles and we welcome him and his family to the University of Florida family." Since 1900, only six coaches in the history of Division I college football have won more than 39 games in their first four years as a head coach.

"I am certainly excited about the opportunity to be the head coach at the University of Florida," said Meyer. "There were a lot of factors that went into this decision that our entire family had to consider. The opportunity to compete at the highest level at one of the nation's most-respected academic institutions is something that was attractive for us. The passion of Gator fans is legendary in collegiate athletics and I am eager to be a part of that environment.

"The quality of recruits within the state of Florida and the Southeast Region offers a tremendous recruiting base for us," Meyer continued. "The support from the University's administration is evident in their commitment to my family and I am looking forward to leading the Gator football program."

"Urban Meyer is an outstanding coach with a strong record, great leadership skills and a very promising future," said UF President J. Bernard Machen. "I am very happy to welcome him along with Shelley and the Meyer family to UF and Gainesville."

Meyer earned multiple National Coach of the Year honors after leading Utah's to a perfect 12-0 season, the school's first in 75 years. Meyer collected the Home Depot National Coach of the Year, the George Munger Award for the Collegiate Coach of the Year presented by the Maxwell Club and the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (Named by the Football Writers Association of America). He also was named National Coach of the Year by Pro Football Weekly and earned the Woody Hayes Trophy Award and the Victor Award.

With it's post-season bid to the Fiesta Bowl, Utah made history by becoming the first school from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to earn a berth in a BSC Bowl and Utah finished as the outright 2004 MWC champion to become the only back-to-back outright winners in the league's history.

Official Biography