University of Utah football coach Urban Meyer, who has led the Utes to an 11-0 record and No. 5 national ranking, met with Notre Dame officials about the school's head coaching vacancy last night, and he is expected to meet with Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley as early as this morning.
Notre Dame Athletics Director Kevin White and Rev. John Jenkins, the university's president, flew to Salt Lake City yesterday to interview Meyer only two days after the Fighting Irish fired Tyrone Willingham. According to flight records, a Cessna Aircraft Citation 5 jet owned by Notre Dame landed at Salt Lake City International Airport around 7 p.m. ET. Media reports there said White and Jenkins went to a hotel, where they met with Meyer for a couple of hours. The plane was scheduled to return to South Bend last night.
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Notre Dame fires Tyrone Willingham after the coach amasses a 21-15 record in three seasons.
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Michael Wilbon: The powers-that- be at Notre Dame never wanted Willingham in the first place.
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Willingham was disappointed he had fallen short of his expectations.
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Meanwhile, Foley, who is seeking a replacement for fired coach Ron Zook, was expected to arrive in Salt Lake City right on the Notre Dame officials' heels, sources close to the Gators search said. According to flight tracking data, a Cessna Aircraft Citation 2 jet left Gainesville, Fla., around 9 p.m. last night and was one of the last planes scheduled to land at Salt Lake City International, around 3 a.m. this morning.
Meyer, 40, has a clause in his six-year contract that waives the $250,000 buyout he'd have to pay Utah -- if he leaves for Notre Dame, Michigan or Ohio State, his alma mater. Meyer earns about $500,000 per year at Utah; Notre Dame is prepared to pay him more than three times that much, sources close to the negotiations said.
Meyer, who has a 38-8 record in four seasons at Bowling Green and Utah, was a Notre Dame assistant under Lou Holtz from 1996 to 2000. While he has publicly stated his affection for Notre Dame in the past, Florida may offer him more of an opportunity to win immediately. The Fighting Irish have had a winning record in only three of the past six seasons and haven't won a bowl game since beating Texas A&M, 24-21, in the Cotton Bowl after the 1993 season.
Florida, which won a national championship under Steve Spurrier in 1996, has one of the nation's best quarterbacks in sophomore Chris Leak and signed top 10 recruiting classes in each of Zook's three seasons there.
