"I took a year off from coaching": When legendary coach Urban Meyer shared biggest life lesson in his recruitment journey

Urban Meyer had a successful career as a coach in college football. He won three national championships, two with the Florida Gators and one with the Ohio State Buckeyes. After the 2018 season with the Buckeyes and leading them to a Rose Bowl victory, Meyer decided to retire citing health reasons.

In Oct. 2015, when he was the head coach of Ohio State, Meyer appeared on the "CBS Morning" show, where he talked about his one-year break from coaching after his stint with the Florida Gators to focus on self-development.

"One of the great things that I found in my journey is, I took a year off from coaching and I went and studied some of the great leaders and great coaches," Meyer said.

"And it's the alignment of the program all the way through top to bottom. And I'd have to say right now this is the best group of, as good a group of people that I've ever been around, not just the players but the coaches, the support staff and that's I think why we're doing what we're doing right now" (TS- 1:10 onwards)

During the 2014 season, Urban Meyer led the Buckeyes to a 14-1 campaign and became the undefeated Big Ten Champions. They continued their dominant run in the playoffs and won the national championship with a 42-20 over the Oregon Ducks.

During his seven-season stint with the program, Meyer put up an 83-9 overall record before passing the torch to Ryan Day.

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Urban Meyer calls out Ryan Day's online haters after their national championship victory

Many fans criticized Ryan Day after his fourth-consecutive loss to the Michigan Wolverines in the regular season. However, the Buckeyes persevered and ended up dominating the first year of the 12-team playoffs, beating teams like Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame to be crowned as the national champions.

After Day's first natty victory, Urban Meyer strongly criticized fans who previously resorted to social media to troll the Ohio State head coach. He called these trolls "idiots" and also condemned the poor treatment that Day's kids were subjected to in school.

"I coached a long time, and a lot has been made of it and Coach Day and the pressures of coaching at a place like Ohio State," Meyer said on the Triple Option Podcast. "I made the comment that that's not going to change. The thing that has got to change and has changed is the idiots on social media that don't sign their name to stuff."

"When you start involving families, you're pushing it too far. Booing because you don't get first downs and you lose to the rivals, that's part of the game. That's all fair. But you've got to keep the families out of it."

Ryan Day has finally won the national championship with the Buckeyes. As he gears up to defend it next season, fans of the program will have expectations from him to end Michigan's winning streak in their rivalry showdown.