Urban Meyer to Notre Dame? Jaguars HC responds to rumors linking him to vacant job

Urban Meyer's résumé as college football head coach is legendary. A two-time SEC champion, three-time Big Ten champion and a three-time Division I FBS national champion, the veteran coach has done it all during his college football coaching career. But his NFL coaching career hasn't been as smooth sailing.

Meyer has led the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 2-9 record in his rookie season as head coach, and the team will likely be picking second in the 2022 NFL Draft, a year after selecting quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick.

Meyer's off-field shenanigans have also caused him plenty of turmoil. Coupled with his torrid first season as a coach, many around the league have predicted the coach's stint in the NFL will be a short one.

So, when the head coaching job at one of the nation's best college programs became available, it was only natural for some to assume that Meyer would be interested. But what did he have to say about potentially returning to college football?

Urban Meyer not interested in taking Notre Dame job

On Monday, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly agreed to take over at LSU at the end of the current football season. It sent shockwaves around the college football world and many started speculating how Notre Dame would react.

Urban Meyer's name began circulating as a potential candidate to take over at Notre Dame. During a conference call with the media on Tuesday, the Jaguars head coach was asked about potentially taking the job. He responded:

"I'm not a candidate. Obviously I spent six years of my life there, so great respect for Notre Dame, and as I do USC, UCLA, like we talked about. But I'm committed to the Jaguars and doing the best we can to turn this thing around."

Meyer was Notre Dame's wide receivers coach from 1996 to 2000 before taking over the Bowling Green Falcons football program in 2001. He had previously described Notre Dame's head coaching gig as a "dream job," but he clearly wants to succeed in the NFL and not revert back to college football.

Notre Dame hasn't commenced talks with any coaches yet, and Meyer would be wise to stay in the loop considering his NFL future is uncertain. The Jaguars will have to show tremendous improvement over the next six games for Meyer to retain his job for the 2022 season.

Losing out on what he described as a "dream job" and then also getting fired from the NFL would be the worst-case scenario for Meyer.