Legendary Rival Coach Was Considered by MSU Football Early in Career

A former Big Ten coach revealed on Wednesday that he had been considered for the Michigan State football head coaching job in the early 2000s.

Nov 10, 2018; East Lansing, MI, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer stands on the sidelines during the second half of a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-Imagn Images | Mike Carter-Imagn Images

Michigan State knows longtime football coach Urban Meyer all too well.

Under legendary coach Mark Dantonio, the Spartans defeated Meyers' Ohio State Buckeyes in two major matchups -- once in the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game when Ohio State was ranked No. 2 in the nation and two years later late in the season when the Buckeyes were, again, the second-ranked team in the country.

That Big Ten title win stamped the Spartans' ticket to the Rose Bowl, where they would defeat Stanford to cap off an epic 13-1 season. The 2015 victory propelled Michigan State into the conversation as one of the top teams in the nation and served as a major factor in their College Football Playoff berth.

For a brief period of time, the Spartans' rivalry with Meyers' Buckeyes overshadowed Michigan's iconic rivalry with Ohio State, and it consisted of some exciting, memorable football.

On Wednesday, Meyer revealed that he had actually been considered for the head coaching job at Michigan State in the early 2000s before his coaching career had really taken off.

"I was at Bowling Green, sitting at my desk," Meyer said on Wednesday's edition of the "The Triple Option" podcast, which featured Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo as a special guest. "We were undefeated, 16th in the country, and a headhunter called me early on and said, 'I'm representing Michigan State,' and then, he called me back and he said, 'Would you be interested?'

"I've always loved Michigan State, and then, he called me back, and he said, 'You're out of the search, we want a tier-1 coach.' And I remember hanging up the phone, and you talk about firing my a-- up, I said, 'Oh I gotcha.'

"I mean, it was great motivation. I don't know the hell the headhunter was, but I should send them a thank you note for saying that" because that pissed me off. I was like, Wait a minute, pal."

Meyer would go on to coach at Utah before moving on to Florida, where he led the Gators to two national titles. He would then coach Ohio State for seven seasons, which included his third national title in the 2014-15 season.

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