Urban Meyer takes leave of absence from Florida Gators head coaching job according to his words at a press conference that aired live on ESPN News Sunday from New Orleans, beginning just before 5 pm EST. In a dramatic change of heart from Saturday night, Urban Meyer is taking a leave of absence instead of resigning outright from the Florida Gators football head coaching job in order “to get healthy” and “to do right by my family.” The Urban Meyer leave of absence comes instead of an outright resignation because of what he deemed “for the fancy I have for these players”, which means he expects to return after coaching the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day sometime in the future, with support of the University of Florida. Is it as much a man’s prerogative to change his mind as a woman’s? Of course it is.

Urban Meyer Leave of Absence from Florida Gators: It’s A Man’s Prerogative to Change His Mind

My mother has told me many times that it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Well, this seems to apply to men, too, especially those who are enthusiastic in sports. How many times have we heard boxers over the years tell the world that they want to retire, but once a big purse is dangled in front of their face, they are help in training? For example, Muhammad Ali coming back after retiring in 1979 to fight Larry Holmes in 1980 according to Wikipedia.

I can’t read the mind and heart of Urban Meyer, but ponder the following: You aren’t doing ideally in a situation, so you settle to leave it for good. You sleep on it and suddenly you say to yourself, “What have I done? Should I have totally left it? ” Imagining being totally away from something isn’t ideal either, so if you can, you do what Urban Meyer is able to do in taking a leave of absence from the Florida Gators and seeing what happens as only time will tell.

Think of couples who settle to split up but get together again. There’s nothing new under the sun in deciding to do an about face about leaving a region totally.

Sources:

Urban Meyer Press Conference, December 27, 2009 (ESPN News live feed from New Orleans)

Muhammad Ali: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali, Wikipedia