2009 Inductee
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Urban Meyers
Urban Meyer, head football coach at the University of Florida, is this
year's Distinguished American.
In his four seasons at Florida, he has mentored the Gators to a pair of national championships,
two Southeastern Conference Championships and has posted the best record in the SEC, 24-8.
He has led the Gators to 35 wins during the last three seasons, tied for the best victory total
in the nation during that time. His 44-9 mark during the last four seasons is tied for the
third-best total in the nation during that time span. Meyer is the first coach ever to win
two BCS National Championships and he is the only coach in the history of the SEC to win two
outright National Titles.
At 44, he became the fifth-youngest head coach to win a pair of national titles since 1950,
and he is one of five coaches to win a pair of national championships in his first four years
at a school. He is the only active coach to win a pair of outright national championships,
coach a Heisman Trophy winner and coach a number one pick in the National Football League Draft.
A three-time national Coach-of-the-Year, his priority on academics has resulted in more than
32 percent of the University of Florida football scholarship student-athletes earning above
a 3.0 GPA in the 2008 Fall Semester and 107 players have been named to the Southeastern Conference
Academic Honor Roll in the last four years.