Urban Meyer’s Florida success almost ruined him

Urban Meyer struggled during his best days as head football coach at the University of Florida.

In Netflix’s upcoming “Untold: Swamp Kings” docuseries — which explores the 2000s-era Florida Gators and Meyer’s militant-style system — he explained how the pressure and his obsession with winning took a major toll on his health.

A decade before his failed one-year tenure with the Jaguars, Meyer coached the Gators to two national championships in 2006 and 2008, with a 65-15 record in six seasons.

He also led the Buckeyes to the 2014 national title and compiled an 83-9 record in seven seasons at Ohio State.

But it was his time in Gainesville, Fla., where he said he became physically ill at times, sleep deprived, anxiety-ridden and addicted to Ambien, a sedative used to treat insomnia.

After the Gators defeated Oklahoma 24-14 to win the national championship in the 2008 season — after they beat Ohio State, 41–14, to win the national title in January 2007 — Urban didn’t celebrate with the team and instead, was obsessing over winning another one the following year.

“We go in the locker room and I remember grabbing my phone, locking the door, and I can hear them celebrating and I’m texting recruits worrying about the next class.

“Uh oh, that one’s over,” Meyer remembered thinking. “Do it again. Right after the game, it was over. Onto the next.

“We won two national championships out of the three years. This was an expectation now, An expectation we have to win it next year and then we have to win it the year after.

“You know, anything less than winning a national title, you’re a failure.”

When the 2009 season began, nothing was good enough for Meyer.

“We’d win a game by 14 points and I’d be so angry at our team because I thought we should’ve beaten them by 30 points,” he said.

“And the entire time I’m in anguish because we’re not perfect and it permeated down to our players. Our players weren’t enjoying it. I could tell.”

There came a point where players were just holding their breath, hoping they wouldn’t lose so they didn’t have to endure the wrath of Meyer — and more take-no-prisoner style drills.

“There was such pressure to do more, be more, finish on another level, to be the best ever,” said former star quarterback Tim Tebow, who was in his senior year in 2009.

“For me, it was all about the fear of losing that one game,” Meyer said. “Don’t screw this up. Don’t be a failure.”

Players eventually noticed that something was off with Meyer.

“I was in a really bad place for a long time,” Meyer recalled. “I started to lose weight and I became addicted to Ambien. I couldn’t sleep. It got to the point where I’d take two Ambien and drink a beer on top of it just to get four hours of sleep.

“I’d have those moments where I’d just sit there and start sweating and shaking like a panic attack, like something is going on here — ‘We’re not ready. we’re not ready.’”

The Gators ended that season undefeated but hit a roadblock in the SEC championship when they lost to undefeated Alabama, 32-13.

“I felt the dynasty slipping right there,” Meyer said. “I feel all this coming on me because it’s my team. I felt like a failure.

“I’m in deep depression. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was curled up. No energy, no desire I thought I was doing to die. That’s when I started thinking, I’m done.”

Meyer was rushed to a Gainesville hospital after his wife was unable to wake him up on the night after a Gators loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, according to ESPN.

At the time, he reportedly had been experiencing chest pains and suffered from dehydration.

Meyer later announced after Florida’s bowl game that he was stepping down after five seasons as head coach at the University of Florida for health reasons — but changed his mind the following day and instead said he would take a leave of absence.

In January 2010, Meyer was diagnosed with esophageal spasms, which caused the severe chest pains he had been experiencing, according to ESPN.

He resumed coaching at the start of spring practice in March 2010.

Meyer resigned again at the end of a disappointing 2010 season.

In an exclusive interview with The Post, Katharine English, the director of “Untold: Swamp Kings,” said she was surprised by Meyer’s candidness and willingness to relive the high highs and low lows of his time in Gainesville.

“I think it might have been kind of cathartic [for him],” she said. “I don’t know. I can’t speak for him. But his journey was quite unique.

“He really enjoyed remembering the moments. I think you can see that in some of the interviews that we did, he still doesn’t apologize for the program he ran. He’s very upfront. But not once did he really apologize for any aspect. I think, you know, he has huge regrets over certain events that are really tragic. But in terms of his management style, I think he stands by it.  

“I mean, the quote that sort of sums him up is, ‘The pain of greatness is real and it’s not meant for everyone.’”

Elsewhere in the four-part docuseries, Meyer recalled the criticism he faced over his discipline style as 31 of his players were arrested during his six years as the Gators’ coach from 2005-10.

“Criticism started coming because people felt I should’ve started kicking players off the team,” he said. “I’m not doing that.”

Meyer recalled a situation where “we did throw a player to the street,” referring to former freshman cornerback Avery Atkins, who was the highest-ranked prospect in Meyer’s first recruiting class in 2005.

“The team loved him. We all loved him and he was really struggling,” Meyer said while praising the quick “tough as nails” player.

Meyer explained that he kicked Atkins off the team for hitting a girl he was in a relationship with — and a year later, Atkins was found dead after he overdosed on drugs.

“That will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Meyer said, adding that he cut Atkins because the Gators had a core value against hitting women.

“I did everything I can just to keep myself and that program going,” Meyer said at the end of the docuseries. “And I hope someday to apologize and say, ‘I wish it would’ve ended differently,’ but I can always look back and say we gave it our very best.”

Meyer joined the Ohio State University in 2012 and won the 2014 national championship.

In 2021, he made his NFL debut as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and was fired after 13 games following a string of on- and off-field controversies.

Netflix’s “Untold: Swamp Kings” premieres Aug. 23.