The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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destined to take a few twists before he arrived in Ann Arbor. Meyer was the first of six children in his family to attend college. He'd been a prolific scorer in high school, once scoring 40 points in a game in an era preceding the three-point line. He continued his career at Taylor University in Indiana and gradu- ated with a teaching degree, one he put to use for two years as a high school teacher and basketball coach before he decided waiting for the bell wasn't how he wanted to spend his days. Not far away in West Lafayette, Purdue was in- troducing new head coach Lee Rose to lead the Boiler- makers in the 1980 season. Meyer, who had plenty of Purdue basketball memo- ries of his own, didn't wait long to introduce himself to Rose. "He had written out The son of an RCA factory worker, UP AND COMER sort of a résumé and sent it to me," Rose recalled. "When I read through it, I liked various qualities he presented. He was a very hard-working young man, and I felt — like all of us — somebody has to put you on the stump to get you started. "He was the kind of individual said. "We were fortunate to have suc- cess early, build a foundation of trust on campus. We moved through the ranks, continued that and grew with it. It was a great place for our family." And a great era for Liberty bas- ketball. In 1995-96, Meyer's second- place Big South team preceded a 23-9, first-place team in 1996-97, one that was selling out to 6,000 fans and seemingly primed for future suc- cess. He became the school's all-time winningest coach, earned Virginia SID Coach of the Year honors after leading the school to the biggest turnaround in NCAA history (from 5-23 in 1990-91 to 22-7 a year later, the program's first season in the Big Liberty. His eyes were opened at an NBA combine run by Rose. "Seeing the guys there who were out of work — Steve Fisher, who had won a national championship at Michigan; Joey Meyer, who'd had success at DePaul following his dad — I'm looking around thinking, 'Wow, this is real,'" Meyer recalled. "… When you transition after 16 years as a head coach, won champi- onships and solidified that you can lead, you're confident you're going to find another job." His résumé and reputation was Meyer serves as U-M's offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator, hav- ing helped the Wolverines land standout point guard Trey Burke and other valu- able players. with the values I cherished that I would want around my players." Meyer proved to be every bit the mentor Rose hoped he'd be. He quickly earned a place as a gradu- ate assistant and was on the floor a year later when two assistants left, helping lead Purdue to a Final Four a year after the Boilermakers finished tied for first in the league. Meyer made the tough decision to leave home and follow Rose to South Florida, but he didn't have to wait long before taking his next step up the coaching ladder. His already impressive list of accomplishments, along with Rose's recommendation, was enough to land him at Liberty as one of the nation's youngest head coaches at 26. "When I got there, the vision was to kind of be the Brigham Young of evangelical higher education; to compete at the highest level," Meyer 50 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2012 South) and had become a fixture in the community. "We had it going," Meyer said. too good to keep Meyer out of the game. He joined Gregg Marshall at Winthrop, where he helped lead the school to three straight NCAA appearances, and one first-place and two second-place Big South finishes. He made it back to Indi- ana in joining Todd Lickliter's staff at But- ler in 2001, helping the Bulldogs to 26 wins in his first year and 27 and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance a year later. Meyer then coached PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS "But it's happened to a lot of coaches, and it happens at a lot of places … the bottom line, in my first meeting with the president and new athletic director [in 1997], it was really evi- dent to me they had a plan for the future. I was not going to be part of that for whatever reason. "When it happens to you, as an opportunity with Kelvin Sampson back home in Indiana. This home- coming wasn't nearly as pleasant. "I thought, 'The whole thing makes under Quin Snyder at Missouri before Sny- der's resignation led to sense now,'" Meyer said of his regret in leaving Butler for Missouri. "I got an opportunity to come back home, be part of the tradition at the charter program in the state, close to family." He paused. wrong as you think the process is, you think it's the worst thing in the world that can happen. As I look back on it, it's the best thing that could have happened for me and family … I look at it that way. You turn life's negatives into positives and move forward." tions before he landed at Michigan, some good, some bad. Meyer spent 1997-98 essentially on sabbatical as the assistant to the president at There would be a few more transi- THE WANDERER that Sampson had committed ma- jor rules violations at Indiana, and that Meyer was also involved. It was unfamiliar territory for a coach re- spected nationally as above reproach when it came to respecting the rules of the game, and whose integrity was unquestioned. It wasn't surprising when the NCAA cleared Meyer of major rules violations, but Meyer still deemed the experience "costly and humiliat- ing" in his statement following his exonerations. Any of the extremely minor mistakes he'd made were un- "That went south in a hurry." South in the form of allegations