Gator Football head coach Urban Meyer may be a master planner and football game strategist, but much of what makes him great has nothing to do with the X’s and O’s on the football field. Although he does have a certain knack for game preparation and halftime adjustments, his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati is actually in psychology. He loves the art of motivating and preparing his players mentally for the task of what’s ahead of them and searches for different and new techniques to do so on a consistent basis.

In the past, Meyer has used quotes from opposing players and coaches, videos and pictures of certain end-zone celebrations, videos of sportscasters speaking negatively about the Gators, numbers of yards and points rivals scored on them for workouts, speeches from high-profile coaches and friends, full-wall murals of news clippings and pictures, and many other tactics to keep his players giving 100% at every practice.  

Two of the most memorable tactics were used for the 2006 Gators and the 2008 Gators, who both ended up hoisting the crystal ball in the first week of January. The 2006 Gators were not worthy of even playing in the BCS Championship according to many sportscasters and media outlets, so Meyer and his staff created a mural on the wall that had news clippings about Ohio State being the best team in college football history, quotes from ESPN commentators about how the Gators didn’t belong in the BCS title game, and quotes from different Buckeye players regarding the Gators.

In 2008, the Gators began the season with one game circled on the schedule that hadn’t been circled in a long time due to the rivalry becoming so one-sided in the past decade. That game was Georgia. Knowshon Moreno had held a breaking tackles clinic against Florida in the 2007 game and the entire team had disgraced Florida by rushing the field and dancing in the end zone after their first touchdown. Meyer, being the great motivator that he is, had Coach Marotti and the strength staff work with 2 numbers the entire off season: 42 and 188. Each time the players had a workout, they were required to do 42 reps on each of their weight stations (one for each of the points Georgia scored in 2007). They also had to complete 188 push-ups and sit-ups during each workout (one for each of Moreno's yards). The Gators took that motivation to Jacksonville with them and drilled the No. 6 Bulldogs 49-10. Georgia didn’t even score a touchdown until the backup quarterback threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The game was so over by then that the Gator fans actually clapped for the Bulldogs score since there were hardly any Georgia fans left in the stadium.

Here we are in 2009 and the Gators are beginning their season ranked #1 in the country and picked unanimously to be playing in the BCS Championship Game in Pasadena on January 7th, 2010. What does that mean for the Gators? It means every opponent will be gunning for the Gators and will bring their A game to try and upset the reigning National Champions.

Meyers 2009 task is not the same as in the past couple seasons. It is extremely easy to motivate a team that is the underdog, such as the 2006 Gators preparing for Ohio State. As Coach Meyer said in the media conference after the 2006 Championship Game when asked what he used to motivate his players for the game, “I didn’t have to say too much. You all (the media) really took care of that for me.” Also, the motivational tactics in 2008 after a season in which the Gators lost many more games than they wanted, including the bowl game to underdog Michigan, is much easier than motivating a team that is sitting on top of the world with everyone telling them how good they are. That is the tough part about 2009. It’s a tough job to keep yourself hungry when you just ate the all you can eat buffet. Likewise, the Gators just won a National Championship, return their whole defense and a majority of their offense, and are pre-season ranked #1 in the nation. How do you motivate a team that’s already on top of the world?

Meyer is answering that question right now. On Monday, Lou Holtz spoke to the team. After watching some of the highlights of the speech on www.CoachUrbanMeyer.com, you can tell why Holtz is a regular speaker for Meyer’s teams. He focused on 3 things throughout the speech, and made the points clearly.

1. If you didn’t show up for one practice, one game, or anything else in life, who would miss you and why? If you’re important to your teammates, they should miss you a lot.
2. W.I.N. – What’s Important Now? In every situation in life, ask yourself, “What’s important now?” and do whatever it is that is most important right then. In the weight room, what’s important now is to be stronger, so lift hard. On the field, what’s important now is your team’s victory, so give your 100% effort on every play to help the team.  In schoolwork, what’s important now is making the grade and graduation, so do your work you need to do to get the grade.
3. Don’t be content with where you are, ever. Always be growing because if you aren’t growing, you’re dying.

Still up to speak to the team this year are Billy Donovan and Tony Dungy.

One of the pieces of advice Holtz told Meyer about this season is to find every dictionary on UF’s campus and erase the word “repeat” from them. Their goals for this season aren’t a National Championship, making it to Pasadena, an undefeated season, or even an SEC Championship. Their only goal right now is to make it to Atlanta. The other goals will come after they secure the SEC Eastern Division. After that, they can aim for the SEC Championship, but you can’t win the SEC without winning the eastern division so Meyer has them taking on one step at a time.

The last and newest motivational tactic Meyer is using this year is coming from a book he is reading entitled, “Lone Survivor.” It is a true story about a Navy Seal that went behind enemy lines in Afghanistan to take out a Taliban leader aligned with Bin Laden. After an enemy attack that left all of his team killed and himself injured, he had to find help from local Afghans that defended him against the Taliban until he could return home.

“I’m reading ‘Lone Survivor’, a great book out now. I’m three-quarters of the way through it. There are so many great lessons. The ultimate motivation, the ultimate unselfish approach, is the men and women who are serving overseas. Why not learn from them?” said Coach Meyer at UF’s Media Days.

Although quick to dispel that football and serving your country in the military are anything alike, Meyer knows that the lessons of being unselfish and giving your all for an ultimate goal are lessons that will only make his team better.

“What’s our mojo going to be this year? It’s going to be lessons I’ve learned from this book. There are so many great lessons to be learned.”

Although play calling and game-time decisions have a large role in succeeding as a coach, it is hard to imagine that anyone can disagree that motivation is up there as one of the most important. This year and in this situation, it probably is the most important coaching strength the way everyone is throwing love the Gators way. It’s a good thing Coach Meyer’s strength is motivating and keeping players hungry, because this season it will be needed more than ever.

Rusty Thompson is one of the founders of www.GatorTailgating.com