Had Urban Meyer resigned last season, he would go into Florida history unmatched by any previous coach. For all the great things Steve Spurrier did, or Doug Dickey's work to bring Florida into modern times, history has not been kind to them. Urban won two National Championships and dominated his rivals. Spurrier never won in Tallahassee and neither man faced an ultra-competitive SEC where 10 teams finish .500 or better.
But Urban didn't quit last season. He came back and spent 2010 with an offensive coordinator universally hated, a quarterback who never had the skill set for the spread offense, and a team that never had the focus necessary to win. There are a lot of supposed Gator fans perfectly happy with throwing Urban under the RTS bus following an awful 2010. But I think it is fair to accuse Urban of having a lame duck season.
We should be able to relate to Urban, even if we're not paid millions to coach a game to kids. We have all stayed in a job or relationship too long, because we can, not because we want to. (Although, I'm sure some of you are unemployed and hermits. In which case, you'll just have to trust me.) Sometimes, we'll do things just as stupid as making your best friend offensive coordinator. Unfortunately, our personal lame duck seasons don't have the wide reaching impact Urban's had. We also don't get the honor of having our personal and business lives dissected on message boards.
While considering the events of 2010, it is hard to ignore the events of the previous five seasons. Yes, Urban had the benefit of some of the greatest players in UF history, but he gets credit for getting the guys to Gainesville. Those championship signs are not coming down because Urban had a lame duck season.
I think ultimately that the hardest of die hards (and if you're reading this, that includes you) will be the only ones who remember that Urban spent an entire season at 75 percent energy. But when we bring our kids to games or talk war stories, I don't anticipate talking about Urban the Lame Duck. Those two National Championships mean too much.