This has been proven wrong. There was no affiliation between the hiring of Meyer and UF hiring Utah's president. It is pure coincidence. I doubt that Utah's president even talked to Foley.
The President (Machen) dissed Spurrier in public well before the hire saying he could apply like anyone else. Meyer was 100% being hired because of Machen and not Spurrier.
https://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2..._spurrier-s-decision-spurrier-s-answer-machen
"Steve Spurrier was asked this question outright Friday morning:
"Were you turned off that Jeremy [Foley] and President [Bernie] Machen wanted you to go through the interview process and a national search to become the next coach at the University of Florida?"
Spurrier's answer was short but telling.
"
Well, Jeremy knows me and knows what I can do, and the president knows who I am ... or maybe he doesn't. I guess he doesn't remember meeting me."
I guess he doesn't remember meeting me.
That will be the parting shot heard 'round the Gator world over the next -- oh, I don't know -- two decades as fans gnash their teeth about Spurrier's decision not to return to coach at his beloved U of F. Spurrier's off-the-cuff remark during a 10-minute phone interview was his indirect way of saying he wasn't going to jump through Machen's hoops.Specifically, Spurrier was referring to a comment Machen made at a news conference 12 days ago, when Ron Zook was fired. Machen was asked if he had ever had any contact with Spurrier.
Machen shook his head no and said he had only seen Spurrier's picture.
Except there was one problem: Machen had met Spurrier a few months earlier at the SEC basketball tournament in Atlanta, where Spurrier and his wife, Jerri, sat near Machen at one of the games. When he was reminded of this at the Zook news conference, Machen acknowledged that he had met Spurrier at the basketball tournament and that they had even shaken hands.
It was peculiar Machen didn't remember meeting the most legendary figure in his school's athletic history. Spurrier obviously thought it was curious, too. Was it a memory lapse, or Machen telling Gator Nation that Steve Spurrier is no big deal to him?
And if Florida was serious about hiring Spurrier, don't you think Machen might have called Spurrier and expressed that sentiment? If Spurrier had immediately been offered the job at UF, he would have taken it in a Micanopy minute.
Spurrier hemmed and hawed before answering: "Let's just say we never got a chance to cross that bridge, OK?"
I asked the question another way:
"But, Steve, what if they had said, `It's your job if you want it.' Would you have taken it or not?"
"We just never got a chance to cross the bridge," Spurrier said again. "I'm not going to say anything bad about the University of Florida. I think this is the best thing for everybody.
I just think with me hanging around, it hindered Jeremy and the president's search process. Now that I'm out of the picture, they can go interview the coaches they have on their list." Twice, Spurrier had a chance to say, "No, I wouldn't have accepted the job even if it had been offered." Twice, he wouldn't say it."