Ron Meyer

College coach infobox


Name = Ron Meyer
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Sport = Football
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DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1941|2|17
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OverallRecord = 61–40–1
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CFbDWID = 1607
Championships = 1981 SWC championship
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Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1973-1975 1976-1981 1982-1984 1986-1991
CoachTeams = UNLV SMU New England Patriots Indianapolis Colts
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Ron Meyer (born February 17, 1941) is a former college and professional football coach. He is best known for being the head coach of the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.

Meyer's head coaching career began at UNLV, where he coached from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, he had an undefeated season at UNLV at 11-0. In 1976, Meyer was the head coach of Southern Methodist University where he coached until 1981. This tenure included winning the Southwest Conference championship in 1981 with running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James. While at SMU, Meyer was the losing coach in the famous "Miracle Bowl" in the 1980 Holiday Bowl, where SMU held a 45-25 lead against BYU with less than four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, only to lose 46-45 thanks to three touchdown passes from Jim McMahon.

Meyer moved to the pros in 1982, where he would coach the New England Patriots for 3 seasons. He was named the AFC Coach of the Year in his first season where he led the New England Patriots to the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season after the team had finished with the league's worst record the prior season. He is perhaps best remembered by New England fans for coaching during the infamous Snowplow Game against the Miami Dolphins on December 12, 1982. Under heavy snow at Foxboro Stadium with 4:45 remaining in the game, the Patriots lined up for a go-ahead field goal. Meyer called for a stadium worker named Mark Henderson (who was on a prison work release) to drive his snowplow on the field in order to clear an area for holder Matt Cavanaugh to spot the ball and to give kicker John Smith better footing. The Patriots went on to win the game, 3-0, on their way to their first playoff appearance since the 1979 season.

In 1984, Meyer was fired in midseason despite having a 5-3 record and was replaced by Raymond Berry. The move was prompted by team-wide alienation of players on Meyer's part, to where Patriots GM Patrick Sullivan was forced to hold player-only meetings. Meyer responded by firing assistant coach Rod Rust, though he did not have authority to do so. He was fired soon after. [see Tales From The Patriots Sidelines (Illinois: Sports Publishing LLP), by Michael Felger]

Meyer spent over a year out of coaching after being dismissed by the Patriots. Late in the 1986 season, he was hired to coach the Indianapolis Colts, who were 0-13 at the time. Meyer promptly lead the Colts to 3 straight victories to finish 3-13. A year later, he won the AFC East Division title with the Colts where he once again won the AFC Coach of the Year. In 1991, when the Colts started off 0-5, he was let go.

The year after his dismissal from Indianapolis, Meyer became an analyst for CNN's Pro Football show. He would remain in that role for 2 seasons.

In 1994, Meyer returned to coaching again. This time Meyer became the head coach of the Canadian Football League's Las Vegas Posse franchise. The Posse finished the season 5-13. In addition to the poor record, the team suffered from poor attendance and eventually folded. Meyer would return to his role at CNN the following season.

In 2000, Meyer would return to coaching yet again, this time as part of the XFL's Chicago Enforcers franchise. The team would finish 5-5 and would lose to the eventual champion, the Los Angeles Xtreme. After the season, the XFL folded.

He is currently an NFL analyst for the show "The Score on the NFL" on the Canadian sports channel The Score.

Head coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = UNLV Rebels
conf = Independent
startyear = 1973
endyear = 1975CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1973
name = UNLV
overall = 8–3
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1974
name = UNLV
overall = 12–1
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname = Grantland Rice
bowloutcome = L
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1975
name = UNLV
overall = 7–4
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = UNLV
overall = 27–8
confrecord = CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = SMU Mustangs
conf = SWC
startyear = 1976
endyear = 1981CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1976
name = SMU
overall = 3–8
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1977
name = SMU
overall = 4–7
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1978
name = SMU
overall = 4–6–1
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1979
name = SMU
overall = 5–6
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1980
name = SMU
overall = 8–4
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname = Holiday
bowloutcome = L
ranking = 20
ranking2 = 20CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
year = 1981
name = SMU
overall = 10–1
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = 5CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = SMU
overall = 34–32–1
confrecord = CFB Yearly Record End
overall = 61–40–1
bcs = no
poll = yes

References