Utah Fans can Rejoice: Urban Meyer is Only Taking a Leave of Absence

That huge gust of wind from Salt Lake is the collective Ute fans exhaling when the news broke that Urban Meyer was taking a leave of absence instead of flat out retiring which would have possibly lead to the poaching of Kyle Whittingham to Florida.  Meyer hopes to return to coaching sometime in the fall of 2010:

Urban Meyer was asked if he felt he would be Florida's head coach come the fall of 2010.

Meyer's response was, "I do in my gut believe that will happen."

In the mean time offensive coordinator -- a fan non-favorite-- Steve Addiazo is taking over the reigns as interim head coach.  This similar to the Duke Blue Devils Coach K in 1995 which was a disappointment with a poor record.  This case Urban is said to be hanging around unlike Coach K who was completely away from the program with a back problem.

However how much can Urban really stay away, and is a nine month lay off good enough to help him recover from his chest pain that he said have controlled him since he arrived at Florida.  Stepping down instead of retiring allows for the school to keep most of the upper echelon recruits instead of scaring them away with a new coach who does not know them.  2010 seems pretty optimistic to me for Urban's return, upon first hearing he was going on a leave of absence to take care of his health and be with his family a 2011 return was my thoughts.  So, the Urban dynasty is not officially over, but just on a hiatus.

Here is the press conference in full: