Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed a new member to the New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees: former UF football head coach Urban Meyer.
DeSantis announced the appointment of three people, including Meyer, to the Board yesterday. Meyer was the only new candidate, while the other two members were reappointed.
Located in Sarasota, New College has been a source of contention since DeSantis installed several well-known conservative activists to its Board of Trustees in 2023. The board made Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis ally, the college’s president.
It’s unclear why Meyer was appointed to the board, although New College has placed a new emphasis on its sports teams in the past few years, recruiting about 150 athletes to the 700-student school.
“His lifetime of leadership, building teams, mentoring young people, teaching excellence, and developing culture aligns perfectly with our academic mission,” said Corcoran of Meyer’s appointment in a statement published by Florida Politics.
Who is Urban Meyer?
Meyer, 61, has made a name for himself in the football and sportscasting world. He served as the head coach for four university teams, including the Florida Gators, and had a brief stint as head coach for the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars. Outside of coaching, he has been featured on ESPN and Fox Sports as a commentator and sports analyst.
Meyer’s coaching career saw massive success and bitter controversy.
Under his leadership, the Gators secured two national championships in 2006 and 2008, as well as two SEC championships in the same years. In 2014, Meyer was head coach for another NCAA championship team, the Ohio State Buckeyes.
But Meyer’s career was not without its controversies, including some at UF. Amid an unusually high number of player arrests for charges as serious as domestic violence, a 2012 investigation detailed how Meyer had allegedly created an environment where certain players were encouraged to behave poorly and shielded from consequences.
The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Meyer as head coach for the 2021 NFL season. The team played 13 games, winning two, before Meyer’s coaching practices led the team to fire him. Caught in acts of infidelity and accused of violence against players, Meyer faced severe backlash. Jaguars owner Shahid Khan publicly denounced him, and the NFL issued him a $100,000 fine.
Since then, Meyer has expanded into sports podcasting, co-hosting the “Triple Option Show,” which covers college football.
What do new appointments mean for New College?
Meyer is the seventh person appointed by DeSantis to the New College Board of Trustees. Since early 2023, DeSantis has sought to overhaul New College in order to reshape the small liberal arts school into a more conservative model.
In the first six months after DeSantis’ initiatives began, hundreds of students left the school, as well as over 20 faculty members.
New College has since created six new sports teams, including for baseball, basketball and beach volleyball. It installed a curriculum emphasizing the Western Canon and in September announced it would build a statue of Charlie Kirk following the late conservative activist’s assassination.
“The New College Board of Trustees is succeeding in its mission to eliminate indoctrination and re-focus higher education on its classical mission,” DeSantis said in a 2023 press release.
A Florida Department of Government Efficiency-issued review presented earlier this year found New College had the highest operating expenses per student of any school in the State University System at $83,000 for the 2024 fiscal year. The second-highest, UF, spent $45,800 per student over the same period.
Like all state universities, New College’s board is composed of 13 members — six appointed by the governor and five appointed by the Florida Board of Governors, as well as the chair of the faculty and president of the student body.
Other New College appointees include people like Dr. Mark Bauerlein, 66, who taught English at Emory University from 1989 to 2018. Bauerline has expressed strong distaste for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and concern about the “stupefied” culture of young people in America.
Another notable appointee is Chris Rufo, 41, an ardent conservative activist and commentator who has circulated among some of the most influential figures in the American conservative movement, including people like Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
DeSantis’s appointees have been criticized as serving ideological, rather than educational, purposes.
It is yet to be seen how Meyer will fit into efforts to reshape New College. As of Wednesday, he has not released any statements regarding his appointment to New College’s Board of Trustees. His appointment is subject to approval from the Florida Senate.
Contact Avery Parker at aparker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @AveryParke98398.
Avery Parker is an English and history senior and the Summer 2025 University Editor. When he's not buried in thesis research, he enjoys exploring rivers and listening to The Wrecks.
