Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Ohio State is the fourth head coaching job that Meyer has held in college football. Meyer began at Bowling Green and later coached for Utah and Florida before arriving at Ohio State. Let’s take a look back at magic year number 2 at each school:

At BGSU, Meyer took over for a 2-9 team that had not had a winning season for sever years. In 2001, Bowling Green defeated power conference schools Missouri and Northwestern in route to an 8-3 record, earning him MAC Coach of the Year honors. Building on his first season, the team finished 9-3 and during part of the season were ranked in both polls for the first time in school history, peaking at #16 in the Coaches Poll.

Meyer moved on to Utah in 2003. In his first season, Utah won its first outright conference championship since 1957 and won the Liberty Bowl against Southern Mississippi, finishing the season 10-2. The Utes finished the season ranked #21 and Meyer earned Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year (1st Utah coach to do so) and won National Coach of the Year honor by The Sporting News. Building once again on year one, Meyer led Utah to an undefeated season. Utah became the first non-power conference school to play in a BCS game, and Utah defeated Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl, winning their 16th consecutive game. Meyer won the Football Writers Association of America’s Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year and the Home Depot Coach of the Year.

Once again, Meyer jumped to a new job after two seasons. Florida signed Meyer, who to this point had a 39-8 record and a BCS game victory under his belt. In year 1, Florida finished 9-3 with an Outback Bowl victory and Meyer became the first coach in school history to win games over four ranked opponents in one season. In year 2, Florida set a school-record with 13 wins and finished with an SEC championship despite playing against the toughest schedule in the NCAA; Florida played six ranked opponents and 11 of its opponents went to bowl games! Florida, of course, then went on to upset Ohio State 41-14 in the national championship. Meyer was named Coach of the Year by the All-American Foundation.

Meyer led each of his three previous schools to their best season in their respective histories. Meyer has a 34-4 record in year 2 of his contracts entering this season (BG: 9-3, Utah: 12-0; Fla: 13-1). In those years he won both a Fiesta Bowl and a National Championship in Glensdale, winning by an average of 27.5 ppg. Removing Bowling Green, a school with much less resources, Meyer put together a powerhouse 25-1 with 2 BCS wins in year two. Coming off of a 12-0 season at Ohio State, there is no reason Meyer cannot lead Ohio State to another successful season.