When Meyer ? a native Ohioan who earned a master's degree from Ohio State after a playing career at Cincinnati ? decided to take over the Buckeyes program, he did so with his family's blessing, Gigi said. Eventually, we had to tell him, ?Hey, you're doing nothing but football and that's not what we want.'' We'd be at church and he'd be on the phone. When he came home at night he went straight to bed. 'Before everything he called me day and night,' Gigi said. If you think the tales of Urban Meyer's declining health, elevated stress and strained relationships with his wife and three kids that led to his departure from Florida after the 2010 season were a stretch, think again.

'I don't know how many times he'll be able to watch me and Nicki play, but I know he's going to try to follow us and get down here whenever he can,' she said. Gigi Meyer said she hopes to spend as much time with her dad as she did this year, when he lived in Gainesville but traveled each weekend as an ESPN analyst. It stipulates that he will take care of himself and stay involved with wife Shelley and their three kids. Gigi Meyer confirmed that her dad signed a family contract authored by eldest daughter Nicki ? a junior libero at Georgia Tech ? before taking over at Ohio State. Yet even as he scrambles to assemble a staff in Columbus, the 47-year-old Meyer is fulfilling his obligation to FGCU ? and more importantly, to Gigi ? to be the keynote speaker at tonight's Night at the Nest fundraising gala at Alico Arena. Meyer had cited health concerns and a desire to spend more time with his family, which includes his youngest daughter, Florida Gulf Coast University starting freshman setter Gigi. They say, and type, that the former Florida coach's reasons for walking away from UF ? where he led the Gators to the 20 national titles ? were baloney now that he's right back in the game after sitting out this season. In the aftermath of Monday's press conference introducing Urban Meyer as Ohio State's new football coach, some have tossed about the moniker 'Urban Myth.'

Nicki and gigi meyer