Friday December 2, 2011 year: 132 No. 49
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Meyer desires balance miCHael PeriaTT Asst. sports editor periatt.1@osu.edu Before Urban Meyer officially became Ohio State’s new head football coach, he had to sign two contracts. He signed the document for the university dictating his salary, benefits and various responsibilities, but Meyer couldn’t sign that contract until signing a completely different type of agreement. He had to sign a contract with his wife, son and two daughters. At his introductory press conference Monday, Meyer pulled out a folded-up pink piece of paper from his suit pocket. “This is a contract that my kids made me sign before I was allowed to sign a real contract,” Meyer said. “It’s tougher than any other contract I’ve signed in my life.” The basic idea was to ensure Meyer wouldn’t let his pursuit of success in coaching completely interfere with spending time with his family and monitoring his physical health. Success was something Meyer had a lot of during his six years as head coach at Florida State University. He won two national championships, coached a Heisman Trophy winner and averaged 10.8 wins a season. But according to Meyer, the success had a side effect. He said as time went on, he became consumed with his job and the idea of attaining perfection. The obsession affected both his personal health and his family life. Meyer said he sent texts messages to recruits while in church and once lost twenty pounds in a little more than a week because he was so focused on winning his team’s upcoming game. “I call it the pursuit of perfection,” Meyer said. “I think at the end of the day we all know there’s no such thing. I fell victim to that.”
Meyer took a year off from coaching after the 2010 season and became a college football analyst at ESPN, in part to spend more time with family. Todd McShay worked directly with Meyer at ESPN and said Meyer talked about the rigors of being a football coach interfering with his family life. “When he walked away from the Florida job, he had not seen a game, I mean not a game of his daughters’ or his son in anything — any sport,” McShay said. “(Some of his kids) were in college and he had never been to a high school volleyball game. Not one. “This year has been special to him and getting that time with his kids and his family.” But during his time off, Meyer still had the itch to coach. He said it didn’t take him long to realize he couldn’t stay away from the profession that he dedicated the majority of his life to. “I remember (my wife) Shelley and I went for a walk one day, and I looked at her and I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this,’” Meyer said. “She started rolling her eyes at me again. She’s had to deal with me for 22 years, really 27 years. But I said, ‘I want to (coach) again.’” Before he could relaunch his coaching career, Meyer had to convince his family he could handle the stress of being a head coach again.
“There’s no people more important than my three children and my wife,” Meyer said. “They had some second thoughts. We had a meeting.” The meeting helped produce a contract, which was Meyer’s 21-year-old daughter’s idea. She plays volleyball at Georgia Tech, and made sure her father would maintain balance in his life and even attend a few of his kids’ sporting events. The terms were written down on the pink piece of paper and Meyer signed it. As he was negotiating his contract to become OSU’s next coach, Meyer showed the contract to athletic director Gene Smith and made sure he could live up to his family’s standards. “I feel confident that we’ll work
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CHelsea CasTle / Managing editor for content CHris PoCHe / Design editor
Urban meyer’s wife, shelley meyer, and his son, nate meyer, laugh during his introductory press conference nov. 28, 2011.
Class before Thanksgiving goes cold turkey anDi HenDriCKson Lantern reporter hendrickson.1085@osu.edu While classrooms may have been close to empty the day before Thanksgiving this year, on that same day in 2012, all classrooms will be empty. Next year, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will now be considered a holiday as a part of the new semester-schedule breaks. The 2012 academic calendar currently shows the changes for the semester switch. The new breaks include the Autumn Semester starting on Aug. 22 and a spring break from March 11 to March 15 to break up the Spring Semester. Brad Myers from University Registrar said in an email the new break schedule will have some jarring changes and a few expected ones. “Certainly one major change is that we will be done in early May — which should make a difference with students looking at internship(s) and other kinds of summer experiences,” Myers said. “We will be more aligned with other institutions — the overwhelming majority of institutions are already on semesters.”
For Michael Kline, a first-year in computer science and engineering, having breaks at the same times as other institutions is a huge benefit to the new semester schedule. “Right now my breaks don’t match up with anybody’s,” Kline said. “So I go home and the only people I see are high school kids that I know that are still in high school. And once we switch over, everyone will be home at approximately the same time.” Myers said though some students will have scheduling problems for the summer term because of the shorter summer, it will not cause many issues, especially for incoming freshman. “Next summer will be ‘shorter’ than usual, which presents some additional challenges for those who are enrolled that term,” Myers said. “For new students who come in beginning next year, this is not a ‘change’ for them.” Even though his summer will be cut a few weeks short, Kline said he doesn’t mind. “It’s summer,” Kline said. “I don’t care.” Second-year in microbiology Ashby Daugherty agrees with Kline that having one shorter summer is not a bad trade. “Every summer seems to be too long,” Daugherty said. “When we get back to normal-length summers
and the new length of winter it will be kind of cool because I’ll be on the same schedule as all my friends who go to other schools.” Students who work over the summer will also benefit from the semester switch once the new summer break is implemented in 2013, Daugherty said. “I know a lot of people who, this past summer, tried to apply when they got home and all the summer jobs are basically taken,” Daugherty said. While some other institutions have implemented a “fall break,” a break in the middle of the fall semester, Myers said Ohio State’s new break schedule will not include a similar feature. “There isn’t any formal ‘fall break.’ We will go a bit longer in December, but we will also not start quite as early in January,” Myers said. “There will always be a three-week break between Autumn Commencement and the first day of Spring Semester.” Another change students seem to welcome is having the day before Thanksgiving off from class. Kline said he is happy about the extra day because he lives 6 1/2 hours from Columbus . He
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Recent crimes fire up concealed carry club Jenelle CooPer Lantern reporter cooper.1995@osu.edu
Courtesy of MCT
Buckeyes for Concealed Carry on Campus wants to allow the licensed carry of firearms on campus.
Due to recent crimes and awareness on campus, some students are feeling the need to pursue a concealed carry license. A concealed carry permit gives people the ability to legally carry a handgun or another weapon in a concealed manner, on their person, or near their proximity. A new group, Buckeyes for Concealed Carry on Campus, is advocating restoring the right to carry a concealed weapon on university property to individuals who already have a license. The founder of the group Michael Newbern, a second-year in mechanical engineering, said the group is specifically looking to restore those rights to individuals with field hand guns. Those individuals who already have a concealed carry license are able to carry their weapons in public places such as restaurants, parks and shopping malls.
House Bill 45 and Senate Bill 17, were passed over the summer, which allowed those with concealed carry licenses to bring their weapons into establishments that serve alcohol. This includes restaurants, stadiums and bars. But still, concealed weapons are not allowed on campus. Ohio State Police Chief Paul Denton told The Lantern in April that if people are armed in a dangerous situation, it makes it harder on police officers. “Having other armed individuals will only complicate what’s already a confusing and difficult situation,” he said. “Our police officers will face the additional problem of identifying who is a friend and a foe, and that places themselves and others at a greater risk.” Newbern said there should be no exception to the law on-and-off-campus. “Generally those with permits are law-abiding citizens; it is ridiculous to keep law-abiding citizens from defending ourselves. We are sitting ducks right now; our goal is to not remain sitting ducks,” Newbern said.
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