urban_meyerFlorida Gators football coach Urban Meyer announced on Saturday that he was leaving college football because of health complications. And then yesterday, Meyer’s departurer had been recategorized as a “leave of absence,” and that he’ll still be the head coach when Florida takes the field in the fall of 2010.

Why the sudden change of heart? I thought it was interesting that Meyer’s Future Endeavors drew as much curiousity–if not more–than his current state of health. Meyer was hospitalized with chest pains one day after his team’s loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game. He also has what ESPN called an “arachnoid cyst,” which gives him headaches whenever he gets stressed or excited. But all anyone wanted to know was, When will he be returning? It was the one question for which Florida didn’t have an answer Saturday. Now, it seems, they do.

I can only wonder how many potential football recruits called interim head coach Steve Addazio and said Thanks but No Thanks to their scholarship offers from Florida after Saturday’s news hit the airwaves. Enough, apparently for the Gator brass to bring in damage control and a revised statement less than 24 hours later. And somewhere in the middle of all this is a 45-year-old guy that just wanted a little break. And despite the breakneck pace of college football, it appears that, one way or another, he’ll actually get one.