The following comes from "Urban's Way" by Buddy Martin:1. Some coaches talk about “family,” but at Florida the families and children of all coaches and players are encouraged to attend Thursday’s “Family-Night Dinners” to hang out at their position coach’s home; parents of players also have direct access to Meyer and his staff at all times.
2. Wives and children of those assistant coaches are invited on the field after the game and are escorted to the locker room by their husbands/fathers.
3. Meyer required his coaches and their wives to “babysit” players and provide a family atmosphere for them as they are mentored through football, academics, and social responsibilities.
4. Through disciplinary action, players are given every opportunity to redeem themselves for mistakes made on and off the field. They are automatically suspended for major team or school violations—or eventually even terminated for breaking the law—but Meyer will continue to help them in their pursuit of their degree. These incidents are rarely, if ever, announces to the media.
5. Special teams players are treated “special” since Meyer, himself, is their hands-on coach.
6. Instead of constantly hammering on his players to get results on the field and in the classroom, he “bribes” them with the privileges of a “Champions Club,” almost like a frequent-flier program.
7. Meyer runs an offense that he mostly made up, borrowing parts form here or there, but producing a new edition or version every couple of years and adapting it to personnel.
8. In what might look reckless and almost crazy at the time—but is actually calculated and well thought out—Meyer has been known to call trick plays (he calls them “special plays”) in big games when the odds look heavily stacked against him. And they usually work. He doesn’t think of it as chance, but rather “calculated risks.” Meyer doesn’t believe in “fate” or “luck,” but thinks good execution in practice is the key.
