Urban Meyer opens up about trying times in HBO interview

By foxsports
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Urban Meyer opens up on an episode of HBO's Real Sports Tuesday night.

The topic of conversation? The old Urban Meyer.

Now in his third season as Ohio State's coach, Meyer talks to Andrea Kremer about the 2009 season at Florida, when the Gators went 13-1 but Meyer lost 37 pounds and admitted he was battling depression and "felt like I was dying" the night after losing the SEC Championship Game.

"It wasn't pretty," Meyer said in a snippet of the conversation that's available via YouTube. "The toll on my body, the toll on my mind. I was physically ill."

Meyer said he was "addicted to winning" and was taking "two Ambiens and a beer on top of it just to sleep. Not many people know that."

His wife, Shelley, also appears in the piece. Shelley said Urban at the time was "such a control freak. He can't control everything and it's killing him."

Asked Monday why he opened up for HBO, Meyer said his friend and agent Trace Armstrong encouraged him to tell what would be "a good story for families and people...I look back now and it was a positive experience.

"It came across my desk and I said, 'No, of course not.' And I got a couple of phone calls that said, 'Yeah, it would be good for people to see.' That's why (I did it)."