The polarizing college coach and two-time BCS champion spent a single season coaching and being chased by high school players.

The coaching staff of the 1985 St. Xavier Bombers wore tight shorts, long white tube socks and featured Urban Meyer (bottom right).

Players and coaches from the 1985 St. Xavier (Cincinnati) football team have few anecdotal tales or specific memories about him. No one seems to recollect his exact schemes or be able to recite significant conversations or credos.

What they vividly remember about Urban Meyer and his only season as a high school football coach was simply a feeling - one hot, lasting sensation sprinkled with pepper and smothered in Tabasco sauce.

"Passionate," said John Sabatalo, the team's offensive coordinator that season. "Lots of vigor and energy."

Said starting quarterback and co-captainGreg Frey: "Intense and focused."

Courtesy photo

Urban Meyer at age 21.

Said defensive back, running back and co-captain Steve Specht: "He was in your face both ways – if you did something right or something wrong. I think true football players gravitate toward that. Kids feed off of it."

Specht certainly did. He became a coach himself and returned to St. Xavier, leading the Bombers to a pair of state titles and nearly an .800 winning percentage since taking over in 2003. He's also USA Football's Under-19 national head coach whose team starts practice this week for the World Championships in Austin, Texas.

At the prep level, Specht is the coaching equivalent of Meyer, one of college football's most successful and polarizing figures who returned to his home state late last fall