College football’s Urban Meyer joins board of Florida college transformed by DeSantis

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — College football Hall of Famer Urban Meyer has been appointed to the board of trustees at a small public liberal arts college that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has transformed from a progressive institute into a staging ground for the Republican governor’s war on “woke.”

DeSantis this week named Meyer to the board at New College in Sarasota, which the governor’s allies took over two years ago by packing the board with DeSantis supporters and conservative figures.

Meyer currently is a college football analyst for FOX Sports. As head football coach at the University of Florida, Meyer led the Gators to two national championships in 2006 and 2008. Meyer also steered Ohio State’s football team to a national championship in 2014. Meyer was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 during his only season leading an NFL team.

Urban’s appointment, which is subject to confirmation by the state Senate, was announced Tuesday along with the reappointment of two other New College trustees.

DeSantis targeted the tiny school on the shores of Sarasota Bay two years ago as part of a campaign against what he calls “woke” ideology. The governor and his allies believed that New College, a progressive school with a prominent LGBTQ+ community, had been indoctrinating students with leftist teachings and should be revamped into a more conservative institution.

After DeSantis’ allies took control off the school’s board, they promptly fired the college president and replaced her with a Republican politician, the first of several administrators to lose their jobs. They also dismantled the office of diversity and equity. Students compared the changes to “a hostile takeover,” saying the governor was dismantling what had been a safe place for many LGBTQ+ students who felt marginalized at other schools.