Like father, like daughter: Gigi Meyer pursues coaching

ESTERO, Fla.- Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is a legend in the coaching industry, but his daughter is just getting started.

Gigi Meyer played four years of volleyball at Florida Gulf Coast University. When she graduated, she wasn’t sure if she could give up on the competition, so she took some advice from a national championship coach, her dad.

“It’s different. It’s very different but I kind of like it,” said Meyer, “I kind of like watching from the sideline point of view.”

These days, Meyer, a forrmer FGCU volleyball setter, is finding herself on the other side of the game and on the bench as a part of the coaching staff.

“It’s kind of tough during games because I can’t really go out there,” Meyer said. “If something is going wrong, I can’t go out there and help,” she continued, “I can’t lose. I hate losing.”

That competitive nature runs in the family.

“I had a really good talk with my dad and he’s like, ‘I think you would be a great coach.'” said Meyer. “It was hard to say, ‘no you’re wrong. I don’t think I could be,’ because he knows what it takes to be a great coach.”

Meyer asked her former coach, Matt Botsford, if she could stay on board as an assistant.

“I think it’s a path that’s fairly common in our sport.” said Botsford. “People that want to get their feet wet choose to take on roles as volunteer coaches, probably the thing that pays off for her is she understands the lifestyle because she’s been surrounded by it her entire life.”

Even though volleyball is the sport Meyer loves, she says she always has to know the score of her dad’s games; even when she was on the court.

“Sometimes I will peak at Danny,” she said, “he will have his cell phone and he’ll give me a score because I just have to know!”

Whether she chooses to pursue coaching as a career or not, she knows – just like her dad – that family will always come first.

“Whatever happens, happens and he can always come home and be with his family at the end of the day and still have a happy life because we have that. We have a really strong family,” Meyer said.

Although volleyball will take up much of Meyer’s time this season, she says she will make a few of the Ohio State football games as well.