After several days of speculation and denial, former University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer officially accepted the job at Ohio State University on Monday afternoon.

Meyer held a press conference in Columbus and said it was great for him to be going back to his home state of Ohio. He added that he consulted his family heavily before making the decision, even signing a contract laid out by the family that would make sure he did not lose focus of his desire to balance coaching with family considerations.

Meyer also said that if the Ohio State job had not opened up that he would not have coached this season.

The former Gator coach said in his press conference that he would always be a Gator and thanked many of his former players, coaches and administrators at Florida during his press conference.

Meyer said his health is “excellent” and that he has been checked out numerous times to make sure he was healthy.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith spoke also at the press conference and said the first time he talked with Meyer about the job was on November 20th and that he met with Meyer on November 23rd as well. Smith said Meyer was offered the job this past Sunday and that he accepted on Monday.

Meyer will inherit a tradition rich program that is currently 6-6 and under a cloud of uncertainty after an NCAA investigation yielded violations in the program and the full extent of the sanctions against Ohio State are not yet known.