Utah
After two seasons at Bowling Green, he took the job at Utah in 2003. In his first year there, Meyer was named the Mountain West Conference's Coach of the Year with a 10–2 record, the best ever for a coach's first season at Utah. He also earned honors as The Sporting News National Coach of the Year, the first Utes coach to do so. Meyer's success can be attributed to his unique offensive system, which is an offshoot of Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense, relying on short pass routes. Meyer's base offense spreads three receivers and puts the quarterback in shotgun formation. Then, he introduces motion in the backfield and turns it into an option attack, adding elements of the traditional run-oriented option offense.
In 2004, Meyer led the undefeated Utes to a Bowl Championship Series bid, something that had not been done by a team from a non-automatically qualifying BCS conference since the formation of the BCS in 1998. He remained at Utah long enough to coach the team to a Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh, capping off the Utes' first perfect season (12–0) since 1930.
In 2003, QB Alex Smith threw for 2,247 yards with 15 TD vs 3 INT and ran for 452 yards with 5 TD. In 2004 he threw for 2,952 yards with 32 TD vs 4 INT and ran for 631 yards with 10 TD. His production in Urban Meyer's scheme is a large reason why Smith was considered a 1st round pick entering the 2005 NFL Draft.
Read more about this topic: Urban Meyer, Coaching Career