On a recent episode of Urban Meyer's The Triple Option Podcast , former Ohio State linebacker and assistant coach Mike Vrabel described his first interview with Meyer, the Buckeyes' coach from 2012-18. It did not go well.

It was just ahead of Meyer's first season in 2011. Vrabel was told to go home, work on what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it, so he could return at 6 a.m. the next morning for another attempt.

"It was an improvement," Meyer said of the second try.

Vrabel went on to serve as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans . From 2018-2023, he was head coach of the Tennessee Titans . He spent a year as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns . Then, in January, he was hired by the New England Patriots to be their head coach. It was another homecoming: Vrabel, an All-Pro, played eight seasons and won three Super Bowls with the Patriots under Bill Belichick.

Vrabel continues to use the story of his first interview with Meyer as an icebreaker for the interviews he conducts.

"Whatever interview you have, it cannot be worse than my first interview," Vrabel said.

Meyer, on the podcast, recalled well that first interview with Vrabel 14 years ago. But that is not to say his memory sometimes fails him.

Last fall in an ESPN interview, Vrabel told another story. This one was about how Meyer, during his shambolic year as coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021, ran into Vrabel and did not recognize his former employee.

"Do I know you?" Meyer asked.

Vrabel said, "Yeah, I'm head coach of the Titans. And I worked for you for two years."