Urban Meyer, good for you...

Twelve hours after hearing that Urban Meyer is resigning as Florida's football coach to take better care of himself and spend more time with his family, I find myself equal parts stunned, saddened and delighted.

And here's the unexpected: My delight has nothing to do with the fact that he won't be roaming the sidelines next season, or that the Gators, who already are going to be decimated by graduation and early departures, just took a big step backward. (Sorry, Gator fans, but you can't lose the best coach in college football and not take a step backward.)

The stunning part is fairly obvious. We were all stunned. He's 45, the best in the business, makes millions, and lives in warm weather. And he's quitting. That qualifies as stunning.

The saddened part also is an easy one: He says he's been having chest pains for a while now, and that the stresses of keeping his program on top were taking a toll on the ticker. No one wants to see someone go out that way. At least I don't.

The delighted part deserves a little more of an explanation. Accepting that Meyer's simple explanation is all there is to the story, these days, is a flimsy and frail limb to be out on. We've seen how often there is more to these stories than what is first reported. But I'm on the limb. I believe him. I believe that the man on top of the college football world decided that his wife and daughters were more important than football. I cannot imagine that if Meyer had no family, he'd still be stepping away from football simply to take care of himself. So by leaving, he's not only saying his daughters and wife are more important than football, he's saying they are more important to him than he is. At least that's my read on it. And I'm delighted by that.