Timeline of Urban Meyer's coaching career

After weeks of speculation about his health and future, Urban Meyer announced on Tuesday that he will resign as Ohio State's coach after seven seasons.

Meyer, 54, is one of the most successful coaches in college football history. His teams won more than 85 percent of their games and three national championships -- two at Florida and one more at Ohio State.

But Meyer's legacy is also filled with off-field scandals, from multiple player arrests at Florida to an August 2018 investigation into whether he covered up domestic violence allegations against one of his assistant coaches.

Here's a timeline of Meyer's complicated career:

1986: Meyer graduated from Cincinnati, where he played defensive back, and was hired as a graduate assistant at Ohio State. Then-Buckeyes coach Earl Bruce became his longtime mentor.

1988: Meyer was hired as an assistant coach at Illinois State.

1990: Meyer was reunited with Bruce when he was hired as Colorado State's wide receivers coach.

1996: Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz hired Meyer as wide receivers coach.

2001: Meyer got his first head-coaching job at Bowling Green, after the Falcons won only two games in 2000. Meyer guided Bowling Green to eight wins in his first season -- the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I football -- and was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year.

2002: Meyer guided Bowling Green to an 8-0 start, and the Falcons climbed as high as No. 16 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll before finishing 9-3. He was hired as Utah's coach on Dec. 12, 2002.

2003: Behind Meyer's revolutionary spread offense, the Utes finished 10-2 and won a Mountain West Conference title -- their first outright league championship since 1957.

2004: In Meyer's second season, the Utes finished 12-0, their first unbeaten season since 1930. They became the first non-BCS league team to crash the BCS party, blasting Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl. It would be Meyer's last game as Utah's coach; he was named Florida's new coach on Dec. 6, 2004, after also strongly considering an offer from Notre Dame. He signed a seven-year, $14 million contract to coach the Gators.

2006: In his second season at Florida, Meyer guided the Gators to a 13-1 record and a 38-28 victory over Arkansas in the SEC championship. After being selected over Michigan to play Ohio State in the 2007 BCS National Championship, Florida routed the No. 1 Buckeyes 41-14 to win its first national title since 1996.

2007: In April 2007, newly enrolled freshman Aaron Hernandez reportedly refused to pay for two alcoholic drinks at a bar near the UF campus. After an argument with an employee, Hernandez allegedly punched the man in the side of the head. A police report was filed, but Hernandez was never charged.

In September 2007, shots were fired into a car at a stoplight in Gainesville, and one of the victims described the shooter as being a "Hispanic" or "Hawaiian" male with a large build and tattoos. The victim also identified Gators safety Reggie Nelson as a person who was with the shooter. Police never charged Hernandez or Nelson. But six years later, Massachusetts authorities prosecuting Hernandez for murder in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd reached out to police in Gainesville in hopes of determining whether Hernandez had any role in the 2007 shooting.

Meyer signed a six-year contract extension with Florida on June 7 that paid him an average salary of $3.25 million per year. The Gators went 9-4 during the 2007 season; quarterback Tim Tebow became the first sophomore and third UF player to win the Heisman Trophy.

2008: The Gators bounced back with a 13-win season in 2008, winning 11 games by 20 points or more before defeating No. 1 Alabama 31-20 in the SEC championship. Florida beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS championship to win its second national title in three years.

2009: After starting No. 1 in the polls and finishing the regular season at 12-0, the Gators lost to Alabama 32-13 in the SEC championship. On Dec. 6, Meyer admitted himself to a local hospital for what was initially described as dehydration. A 911 call later revealed he was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after complaining of chest pains and a tingling sensation on his side. Meyer's wife made the call and said her husband awoke that morning, tried to get out of bed but fell to the floor.

On Dec. 26, Florida announced that Meyer was stepping down as head coach, citing family and health reasons. Four days later, he reversed course and took a leave of absence, instead of resigning. He coached the Gators to a 51-24 victory over Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.

2010: After taking time off from his duties, Meyer returned to the program full-time in March 2010. On Sept. 14, Gators running back Chris Rainey was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking for allegedly sending a former girlfriend a threatening text message that read in part, "Time to die ..." Meyer suspended him for four games.

Meyer won his 100th game as a coach with a 48-14 victory over Kentucky on Sept. 26, 2010, becoming the sixth-fastest coach in NCAA history to reach the milestone. The Gators finished with a 7-5 record, the worst of his career, and he announced his resignation on Dec. 26. The Gators defeated Penn State 37-24 in the Outback Bowl in Meyer's final game as coach.

2011: After resigning as Florida's coach, Meyer spent the 2011 season working as an ESPN college football analyst. He was named Ohio State's coach on Nov. 28, 2011, taking over for Jim Tressel, who resigned in the wake of allegations that he covered up NCAA violations.

2012: In Meyer's first season at Ohio State, the Buckeyes went 12-0 during the regular season but were ineligible to play in the postseason because of NCAA sanctions.

2013: In June, Hernandez, at this point a tight end with the New England Patriots, was arrested and charged with murder after Lloyd's body was found in an industrial park near Hernandez's home in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder in April 2015.

A New York Times report in June 2013 revealed that 41 of the 121 players who played on Meyer's 2008 team at Florida were either arrested while in college or shortly thereafter, and sometimes both.

2014: After winning 12 games in each of his first two seasons at Ohio State, Meyer guided the Buckeyes to a 14-1 record and the first national title of the College Football Playoff era. After blasting Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten championship, the Buckeyes were selected among the four teams for the inaugural playoff. They upset No. 1 Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl and then beat Oregon 42-20 in the national championship. Meyer joined Alabama's Nick Saban as the only coaches to win national titles at two schools.

2018: Meyer was placed on administrative leave on Aug. 1 after an OSU investigation was launched into how he handled the employment of wide receivers coach Zach Smith, who was accused of domestic violence by his estranged wife. On Aug. 22, Meyer was suspended for the first three games and returned to the sideline against Tulane on Sept. 22.

In his first news conference since being suspended on Sept. 17, Meyer acknowledged that his actions when handling the accusations against Smith damaged the reputations of the Ohio State football program and university.

On Oct. 31, Meyer told reporters he was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst in 1998 that had been causing him severe headaches and frequent pain on the left side of his head, particularly in the past two years. He also said, "I am fully committed to Ohio State, the football program, as long as I can." Weeks earlier, during the Oct. 6 game against Indiana, Meyer could be seen on the sideline kneeling and holding his head in pain.

The Buckeyes blasted rival Michigan 62-39 on Nov. 24, marking the most points they've ever scored in a game against the Wolverines. They went on to beat Northwestern in the Big Ten championship but were not selected among the four CFP teams. After much speculation about his health and future, Meyer announced his retirement on Tuesday. He had an 82-9 record -- and a 7-0 mark against Michigan -- with the Buckeyes.