I remember Coach Meyer more for a teacher than a coach because that’s where I got most interaction with him. I was taking a class on Theory of Coaching Basketball in the fall semester of 2004. This was before the accident and record-breaking wins. I still realized I was in the presence of a great man – an inspirational leader. One of his rules was to take notes. I took as many notes as possible, not because it was his rule but simply because I wanted to absorb as much knowledge as possible during his class. He didn’t teach much about basketball even though that was the theme of the class but taught more about how to be a good coach and servant leader.
One very distinct memory was in the middle of his lecture he took out a Bible and said that he wanted to share one of his favorite verses with us. He said, “I realize this is a public state university and not a small private Christian college, but if they fire me for sharing a Bible verse with students, then I’m in the wrong place anyway.” Of course, no one complained or objected to this reading and it became one of my favorite Bible verses. He was lecturing on worrying about things you cannot control and read Matthew 6:24-27: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” He was telling us not to worry and to have faith in everything that was happening. I will forever remember him as a teacher and a man that did things his way, not because he was stubborn, but because he knew it was the right way.
– Derek