At this time last year, Urban Meyer made national headlines after the Buckeyes surprisingly watched the No. 1 recruit in the state of Ohio, Jackson Carman, commit to Clemson.

Carman’s reasoning was what made everyone take a step back. According to Carman, Dabo Swinney told him that Meyer was on “the back end” of his career, which made a difference in why he chose Clemson instead of Ohio State.

The notion was scoffed at. The fact that Swinney would say such a thing about a coach who was only 5 years his senior rubbed plenty of people the wrong way. Meyer was coming off his fourth consecutive top-6 finish and in his sixth year at Ohio State, and he was negotiating his contract extension. The coach many put in the same breath as Nick Saban surely had plenty more to accomplish in Columbus.

A year later, Swinney’s prediction was even more accurate than he or anyone could’ve imagined.

Tuesday morning, we found out that Meyer was stepping down as Ohio State’s coach at season’s end. The announcement, while great in magnitude, certainly didn’t come as an overwhelming surprise to those who listened to Meyer cite health issues and stress throughout what has been a roller-coaster 2018 season.

Meyer said he’ll step off the ride for good after the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl, leading offensive coordinator Ryan Day to take over the throne. It’s a reality Ohio State fans probably feel a bit more at ease with after Day led the Buckeyes to a 3-0 start during Meyer’s suspension for his handling of ex-OSU assistant Zach Smith’s alleged history of domestic violence. Now, Meyer will leave behind a program that’s stockpiled with talent for years to come.

As for the legacy he leaves behind, that’s a bit more complicated.

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For every notch on Meyer’s belt, there’s a hole. There’s an easy narrative to argue in his favor, and there’s an easy one to argue against him. That will likely depend on your own personal bias.

The facts are that in 17 years as a head coach, Meyer went 186-32 (and 82-9 at Ohio State). That’s a winning percentage of .853. That’s better than Saban’s combined winning percentage at LSU and Alabama. Like Saban, Meyer is one of two active coaches with multiple national titles. Meyer’s winning percentage in Big Ten play (0.931) was better than Bo Schembechler’s (0.894), Jim Tressel’s (0.825), Woody Hayes’ (0.776) and Joe Paterno’s (0.638).

But unlike those legends, who essentially make up the Mount Rushmore of Big Ten coaches, Meyer’s sample size was much smaller.

Seven years at Ohio State was one more than he spent at Florida, where his time also came to a health-related ending. At least that’s what he said. Meyer’s words have been a bit hollow at times — he admittedly lied about his knowledge of the Smith situation — and many won’t forget that. The parallels between this and his Florida exit are there.

In the same way some Florida fans will never forgive Meyer for the way he left Gainesville, plenty of college football fans will never forgive Meyer for the way he handled Smith’s situation. And Lord knows if Meyer did decide to return as a head coach down the road, plenty of Buckeye fans would also feel scorned.

This, however, feels different than a gap year.

All season, Meyer wouldn’t commit to undoubtedly answering the question “will you be back at Ohio State next year?” The Buckeyes’ recruiting wasn’t on the level it had been in years past, which probably wasn’t a coincidence with Meyer’s future looking murky. It’s for that reason that Ohio State likely made this announcement ahead of the Early Signing Period.

The transition that OSU will go through now will likely be easier than the one it endured 7 years ago. Tressel’s tattoo gate-related exit put the Buckeyes in a rare state of mediocrity and uncertainty. Meyer stepped in and got the Buckeyes looking like a college football juggernaut in Year 1. He always has and always will deserve credit for that.

And of course, nobody will take away Meyer’s 2014 season. What he did to lead Ohio State back after that awful start to not only make the Playoff but to beat Saban en route to a national championship was perhaps the most impressive accomplishment of his career.

That team was a year early. That’s why many expected the 2015 squad, which was the first team to be a unanimous preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, to vault Meyer ahead of Saban.

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Instead, Meyer’s teams never scored another point in the Playoff. One could argue that each of his 4 teams since winning the first College Football Playoff National Championship were disappointing.

Sure, Meyer has been a top-6 team each of those years. He has been to New Year’s 6 Bowls in each of those seasons, and he did make it back to the Playoff.

Oh, and he never lost to Michigan. That matters, too.

But nobody would have believed you 4 years ago if you told them that Meyer would never really come close to that 2014 season again. Meanwhile, Swinney’s program leaped ahead as Saban’s primary challenger.

Instead of this monumental wins defining his final years at Ohio State, some will remember the more baffling losses. Getting beat by a backup quarterback at home against Michigan State in 2015 was a head-scratcher. Getting dropkicked by the likes of Iowa and Purdue on the road will never make sense, either. Those games are why Meyer’s team was held out of the Playoff each of the past 2 years.

Had Meyer gotten a chance to fade off into the sunset after winning another national title, his legacy would be vastly different. On the field, at least. There’s be no doubt that next to Saban, he was the second-best coach of the BCS/Playoff era.

Only time will tell how we’ll remember Meyer. Someone who won a national title in 3 of his first 9 seasons as a Power 5 head coach raised the bar that was ultimately too high to reach, and made personnel decisions that put his character in question throughout that time.

Unfinished? That’s probably fair. Unsuccessful? That’s not fair. When we look back at Meyer’s career as a head coach — assuming this is indeed the end — I think we can all agree on one thing.

It’s complicated.