Background and career
Ronald Shaw Meyer (February 17, 1941 – December 5, 2017) was an American college and professional football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 1973 to 1975 and Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1976 to 1981, and as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL), with the New England Patriots from 1982 to 1984 and the Indianapolis Colts from 1986 to 1991.
Ron was born on February 17, 1941 in Westerville, Ohio to George Meyer and Mary Harsha. George was an alcoholic who was frequently absent from Ron's childhood, as Westerville was a dry town, forbidding the sale of alcohol. Mary took most of the burden of raising Ron alongside an older brother and two sisters. Mary later left George after all of her children had become independent. At Westerville High School, Ron played football, basketball, and baseball, and he was class president each year. Shortly after graduation, Meyer married Carolyn, his high school's homecoming queen, who was pregnant and due in February of the following year. Meyer sought to go to Ohio State due to their success in football in the 50s, though it became clear that Ohio State would not accept him. George Steinbrenner, a onetime graduate assistant on the Purdue Boilermakers football team, led Meyer to believe that he could arrange a scholarship for Meyer. When Meyer visited Purdue's football office, however, Steinbrenner was not present and nobody else knew of the supposed scholarship. Meyer and his mother persisted, and Coach Jack Mollenkopf eventually relented, letting Meyer onto the football team and giving him a scholarship.
Meyer served as head coach for Penn High School's football team for a year. From 1965 to 1970, he was an assistant coach on the Purdue football team, coaching future NFL quarterbacks Bob Griese and Mike Phipps. From 1971 to 1972, he worked as a scout alongside Bucko Kilroy for the Dallas Cowboys.
Following a season of poor performance, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels hired Meyer in 1973, who successfully turned the program around. In the following three seasons, the Rebels went 27–8, with an undefeated regular season at 11–0 in 1974. In the wake of Meyer's later involvement in the SMU football scandal, former Rebels player Wayne Nunnely said of their sudden turnaround "I felt, uh, things moved awfully fast here, too. There were a lot of players in here really fast. That’s as far as I’ll go on that one."
In January 1976, Meyer was hired as the head coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, where he led the Mustangs for six seasons. This tenure included winning the Southwest Conference championship in 1981 with running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James. While at SMU, Meyer was the losing coach in the famous "Miracle Bowl" in the 1980 Holiday Bowl, where SMU held a 45–25 lead against BYU with less than four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, only to lose 46–45 thanks to three touchdown passes from Cougar quarterback Jim McMahon. While at SMU, Meyer was noted for his unusual success in recruitment for a small private university; he was able to recruit top-rated high school recruits such as Eric Dickerson and Craig James. Unlike other Texas coaches at the time, Meyer recruited players regardless of race, creating a connection between SMU and inner-city and predominantly Black Texas schools. This decision was usually framed as charity or a social justice initiative, but internally, it was couched as an investment. Meyer was also implicated in the creation of a slush fund used to recruit new players through monthly payments or paying for moving expenses, ultimately resulting in the SMU football scandal.
Meyer moved to the pros in 1982, where he coached the New England Patriots for three seasons. He was named the AFC Coach of the Year in his first season where he led the New England Patriots to the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season after the team had finished with the league's worst record the prior season. During the Snowplow Game against the Miami Dolphins on December 12, 1982, under heavy snow at Foxboro Stadium with 4:45 remaining in the game, the Patriots lined up for a go-ahead field goal. Meyer called for a stadium worker named Mark Henderson (who was on a prison work release) to drive his snowplow on the field in order to clear an area for holder Matt Cavanaugh to spot the ball and to give kicker John Smith better footing. The Patriots went on to win the game, 3–0, on their way to their first playoff appearance since the 1978 season. Meyer's coaching style caused friction between him and players. Meyer required offensive players to board a separate bus from defensive players, forbade loud music in the locker room, and players could not leave their hotel the night before a game. Unlike his predecessor Ron Erhardt, Meyer was far stricter on punctuality. Meyer and Stanley Morgan attributed the conflict to Meyer's retaining of a college football coaching style. In Meyer's first season, John Hannah requested to be traded and briefly retired, returning the next season. In retrospect, Don Hasselbeck said that the players were too hard on Meyer during his first season. However, complaints about Meyer continued. By the 1984 season, the players despised Meyer, though Meyer was apparently unaware of this. Hannah, Smith and Patriots GM Patrick Sullivan all questioned Meyer's skill at football. Sullivan eventually held player-only meetings so that they could air their grievances about Meyer. In October 1984, Meyer responded by firing assistant coach Rod Rust, but Sullivan replaced Meyer with Raymond Berry (who rehired Rust) the next day, which was met with celebration among the players.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
