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Ohio State's Urban Meyer endorses John Kasich over Donald Trump

By Alex Butler

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 10 (UPI) -- Nike need not worry that Urban Meyer spoke of another endorsement Thursday.

The Ohio State University Buckeyes football coach endorsed Ohio republican Gov. John Kasich in a video released early Thursday.

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"Now that I really know what you stand for, we'd like to tell you, we wish you guys the best. Go win this darn thing," Meyer said in the video.

The endorsement is somewhat surprising to some, after fellow presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke glowingly of the coach and about a possible meeting between the two men.

"You have a great coach, how about it, Urban Meyer?" Trump said last week in Columbus. "He's somebody that's said such nice things about me, and I don't know if he endorsed me or not, but he said awfully nice things about me. And I'm going to have to meet him, I think."

"When you come from one school and you have such success and then you come to Ohio State, and you have some success -- you just don't see that. That's raw talent," Trump said in Columbus. "That's what we need in our country."

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Last month, Meyer told the Columbus Dispatch that he was focusing on his players and not politics.

"My job description is very clear, and that's to coach Ohio State football, and the focus is on 17 to 18 to 22-year-olds," Meyer told the Dispatch. "I have strong beliefs but I'm not going to share that with you guys. I don't think that's appropriate."

Meyer is 154-27 in 14 years coaching college football. He has a 9-2 record in bowl games, including three national championships.

"I'm trying to raise the bar in the presidential campaign, make sure kids are proud," Kasich said in the video released on Twitter. "And really you're trying to raise the bar at Ohio State. You know, and really, the great image of a great leader like Woody Hayes ... he was a man who always raised the bar. And that's what you're trying to do, and I'm trying to do it in politics."

"I don't want to let people down," Meyer says in the video released by Kasich. "And I'm sure you feel the same way."

"The people in Ohio ... they don't expect miracles. Well, maybe on a Saturday in November they do. But most of the time they really want us to do the best that we can do," Kasich said in the video.

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