How Urban Meyer's daughter grades dad

• Urban Meyers' family had many anxieties about Meyer returning to coaching which have been relieved
• Meyer's daughter talks to her dad every day now
• His family gave him a contract of healthy lifestyle rules that he abides with

I sat on the couch with ESPN on the TV and a knot in my stomach as I watched the Ohio State University take the field in the season opener.

But the look on Urban Meyer's face as he ran from the tunnel was all I needed to see. I knew that this was exactly where my dad was supposed to be at this exact moment.

"I was very grateful to have another opportunity to coach at the highest level of college football," he said in describing his first time taking the field since his last game as Florida coach nearly two years earlier.

After months of anticipation, many questions have been answered and our anxieties are slowly being laid to rest. It seems that we have the best of both worlds as a family right now. I have a dad who I can communicate with as much as I want daily, and he does what he loves every day.

He has proved the impossible to be very possible this season. You can win, and you can live a family life when you step out of the office. There is such thing as balance, and it has been working very well.

I didn't think he knew free time existed until his year away from coaching, but it also was apparent that he was restless and needed something more. He missed coaching. He missed the relationships with his players, and he missed the competitive rush that he had felt for 25 years in the game.

I initially did not want him to go back to coaching, but then I realized how selfish it would be for me to try to deny him what made him happy.

Still, coming into this season, I had a lot of uncertainty and doubt, but my faith has been reassured.

Not only do I talk to him before starting my day, but also it is the last thing I do before I go to sleep at night. And there is nothing more comforting than to hear the sheer joy in my dad's voice every time we talk. He loves what he is doing. He loves the people he is around. And most importantly, he is healthy.

After carefully thinking of 10 specific lifestyle rules, putting it on paper and getting a signature days before he accepted the Ohio State job last November, I knew only so much could be said. Among the rules: eat three meals a day, sleep with the cellphone on silent, answer his daughters' calls no matter what he is doing.

Yet it would be his actions that would put the rest of my family and I at ease. And it is hard to argue that my dad has been nothing short of flawless in following our new family contract.

Though I am at a distance while in college, I still am in the loop on how my dad is doing. My mother, Shelley, is more than impressed with the strides he has made so far.

Though the daily routine hasn't changed drastically while in season, it is the small things that are making the difference, she says.

"He still goes in to the office early every day, about 6:15 a.m., but he does make working out a priority," she says. "He takes 30 minutes at lunch to do that now. He also makes sure he is eating better and more frequently. There is a conscious effort to make sure these things are happening."

Not only are there changes in health, but there are changes in the work schedule on some days as well, including taking time to watch my brother, Nate, play football.

"He also leaves work a bit earlier on some nights," she says. "He takes time off on Sunday afternoons to make it to Nate's football games, which used to be unheard of, especially on such a big workday."

He has been present at several of my volleyball games for Georgia Tech this fall, too. Whether he just flies into town for less than 24 hours to see a match or can stay the whole weekend, he makes it happen.

"He has been doing a great job of holding up his end of the deal," Shelley says.

Not much has to be done from an accountability standpoint because the family contract hangs right behind his head in his office as a constant reminder. He says the key to staying on track is constant conversation with the family.

"One daughter gets especially angry when I miss a call," he says, clearly talking about me.

He also makes time each day for scripture reading, which we all receive in our family thread of text messages early each morning. I call him minutes later, and he always answers. Whether he is on his daily run or in the middle of a meeting, he picks up. Every evening after practice, he calls me and we talk — not just to say "Hi" and hang up, but have conversations.

I remember a few years ago it was hard to keep him on the phone for longer than 30 seconds. Now he wants to know everything that is going on with my life. His sense of humor has returned in full force, which is the ultimate reassurance that he is happy.

The biggest changes are happening in the offseason. He visits my sister and I frequently and has learned to say no to all the speaking requests in order to spend time with my mom, my younger sister and brother and I instead.

Though the Buckeyes are undefeated with two games remaining, this season has been anything but an easy ride. From injuries to teeth-clenching games, it has been a wild year so far, but overall successful on and off the field.

The difference? Simply time to step away, which has provided a lot of perspective. He became knee-deep in his faith, his family and his health while he was away, all things that I knew would make this time different.

Watching him on the sideline, I see a refreshed, renewed Urban Meyer. A calm, cool and collected passionate coach who loves the game. The healthy, happy, joyful person I know he is.

Speaking to my dad after games these days is just another reason why I know why he went back to coaching. You can hear the happiness in his voice and the excitement, not just relief or immediate stress of starting to prepare for the next game.

He talks about the locker room and the players and the atmosphere. He talks about the players laughing and celebrating — all the reasons why he fell in love with coaching in the first place.

This is what he is meant to do. How in the world can any of us argue with that?

*Nicki Meyer is the oldest of Urban and Shelley Meyer's three children