GAINESVILLE, Fla. » After some "deep family discussions" about his future in coaching, Florida football coach Urban Meyer stepped down yesterday following his worst season as the Gators’ head coach.

Meyer, who resigned after Florida’s SEC Championship loss to Alabama last season and then later had a change of heart and returned, leaves the program after a 7-5 record and a 31-7 loss at Florida State.

It was the first time Florida had lost five regular-season games since 1986.

Meyer said in a news conference yesterday that the decision to leave was for his family. He called his resignation last year a "knee-jerk reaction" to health issues he was having, adding that he is comfortable with this decision now.

This time, it is for his family — wife, Shelley, daughters Nikki and Gigi and son, Nathan. Nikki Meyer is a volleyball player for Georgia Tech and Gigi Meyer has signed a letter of intent to play for Florida Gulf Coast.

"At the end of the day, I’m very convinced you’re going to be judged on how you are as a husband and a father, not how many bowl games we won," Meyer said. "I’ve not seen my two girls play high school sports. They’re both very talented, Division I-A volleyball players. So I missed those four years. I can’t get that time back."

The Gators said Meyer will coach UF in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1.

He has a 64-15 record at UF, for which he won two national championships, two SEC titles and three SEC East crowns.

Overall, Meyer is 103-23 with the best winning percentage (.817) among active major-college coaches with 10 seasons behind them.

Meyer, 46, first resigned as Gators coach a year ago after he was hospitalized following the loss to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. A medical condition was first thought to be related to his heart, but further tests showed he suffered from esophageal spasms, Meyer said. He returned to coach during spring practice after taking a leave of absence.

But the 2010 season proved to be a difficult one for him and for the Gators, who went 4-4 in SEC play, losing to Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Delany: Conferences have made sacrifices for BCS

The commissioner of the Big Ten says his conference has sacrificed for the good of college sports by giving up some access to the Rose Bowl.

Jim Delany was joined by several other commissioners yesterday in Manhattan at the IMG Intercollegiate Athletic Forum. They covered topics ranging from conference alignment to the NCAA to the Bowl Championship Series.

Delany is a hard-line opponent of a major college football playoff. He says many conferences made sacrifices to create a system that could benefit all the leagues.

Delany says: "Now some of the people who’ve received the most have put in the least." He was referring to the five nonautomatic qualifying conferences.

Nebraska suspends DT

Nebraska has suspended starting defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler for the Holiday Bowl because he was ticketed on suspicion of drunken driving.

Police Capt. David Beggs says the 21-year-old Steinkuhler was stopped around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday because he was driving in downtown Lincoln without headlights and he failed to signal a turn. Police say Steinkuhler’s blood-alcohol content measured 0.115 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Steinkuhler has played a key role on Nebraska’s defense this year and started all 13 games. He has 46 tackles and 3 1/2 sacks.