NEW ORLEANS — It took an emotional team meeting, a sleepless night and about an hour of practice for football coach Urban Meyer to change his mind about resigning at Florida.

With his health and his family still major concerns, Meyer withdrew his resignation yesterday and decided instead to take an indefinite leave of absence. He will coach the fifth-ranked Gators in the Sugar Bowl against No. 4 Cincinnati on Saturday, then take some time off in hopes of alleviating recurring chest pains.

Meyer's announcement capped a wild and weird two days for Florida. He stunned college football twice in a 20-hour span, first by saying he planned to walk away from coaching and then by revealing he expects to be back on the sideline next season.

"I do in my gut believe that will happen," Meyer said yesterday.

Flanked by athletic director Jeremy Foley and quarterback Tim Tebow, the 45-year-old Meyer stoically responded to repeated questions about his health, his heart and his head. With his wife and three children seated a few feet in front of him, Meyer declined to reveal much detail about his condition.

He acknowledged the possibility he might need a procedure to alleviate chest pains that started four years ago, but would not say if he had a heart condition. He insisted he didn't have a heart attack and refused to say whether doctors told him he needed to step away.

"I'd rather not get into that," he said.

This much he made clear: His players prompted the about-face.

First, he witnessed their tearful reaction to his resignation Saturday evening. Then he spent a few hours with them on the practice field yesterday morning.

"It's very simple," Meyer said. "The love that I have for these players, I think that's well documented. Maybe one of the issues that I deal with is that I care so deeply about each individual. ... We've had a heck of a run, a run that we're very proud of. And when I sat back and watched those young guys go at it today and our coaching staff and the program we've built, to not try would be not the right thing to do."

So Meyer called Foley from the practice field and told him he wanted to talk about taking a leave of absence — something school president Bernie Machen first mentioned earlier in the week.

Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio will run the team during Meyer's absence.

Meyer told Sports Illustrated last month that he suffered from persistent headaches caused by an arachnoid cyst that becomes inflamed by stress, rage and excitement. His chest pains became public after the Southeastern Conference championship game three weeks ago. Meyer fainted getting out of bed and was rushed to the hospital for several hours of tests.

"It's something that started about four years ago," Meyer said. "It was chest pains that became rather significant two years ago. Whether it's stress related ... I started to become very alarmed with that."

How will he handle being away from football?

"We're going to find out," said Meyer's wife, Shelley. "We've just got to see how he handles his leisure time. I've never seen him handle leisure time. That's like an oxymoron."