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.