Urban Meyer delivered a passionate rant on the corrupt culture of college athletics
By Cody McClure
Published:
Former Florida and current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke about the massive scandal rocking college basketball on his weekly radio show Thursday evening.
“I have plenty of thoughts and opinions, very strong ones,” Meyer said, according to a report from The Columbus Dispatch.
While he was reluctant to share those opinions at first, he eventually said what was on his mind:
“I’ve always been a big proponent of the NCAA. It’s very frustrating to see that things happen and things happen and things happen — some of a very serious nature — and it just disappears because they don’t have subpoena power. You hear the term ‘toothless.’ It’s certainly not because of effort, because we have very good people there.
“I always believed if you willfully and intentionally broke the rule or you lie to the NCAA, you can never coach again. To this day, I still believe that. I’m not talking about mistakes made when you have a rulebook like this (thick). But if you intentionally pay a guy money or willfully have a second cell phone to make illegal phone calls, you’re done. You can never coach again.
“It’s no different than a student-athlete. If a student-athlete lies to the NCAA, they’re finished. So you’re telling me a 50-year-old man has more rights than an 18-year-old student-athlete? Who comes up with that? If you intentionally lie about committing violations, your career is over. You’re not suspended for (only) two games. Some of the silly penalties you have — you can’t talk to a recruit for a week and a half or something like that — no. You’re finished. That will clean up some things.
“I’m in favor of regulation. I’m in favor of strong law enforcement and making people obey the rules in our profession. I don’t know the whole story behind it. I don’t have time. But I know one thing, when you start hearing “federal,” when someone asks you a question and you lie, you’re going to jail. I’m anxious to watch what happens.”
Meyer added that coaches who use burner phones to evade regulations should be banned, the report said. Meyer noted he read a story about the possible prison time those involved in the scandal might face.
“I read one article where you’re eating through a slit (in the cell),” he said.
It’s clear that Meyer is frustrated with the current landscape, and as a man who claims to be all for law and order, he’ll certainly be keeping and eye on how all of this turns out.
Cody McClure is an SEC Football Writer for Saturday Down South. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he also co-hosts a midday sports radio show for FOX Sports. Cody previously worked for Athlon Sports.
