Hasn’t been much talk around here about the Ohio State coaching drama recently, but there is now a report that says Urban Meyer knew a lot more than he let onabout one of his (now former) assistant’s domestic abuse history. What is it with college football coaches lying about stuff? Hell, the last decent coach at Ohio State got fired for lying about much more trivial stuff. On the other extreme, you’ve got Joe Paterno lying about pretty big stuff.
So, will this be Urban’s undoing? Like with most controversies, I’d say ten years ago his job would have been safe. But now? Enabling domestic abuse is pretty universally frowned upon.
Prolly has something to do with college football coaches being paid shitloads of money; like, way more money than coaching a sport should ever be worth. Our military generals don’t make as much as many college football coaches, ffs. IIRC, in 34 states the highest paid public employee is a college football and/or basketball coach.
That’s true, and the pressure to win is huge. Especially at a place like Ohio State. But Urban was lying about a wide receiver coach. Not a star player. Not even a coordinator. This guy was Urban’s mentor’s grandson, so there’s a relationship there. But still, he’s a receiver coach. If Urban would have 'fessed up about knowing something in 2015, he’d be in less hot water. These guys just don’t learn. The truth will come out.
We live in a world of mob justice now. They lie and cover up because there’s absolutely no upside to being transparent here. Having an issue go public after you’ve addressed it professionally internally has almost identical penalties to covering it up but with a 100% chance of blowback, the cover up at least has some chance of success.
I honestly think Urban could have said last week that he knew about the 2015 incident, did whatever he did, admit mistakes were made, and he might have survived this. But the downside of lying is so much greater. If he definitely knew about the 2015 incident, swept it under the rug back then, and then lied about a week ago, he’s toast.
If Urban indeed is toast, I expect they’ll tap Greg Schiano at least as an interim coach. Of course, Schiano has his own controversy and drama, but OSU has backed him up.
He should be. Half the players on his Florida team were arrested for one thing or another during his tenure. One player, a known domestic abuser, texted his “ex”, “Time to die, bitch!” He was suspended for four games.
The sharks were swirling around him then, but he left because of his “heart condition” which, amazingly, completely cleared up when Ohio State offered him their head coaching job.
most OSU fans will want him to stay. That’s because most fans only want a coach fired for one reason - losing. Witness the tantrums PSU fans threw after Paterno was fired for covering up child rape.
Most likely he will “quit” and get a nice payout and get hired by a smaller school in a few years. He could probably go back to a school in the mountain west like Utah where he was for a few years. (and I know Utah is now in the PAC 12 , not the MW )
I’m curious about the specific language added to his contract extension. The cynical me would think that the administration saw this coming, and went into CYA mode to prevent having to pay him off if/when fired.
But I’m not cynical. Not about College Football. Not at all.
And I think we’ll see Mr. Meyer again after a short “retirement” when some desperate school backs up a dump truck full of money to his drive-way. :rolleyes:
With PSU though, fans and alumni had been calling for Paterno to leave way before the cover up allegations surfaced. Paterno was old and it seemed the only thing Paterno cared about was the silly chase with Bobby Bowden.
It’s amazing how the smirky smugness in the Columbus Dispatch sports pages about Penn State and Michigan State scandals has suddenly died away, following the O.S.U. wrestling team doctor revelations and now Urban’s troubles.
The Dispatch is trash, always has been. I stopped reading it over a decade ago. The latest news is OSU has appointed an independent investigation to find out what Urban knew and when he knew it.
He talks about Meyer’s time at Florida and Aaron Hernandez, of course. Then he drops bombshells:
I don’t think Mr. Meyer will have a job at the end of next week; I won’t be surprised if first thing Monday the notice that he’s fired will be made public.
Wow, I haven’t read the sports pages for a few days and now I’m reading that Meyer might be let go from OSU. Had no idea that this was percolating.
But look, Meyer clearly brought controversy with him to Ohio State. I think he was hired before Aaron Hernandez went on a killing spree, but there were already some incidents with players on his Gators squads, including Hernandez.
Meyer cares about winning, and that’s pretty much it. I get that he can’t be held responsible for what individual players do, but he controls how he responds to the incidents. Lying about not having advanced knowledge of these incidents doesn’t change what happened, but it communicates some level of tolerance and countenance.
