The uproar and controversy of Urban Meyer's stunning recruiting coup
at Ohio State settled in and Stefon Diggs, still on the Buckeyes' wish
list, was debating his future.
Diggs, the second-highest rated wide receiver in the country, had
narrowed his list of potential schools to Maryland, Florida and Ohio
State. For more than a week following National Signing Day on Feb. 1,
and before Diggs eventually signed with Maryland, Meyer relentlessly
pursued Diggs.
Multiple sources told Sporting News that Meyer-who won two
national championships in six years at Florida and cemented his legacy
as one of the game's greatest coaches-told the Diggs family that he
wouldn't let his son go to Florida because of significant character
issues in the locker room.
Character issues that we now know were fueled by a culture Meyer
created. Character issues that gutted what was four years earlier the
most powerful program in college football.
It was Meyer who declared the Florida program "broken" at the end of
his last regular season game in Gainesville in November of 2010. But
why was it broken?
"Over the last two years he was there," one former player said, "the players had taken complete control of the team."
Only now, through interviews with multiple sources during a three-month Sporting News
investigation, do we see just how damaged the infrastructure really was
and how much repair work second-year coach Will Muschamp has had to
undertake in replacing Meyer-who has moved on to Ohio State less than a
year after resigning from Florida for health reasons.
Meyer denies allegations that he cast Florida and its players in a
dark light when he spoke to the Diggs family, and said, "I love Florida;
I'll always be a Gator. My motives were pure as gold when I left. We
left Florida because I was dealing with health issues that I've since
learned how to control."
- At Ohio State, Meyer's ability to control players will be watched
But multiple former players and others close to the program say the
timing of his departure was also tied to the roster he left behind.
Remember it was Meyer who hinted the program that won 13 games in 2006,
2008 and 2009-and lost only 10 games from 2005-09-was flawed beyond the
unsuspecting eye.
Now those issues have surfaced for all to see. Left in the wake of
Meyer's resignation were problems that can destroy a coaching career:
drug use among players, a philosophy of preferential treatment for
certain players, a sense of entitlement among all players and roster
management by scholarship manipulation.
The coach who holds himself above the seedy underbelly of the game,
who as an ESPN television analyst in 2011 publicly berated the ills of
college football, left a program mired in the very things he has
criticized.
"The program," former Florida safety Bryan Thomas said, "was out of control."
- Meyer defends time at Florida
Circle game
Ironically, Florida's downfall began at the height of Meyer's
success-the 2008 national championship season. Three seasons of enabling
and pandering to elite players-what Meyer's players called his "Circle
of Trust"-began to tear away at what he'd put together.
"I've never heard of Circle of Trust before in my life," Meyer said.
Former players, though, contend it was the foundation of Florida's
culture under Meyer. In the season opener against Hawaii, Meyer said a
few elite players (including wideout Percy Harvin, linebacker Brandon
Spikes and tight end Aaron Hernandez) would miss the game with injuries.
According to multiple sources, the three players-all critical factors
in Florida's rise under Meyer-failed drug tests for marijuana and were
sitting out as part of standard university punishment.
By publicly stating the three were injured and not being
disciplined, former players say, Meyer was creating a divide between the
haves and have-nots on the team.
"They were running with us on the first team all week in practice,"
one former player said. "The next thing you know, they're on the
sidelines with a (walking) boot for the season opener like they were
injured. Of course players see that and respond to it."
It was Harvin, more than anyone, who epitomized the climate Meyer
created. While former players say Harvin always was treated differently
as a member of Meyer's Circle of Trust, it was the beginning of his
sophomore season-after he helped lead the Gators to the 2006 national
title-that it became blatant. That's also when it began to contribute
negatively toward team chemistry.
During offseason conditioning before the 2007 season, the team was
running stadium steps and at one point, Harvin, according to sources,
sat down and refused to run. When confronted by strength and
conditioning coaches, Harvin-who failed to return calls and texts to his
cell phone to comment on this story-said, "This (expletive) ends now."
"The next day," a former player said, "we were playing basketball as conditioning."
It only got worse as Harvin's career progressed. At one point during
the 2008 season, multiple sources confirmed that Harvin, now a
prominent member of the Minnesota Vikings, physically attacked wide
receivers coach Billy Gonzales, grabbing him by the neck and throwing
him to the ground. Harvin had to be pulled off Gonzales by two assistant
coaches-but was never disciplined.
When asked about the Harvin incident, Gonzales-now offensive
coordinator at Illinois-said, "I think it's a little overblown. I mean,
every great player wants his voice to be heard.
Said Meyer: "Something did happen and something was handled. I don't
think it's fair to Percy Harvin or Billy Gonzales to talk about it."
- 247Sports: Who steps up at Florida with Ronald Powell injured?
Gonzales left Florida for LSU-a lateral move-after the 2009 season,
and did so by placing his keys, cell phone and resignation letter on
Meyer's desk. There were rumors that Gonzales resigned with a Post-it
note on Meyer's desk.
"I never left a Post-it note," Gonzales said. "Urban and I have talked since. He'll do great things at Ohio State."
Urban
Meyer let control of the Florida football program get away, consciously
or not, while he had players including, from left, Brandon Spikes,
Aaron Hernandez, Janoris Jenkins and Percy Harvin. (SN illustration)
That is, unless he hasn't learned from his time at Florida.
Maelstrom in Gainesville
Even as the unprecedented success at Florida continued, a mounting
number of players were dragging the Gators' name down a path of drugs
and destruction. At least 30 players were arrested in Meyer's six
seasons. Instances of substance abuse were often linked to his most
prized athletes. NFL teams took notice.
Hernandez admitted to failing a drug test at Florida, a problem that
cut his draft stock from first-round grade to fourth-round selection by
the New England Patriots. Harvin, according to multiple reports, failed
a drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine and slipped from a top-10 pick
to the latter half of the first round.
Spikes, sources said, failed a drug test at Florida and was suspended
four games during his rookie season with the Patriots for using
performance enhancing drugs. Offensive lineman Maurice Hurt, according
to multiple reports, last year tested positive for marijuana at the
Combine. He fell to the Washington Redskins in the seventh round-and
later developed into a starting guard in his rookie season.
Just how prevalent was the drug use among Meyer's players? A source
told Sporting News that Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke to the
current Florida team this offseason, and addressed the issue and how it
impacts NFL careers.
"His message was, in essence, don't be like those guys," a source said.
But none of those aforementioned drug problems was as prominent as
All-American cornerback Janoris Jenkins', who, like Harvin, former
players say, was protected by Meyer's Circle of Trust. Jenkins failed a
drug test at Florida under Meyer and was arrested for his part in a bar
fight. He was later arrested twice for possession of marijuana within
the first few months Muschamp was on the job.
In fact, in the first month of Muschamp's tenure, three
players-Jenkins, linebacker Chris Martin and defensive end Kedric
Johnson-were arrested in separate incidents for possession of marijuana.
When he was dismissed from the team by Muschamp, Jenkins told the
Orlando Sentinel: "If (Meyer) was still the coach at Florida, I'd still
be there."
This is the same Jenkins who, according to sources, walked out on
Meyer's postgame speech after the 2008 season opener and threatened to
quit. Meyer not only brought Jenkins back without punishment, Jenkins
eventually developed into a freshman All-American and played a big role
in the team's championship run.
Meyer says Jenkins "is a good kid who made a bad mistake," and
contends he was dealing with issues at Florida that occur at "every
program in the country." Every coach, he says, has his own way of
dealing with them.
"I am very proud of our guys that played at Florida," Meyer said.
"Are there issues? Yes there are with 18-22-year-olds. I have been
criticized that I have been too lenient on players; that doesn't concern
me. We are going to go out of our way to mentor, educate and discipline
guys the way we see fit to make sure they're headed in the right
direction. Are we perfect? I never said that. We do the best we can and I
think our record has been really positive in the impact we've made on
those people."
The biggest impact, former players say, was for those in the Circle
of Trust. It wasn't so much a focus on trust as it was a revelation of
talent. If you could play and contribute, you were part of the chosen
few.
"(Meyer) lost the team's respect," Thomas said. "That kind of stuff
spreads through the players. They see what they can get away with, and
they push it. Even the star players; they liked him
because they were in the Circle of Trust. But it backfired on him. They didn't respect him."
Said Meyer: "Was I dealing with entitlement issues? Yes. But they
were great kids. If they weren't, I would've gotten rid of them."
Recruiting and reaction
One way of ridding a program of undesirables is roster management.
Recruiting is the lifeblood of all programs. A direct correlation exists
between winning at recruiting and winning on fall Saturdays.
Few do it better than Meyer. Few are as ruthless when it comes to
recruiting-and when it comes to making room for recruits. Thomas was a
four-star recruit from Zephyrhills, Fla., and had a series of knee
injuries hinder his development.
After the 2008 season, Thomas says he was told he had to "move on" because he wasn't in the team's plans for 2009.
- Ohio State recruits like idea of Meyer as coach
"I told (Meyer) I was on track to graduate, I wasn't a problem and I
did everything I was supposed to do-I just had a knee injury," Thomas
said. "I told them I wasn't leaving, and if they tried to force me to
leave, I was going to tell everyone everything."
The next day, Thomas says he was given a medical hardship letter by
position coach Chuck Heater stating Thomas had an injury that would
prohibit him from playing football. The medical hardship scholarship
doesn't count against the NCAA limit of 85, and allows the affected
player to stay on academic scholarship.
It also made room for another recruit. Meyer denied this tactic of roster management.
- Muschamp adds three to 2012 recruiting class
"As a coach, I don't have any say in the medical decisions," Meyer
said. "If the doctors say a player can't play any longer, he can't
play."
Thomas signed the medical hardship, stayed at Florida for the 2009
season and graduated before transferring to then-Division II North
Alabama. With eligibility remaining, he played in 23 games over the next
two seasons and was an All-Gulf South Conference selection. He recently
worked out for NFL scouts at North Alabama's Pro Day, and was in
Gainesville for Florida's Pro Day.
Thomas may be the only player who will publicly speak out against
Meyer. Many others are fearful of Meyer's ability to hurt their NFL
prospects. Every other player contacted for this story asked to be
unidentified.
"As far as coaching, there's no one else like (Meyer); he's a great
coach," Thomas said. "He gets players to do things you never thought you
could do. But he's a bad person. He'll win at Ohio State. But if he
doesn't change, they're going to have the same problems."
Will Columbus discover trouble?
"Over the last two years he was there the players had taken complete control of the team."[/QUOTE]
Before he walked on the field this spring to coach his first
practice at Ohio State, Meyer ran into two more significant problems.
According to sources, Wisconsin accused Meyer and his staff of using
former Ohio State NFL players to call high school recruits. Wisconsin
also accused Meyer and his staff of bumping into offensive lineman Kyle
Dodson, who was committed to the Badgers but eventually flipped and
signed with the Buckeyes. The practice of "bumping" occurs when coaches
accidentally "bump" into players during recruiting dead periods.
Both the alleged phone calls and bumping are NCAA violations.
When asked about the specific charges, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema declined comment but told Sporting News
a day after National Signing Day that, "I wasn't upset with Urban
because of a gentlemen's agreement. It was something else that I don't
want to get into. I told him what I knew, and he said he would take care
of it and he did."
- No apology from Meyer
Meyer said the alleged incidents happened "before I was hired-in
December, but I can't remember the exact timeline." Meyer was hired at
Ohio State on Nov. 28, 2011.
He said when he heard of the allegations, he asked the coaches
involved and they denied any wrongdoing. Meyer said Ohio State hasn't
self-reported anything to the NCAA regarding those allegations, "because
they're not true."
"Let me make one thing very clear," Meyer said. "There are no issues with Urban Meyer and the NCAA."
Ohio State is serving the first of two years of NCAA probation for
several violations committed under former coach Jim Tressel, including
multiple players receiving impermissible benefits. The football program
could be a repeat violator if charged with an NCAA violation over the
next two years, where additional severe penalties could be handed down.
During the heat of recruiting season, another dust-up arose in
Columbus. It was the "gentlemen's agreement"-a loosely held ideal among
Big Ten coaches about backing off verbally committed high school
players-that got Meyer into a dicey moment.
- David Whitley: Big Ten has more integrity than SEC
Meyer and his staff got eight players to back off verbal commitments
and sign with the Buckeyes, and a few Big Ten coaches-including Bielema
and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio-spoke about the understanding
among league coaches at press conferences.
A few days later, during a speech to the state of Ohio's high school
coaches clinic, Meyer scoffed at the notion of the "gentlemen's
agreement" proclaiming, "You're pissed because we went after a committed
guy? Guess what? We got nine (coaches) who better go do it again. Do it
a little harder next time."
But less than two weeks earlier, sources say Ohio State running
backs coach Stan Drayton called a Florida assistant coach to discuss the
recruitment of Lakeland, Fla., wideout Ricquan Southward, who was
committed to Ohio State but was still being recruited by Florida.
Drayton, sources say,
told Gators wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill that Meyer and Muschamp
had a "gentlemen's agreement" about committed players-and that Hill
should back off recruiting Southward.
Southward eventually signed with Ohio State.
"I did not tell Stan Drayton that we had a gentleman's agreement
with Will," Meyer said. "Now, I don't know what Stan said to (Hill) in
their conversation."
Hill declined comment. Muschamp also declined and said: "I'm
focusing on our team getting better-not anyone or anything else."
It's a still fragile program demanding no less.
Coming off the bottom
By the end of Muschamp's first season, Florida failed to have a
first-team All-SEC selection for the first time in 40 years. For the
first time since 2004, Florida failed to have an underclassman in the
NFL Draft. The Gators had only two players at the NFL Combine, the
lowest number since the event moved to Indianapolis in 1985. Fifteen
true freshmen-players Muschamp recruited-played for the Gators in 2011.
By the time Florida beat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl (while Meyer
was recruiting for the Buckeyes), Muschamp's weeding out process of
players who wouldn't buy into his philosophy had whittled the roster to
72 scholarship players-13 under the NCAA limit.
The 6-6 regular season record was Florida's worst since 1987. The "broken" program-Meyer's words-had hit rock bottom.
"To put it all on a sense of entitlement or a few other things that
happened, I disagree," Meyer said. "It comes down to players."
When asked how such a dysfunctional team won the national title in
2008, one former player said, "We had better players than everyone else.
It's that's simple. We had (Tim) Tebow. We played without our next-best
player (Harvin), who was injured for the SEC (Championship Game), and
still beat an Alabama team that would've beaten Oklahoma, too."
Meyer points to the loss of five juniors to the NFL after the 2009
season as the reason for Florida's regression in 2010. There was also a
new quarterback, a factor contributing to the loss of five games. While
he says he left Florida with talent-the Gators had a top-10 defense in
2011-last year's team also struggled to overcome quarterback injuries,
among other problems.
Florida last month began Year 2 under Muschamp. Spring practice
featured several young players battling for starting spots and a
high-profile quarterback competition between sophomores Jeff Driskel and
Jacoby Brissett.
Meyer, having replaced the ousted and beloved Tressel a year after
Luke Fickell served as interim, began his first spring in Columbus
trying to install a new offense, and getting players "to do the right
things and be good people on and off the field-like I have done
everywhere I have coached." Both coaches are rebuilding while dealing
with significant baggage.
Only one is connected to both.
Muschamp declined to be interviewed for this story, but in an
interview with Sporting News last month he hinted that things aren't
always what they seem.
"This team is 15-11 over the last two years," Muschamp said. "I
always look at the difference between reality and perception. Sometimes
perception isn't always what reality is."
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-04-09/urban-meyer-florida-ohio-state-ncaa-violation-recruiting-drugs-program-will-musc
at Ohio State settled in and Stefon Diggs, still on the Buckeyes' wish
list, was debating his future.
Diggs, the second-highest rated wide receiver in the country, had
narrowed his list of potential schools to Maryland, Florida and Ohio
State. For more than a week following National Signing Day on Feb. 1,
and before Diggs eventually signed with Maryland, Meyer relentlessly
pursued Diggs.
Multiple sources told Sporting News that Meyer-who won two
national championships in six years at Florida and cemented his legacy
as one of the game's greatest coaches-told the Diggs family that he
wouldn't let his son go to Florida because of significant character
issues in the locker room.
Character issues that we now know were fueled by a culture Meyer
created. Character issues that gutted what was four years earlier the
most powerful program in college football.
It was Meyer who declared the Florida program "broken" at the end of
his last regular season game in Gainesville in November of 2010. But
why was it broken?
"Over the last two years he was there," one former player said, "the players had taken complete control of the team."
Only now, through interviews with multiple sources during a three-month Sporting News
investigation, do we see just how damaged the infrastructure really was
and how much repair work second-year coach Will Muschamp has had to
undertake in replacing Meyer-who has moved on to Ohio State less than a
year after resigning from Florida for health reasons.
Meyer denies allegations that he cast Florida and its players in a
dark light when he spoke to the Diggs family, and said, "I love Florida;
I'll always be a Gator. My motives were pure as gold when I left. We
left Florida because I was dealing with health issues that I've since
learned how to control."
- At Ohio State, Meyer's ability to control players will be watched
But multiple former players and others close to the program say the
timing of his departure was also tied to the roster he left behind.
Remember it was Meyer who hinted the program that won 13 games in 2006,
2008 and 2009-and lost only 10 games from 2005-09-was flawed beyond the
unsuspecting eye.
Now those issues have surfaced for all to see. Left in the wake of
Meyer's resignation were problems that can destroy a coaching career:
drug use among players, a philosophy of preferential treatment for
certain players, a sense of entitlement among all players and roster
management by scholarship manipulation.
The coach who holds himself above the seedy underbelly of the game,
who as an ESPN television analyst in 2011 publicly berated the ills of
college football, left a program mired in the very things he has
criticized.
"The program," former Florida safety Bryan Thomas said, "was out of control."
- Meyer defends time at Florida
Circle game
Ironically, Florida's downfall began at the height of Meyer's
success-the 2008 national championship season. Three seasons of enabling
and pandering to elite players-what Meyer's players called his "Circle
of Trust"-began to tear away at what he'd put together.
"I've never heard of Circle of Trust before in my life," Meyer said.
Former players, though, contend it was the foundation of Florida's
culture under Meyer. In the season opener against Hawaii, Meyer said a
few elite players (including wideout Percy Harvin, linebacker Brandon
Spikes and tight end Aaron Hernandez) would miss the game with injuries.
According to multiple sources, the three players-all critical factors
in Florida's rise under Meyer-failed drug tests for marijuana and were
sitting out as part of standard university punishment.
By publicly stating the three were injured and not being
disciplined, former players say, Meyer was creating a divide between the
haves and have-nots on the team.
"They were running with us on the first team all week in practice,"
one former player said. "The next thing you know, they're on the
sidelines with a (walking) boot for the season opener like they were
injured. Of course players see that and respond to it."
It was Harvin, more than anyone, who epitomized the climate Meyer
created. While former players say Harvin always was treated differently
as a member of Meyer's Circle of Trust, it was the beginning of his
sophomore season-after he helped lead the Gators to the 2006 national
title-that it became blatant. That's also when it began to contribute
negatively toward team chemistry.
During offseason conditioning before the 2007 season, the team was
running stadium steps and at one point, Harvin, according to sources,
sat down and refused to run. When confronted by strength and
conditioning coaches, Harvin-who failed to return calls and texts to his
cell phone to comment on this story-said, "This (expletive) ends now."
"The next day," a former player said, "we were playing basketball as conditioning."
It only got worse as Harvin's career progressed. At one point during
the 2008 season, multiple sources confirmed that Harvin, now a
prominent member of the Minnesota Vikings, physically attacked wide
receivers coach Billy Gonzales, grabbing him by the neck and throwing
him to the ground. Harvin had to be pulled off Gonzales by two assistant
coaches-but was never disciplined.
When asked about the Harvin incident, Gonzales-now offensive
coordinator at Illinois-said, "I think it's a little overblown. I mean,
every great player wants his voice to be heard.
Said Meyer: "Something did happen and something was handled. I don't
think it's fair to Percy Harvin or Billy Gonzales to talk about it."
- 247Sports: Who steps up at Florida with Ronald Powell injured?
Gonzales left Florida for LSU-a lateral move-after the 2009 season,
and did so by placing his keys, cell phone and resignation letter on
Meyer's desk. There were rumors that Gonzales resigned with a Post-it
note on Meyer's desk.
"I never left a Post-it note," Gonzales said. "Urban and I have talked since. He'll do great things at Ohio State."
Meyer let control of the Florida football program get away, consciously
or not, while he had players including, from left, Brandon Spikes,
Aaron Hernandez, Janoris Jenkins and Percy Harvin. (SN illustration)
That is, unless he hasn't learned from his time at Florida.
Maelstrom in Gainesville
Even as the unprecedented success at Florida continued, a mounting
number of players were dragging the Gators' name down a path of drugs
and destruction. At least 30 players were arrested in Meyer's six
seasons. Instances of substance abuse were often linked to his most
prized athletes. NFL teams took notice.
Hernandez admitted to failing a drug test at Florida, a problem that
cut his draft stock from first-round grade to fourth-round selection by
the New England Patriots. Harvin, according to multiple reports, failed
a drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine and slipped from a top-10 pick
to the latter half of the first round.
Spikes, sources said, failed a drug test at Florida and was suspended
four games during his rookie season with the Patriots for using
performance enhancing drugs. Offensive lineman Maurice Hurt, according
to multiple reports, last year tested positive for marijuana at the
Combine. He fell to the Washington Redskins in the seventh round-and
later developed into a starting guard in his rookie season.
Just how prevalent was the drug use among Meyer's players? A source
told Sporting News that Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke to the
current Florida team this offseason, and addressed the issue and how it
impacts NFL careers.
"His message was, in essence, don't be like those guys," a source said.
But none of those aforementioned drug problems was as prominent as
All-American cornerback Janoris Jenkins', who, like Harvin, former
players say, was protected by Meyer's Circle of Trust. Jenkins failed a
drug test at Florida under Meyer and was arrested for his part in a bar
fight. He was later arrested twice for possession of marijuana within
the first few months Muschamp was on the job.
In fact, in the first month of Muschamp's tenure, three
players-Jenkins, linebacker Chris Martin and defensive end Kedric
Johnson-were arrested in separate incidents for possession of marijuana.
When he was dismissed from the team by Muschamp, Jenkins told the
Orlando Sentinel: "If (Meyer) was still the coach at Florida, I'd still
be there."
This is the same Jenkins who, according to sources, walked out on
Meyer's postgame speech after the 2008 season opener and threatened to
quit. Meyer not only brought Jenkins back without punishment, Jenkins
eventually developed into a freshman All-American and played a big role
in the team's championship run.
Meyer says Jenkins "is a good kid who made a bad mistake," and
contends he was dealing with issues at Florida that occur at "every
program in the country." Every coach, he says, has his own way of
dealing with them.
"I am very proud of our guys that played at Florida," Meyer said.
"Are there issues? Yes there are with 18-22-year-olds. I have been
criticized that I have been too lenient on players; that doesn't concern
me. We are going to go out of our way to mentor, educate and discipline
guys the way we see fit to make sure they're headed in the right
direction. Are we perfect? I never said that. We do the best we can and I
think our record has been really positive in the impact we've made on
those people."
The biggest impact, former players say, was for those in the Circle
of Trust. It wasn't so much a focus on trust as it was a revelation of
talent. If you could play and contribute, you were part of the chosen
few.
"(Meyer) lost the team's respect," Thomas said. "That kind of stuff
spreads through the players. They see what they can get away with, and
they push it. Even the star players; they liked him
because they were in the Circle of Trust. But it backfired on him. They didn't respect him."
Said Meyer: "Was I dealing with entitlement issues? Yes. But they
were great kids. If they weren't, I would've gotten rid of them."
Recruiting and reaction
One way of ridding a program of undesirables is roster management.
Recruiting is the lifeblood of all programs. A direct correlation exists
between winning at recruiting and winning on fall Saturdays.
Few do it better than Meyer. Few are as ruthless when it comes to
recruiting-and when it comes to making room for recruits. Thomas was a
four-star recruit from Zephyrhills, Fla., and had a series of knee
injuries hinder his development.
After the 2008 season, Thomas says he was told he had to "move on" because he wasn't in the team's plans for 2009.
- Ohio State recruits like idea of Meyer as coach
"I told (Meyer) I was on track to graduate, I wasn't a problem and I
did everything I was supposed to do-I just had a knee injury," Thomas
said. "I told them I wasn't leaving, and if they tried to force me to
leave, I was going to tell everyone everything."
The next day, Thomas says he was given a medical hardship letter by
position coach Chuck Heater stating Thomas had an injury that would
prohibit him from playing football. The medical hardship scholarship
doesn't count against the NCAA limit of 85, and allows the affected
player to stay on academic scholarship.
It also made room for another recruit. Meyer denied this tactic of roster management.
- Muschamp adds three to 2012 recruiting class
"As a coach, I don't have any say in the medical decisions," Meyer
said. "If the doctors say a player can't play any longer, he can't
play."
Thomas signed the medical hardship, stayed at Florida for the 2009
season and graduated before transferring to then-Division II North
Alabama. With eligibility remaining, he played in 23 games over the next
two seasons and was an All-Gulf South Conference selection. He recently
worked out for NFL scouts at North Alabama's Pro Day, and was in
Gainesville for Florida's Pro Day.
Thomas may be the only player who will publicly speak out against
Meyer. Many others are fearful of Meyer's ability to hurt their NFL
prospects. Every other player contacted for this story asked to be
unidentified.
"As far as coaching, there's no one else like (Meyer); he's a great
coach," Thomas said. "He gets players to do things you never thought you
could do. But he's a bad person. He'll win at Ohio State. But if he
doesn't change, they're going to have the same problems."
Will Columbus discover trouble?
"Over the last two years he was there the players had taken complete control of the team."[/QUOTE]
Before he walked on the field this spring to coach his first
practice at Ohio State, Meyer ran into two more significant problems.
According to sources, Wisconsin accused Meyer and his staff of using
former Ohio State NFL players to call high school recruits. Wisconsin
also accused Meyer and his staff of bumping into offensive lineman Kyle
Dodson, who was committed to the Badgers but eventually flipped and
signed with the Buckeyes. The practice of "bumping" occurs when coaches
accidentally "bump" into players during recruiting dead periods.
Both the alleged phone calls and bumping are NCAA violations.
When asked about the specific charges, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema declined comment but told Sporting News
a day after National Signing Day that, "I wasn't upset with Urban
because of a gentlemen's agreement. It was something else that I don't
want to get into. I told him what I knew, and he said he would take care
of it and he did."
- No apology from Meyer
Meyer said the alleged incidents happened "before I was hired-in
December, but I can't remember the exact timeline." Meyer was hired at
Ohio State on Nov. 28, 2011.
He said when he heard of the allegations, he asked the coaches
involved and they denied any wrongdoing. Meyer said Ohio State hasn't
self-reported anything to the NCAA regarding those allegations, "because
they're not true."
"Let me make one thing very clear," Meyer said. "There are no issues with Urban Meyer and the NCAA."
Ohio State is serving the first of two years of NCAA probation for
several violations committed under former coach Jim Tressel, including
multiple players receiving impermissible benefits. The football program
could be a repeat violator if charged with an NCAA violation over the
next two years, where additional severe penalties could be handed down.
During the heat of recruiting season, another dust-up arose in
Columbus. It was the "gentlemen's agreement"-a loosely held ideal among
Big Ten coaches about backing off verbally committed high school
players-that got Meyer into a dicey moment.
- David Whitley: Big Ten has more integrity than SEC
Meyer and his staff got eight players to back off verbal commitments
and sign with the Buckeyes, and a few Big Ten coaches-including Bielema
and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio-spoke about the understanding
among league coaches at press conferences.
A few days later, during a speech to the state of Ohio's high school
coaches clinic, Meyer scoffed at the notion of the "gentlemen's
agreement" proclaiming, "You're pissed because we went after a committed
guy? Guess what? We got nine (coaches) who better go do it again. Do it
a little harder next time."
But less than two weeks earlier, sources say Ohio State running
backs coach Stan Drayton called a Florida assistant coach to discuss the
recruitment of Lakeland, Fla., wideout Ricquan Southward, who was
committed to Ohio State but was still being recruited by Florida.
Drayton, sources say,
told Gators wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill that Meyer and Muschamp
had a "gentlemen's agreement" about committed players-and that Hill
should back off recruiting Southward.
Southward eventually signed with Ohio State.
"I did not tell Stan Drayton that we had a gentleman's agreement
with Will," Meyer said. "Now, I don't know what Stan said to (Hill) in
their conversation."
Hill declined comment. Muschamp also declined and said: "I'm
focusing on our team getting better-not anyone or anything else."
It's a still fragile program demanding no less.
Coming off the bottom
By the end of Muschamp's first season, Florida failed to have a
first-team All-SEC selection for the first time in 40 years. For the
first time since 2004, Florida failed to have an underclassman in the
NFL Draft. The Gators had only two players at the NFL Combine, the
lowest number since the event moved to Indianapolis in 1985. Fifteen
true freshmen-players Muschamp recruited-played for the Gators in 2011.
By the time Florida beat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl (while Meyer
was recruiting for the Buckeyes), Muschamp's weeding out process of
players who wouldn't buy into his philosophy had whittled the roster to
72 scholarship players-13 under the NCAA limit.
The 6-6 regular season record was Florida's worst since 1987. The "broken" program-Meyer's words-had hit rock bottom.
"To put it all on a sense of entitlement or a few other things that
happened, I disagree," Meyer said. "It comes down to players."
When asked how such a dysfunctional team won the national title in
2008, one former player said, "We had better players than everyone else.
It's that's simple. We had (Tim) Tebow. We played without our next-best
player (Harvin), who was injured for the SEC (Championship Game), and
still beat an Alabama team that would've beaten Oklahoma, too."
Meyer points to the loss of five juniors to the NFL after the 2009
season as the reason for Florida's regression in 2010. There was also a
new quarterback, a factor contributing to the loss of five games. While
he says he left Florida with talent-the Gators had a top-10 defense in
2011-last year's team also struggled to overcome quarterback injuries,
among other problems.
Florida last month began Year 2 under Muschamp. Spring practice
featured several young players battling for starting spots and a
high-profile quarterback competition between sophomores Jeff Driskel and
Jacoby Brissett.
Meyer, having replaced the ousted and beloved Tressel a year after
Luke Fickell served as interim, began his first spring in Columbus
trying to install a new offense, and getting players "to do the right
things and be good people on and off the field-like I have done
everywhere I have coached." Both coaches are rebuilding while dealing
with significant baggage.
Only one is connected to both.
Muschamp declined to be interviewed for this story, but in an
interview with Sporting News last month he hinted that things aren't
always what they seem.
"This team is 15-11 over the last two years," Muschamp said. "I
always look at the difference between reality and perception. Sometimes
perception isn't always what reality is."
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-04-09/urban-meyer-florida-ohio-state-ncaa-violation-recruiting-drugs-program-will-musc
