As you no doubt may have heard, Florida’s football program’s had a few legal “entanglements” — 27? 28? — during Urban Meyer‘s time in Gainesville. To their “credit”, though, not so much in the past couple of hours months.
Perhaps still mindful of the embarrassment brought on the program and the school by the spate of arrests, and according to the Miami Herald, Meyer brought the verbal lumber to his players yesterday in a post-practice talk that was very much one-sided.
“No stealing! No drugs! No weapons!” Meyer emphasized to his Gators. He went on to remind his team that the program has a drug policy. If a player tests positive for marijuana, then that player will be punished by missing games.”
Bravo, coach, bravo.
It takes a real man of genius to stand up against the evils of theft, narcotics and weaponry. Again, bravo.
I think he meant to say
“Unless you’re Percy Harvin we have a policy, if a player tests positive for marijuana, then that player will be punished by missing games.”
Games could also be changed to a half or a couple plays.
Well, if that’s the case……then Florida no longer has a football program!!
No stealing, drugs or weapons? Jeez coach, I’ve gotta do something with my tuesday nights.
Sooooo, eye gauging and passing out drunk behind the wheel are still OK? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Every team has these problems, but because Florida has won two National Championships in the last few years, everyone put them under a microscope.
The Lord:
Of course they are. When you’re one of the top teams in college football and are on TV all the time, these things tend to gain attention. Do you think we’d give a damn if the #200-ranked golfer was the one who had become the Playboy of the Western World, instead of Tiger Woods? And I didn’t hear any complaints from Florida fans when the microscope was on Tim “The Second Coming” Tebow and Urban “John the Baptist Redux” Meyer. Adulation is one side of the coin; scrutiny is the other.
The Lord’s right: every team has the occassional “player threatening girlfriend with an assault rifle” incident. Just part of the game. Why, just look at those nice young boys from “The Longest Yard”.
Good to see he is doing this after years of allowing these types of things almost nightly
Takes a real man to do it after years and years of not caring
@DCroz …
Perfect answer … and I’m glad you gave it because I refuse to address any idiot who’s arrogant and disrespectful enough to give himself that user name. What would Tebow say?
Good for Urban … better late than never.
Just curious: Does anyone know if alcohol was involved in the incident of the guy with the assault rifle and the girlfriend? I’d say there’s probably a good chance he was drinking and a very small chance that he was smoking pot. I don’t do either and don’t recommend either. But of the two, I’m a lot more concerned about alcohol abuse than marijuana use. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t agree.
As long as you have fans like DCroz and The Lord making excuses for that type of behavior, it’s just going to continue. Plenty of other teams are under the microscope, yet don’t have the issues that have occurred under Meyer’s tenure.
Gator fans follow Meyer with a blind faith that I don’t think I’ve seen before. Nobody will second guess the guy- he is beyond reproach in the eyes of Gator fans. He could kill babies and the Florida fans would support him
Frank:
Read what I said again. Where did I say anything about excusing any type of behavior? If you’re confused about my “Of course they are,” it was a direct continuation of The Lord’s assertion that Florida is put under a microscope because they’ve won two national titles recently, not a comparison of the incidents in Gainesville to those anywhere else, let alone any kind of endorsement of them.
And as readers for the past several months all know, I’m a ‘Bama fan, and we get our share of scrutiny, too. Our recent run-in with the NCAA over the textbook scandal was printed and reported everywhere because of the position we currently hold; if we were Podunk U., not even SportsCenter on a slow day would report it. Again, that is the double-edged sword of fame and success, and you’ve got to take one with the other.
Or, as Oscar Wilde once put it, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
@frank booth …
What did I miss? I thought DCroz was saying big, successful programs get more scrutiny–which is true. And fans shouldn’t complain when the media criticizes a successful team’s screwups if they don’t complain when the media praises the team’s good boys. Like you, I’ve never seen the kind of near religious obsession directed toward a coach that some Gator fans show for Meyer. But at least in that comment, DCroz seemed more balanced than most.
Frank, I’ve only been reading CFT a few months and honestly haven’t followed the Gators’ off-field issues that closely. Do they have significantly higher arrest rates than other teams? And do you really believe Meyer bears responsibility for the players’ off-field behavior? Why? Does he have sole discretion regarding suspensions? Aren’t there any mandatory rules regarding criminal behavior dictated by the SEC or NCAA? I’m more familiar with the way these things are handled in the NFL.
DCroz-
My mistake. I don’t know why I tied the two of you together.
@DCroz …
Eeeeeek!!! Frank had me so confused, I forgot you were a Bama fan. I am sorry!! No wonder your comment sounded so intelligent
Roll Tide!!!!!
Every team has these problems, but they don’t seem to be to the extent that Florida’s are. Of course they are magnified due to the size of the microscope on the program, so everyone knows about every problem. Compare them to your favorite program, the one which you know every problem about, and see who has more. I think Florida always wins that game, too.
You guys are right. Florida has the only college athletes in the country who do anything bad whatsoever. No other college students go out and get drunk and do drugs. You all are ridiculous.
Anyone put a team up on this thread that’s finished in the top 7 three of the last five years, and I will go on google and list similar arrest records for its players. Standards of behavior are a lot different in the areas where a lot of these guys come from. The coach is just trying to win as much as possible while keeping the number of maimings/assaults/thefts within reason. Of course, more wins begets more leeway. Winnin’ games is Urban’s business. And cousin, business is a-boomin!
Florida doesn’t have the only athletes that engage in crappy behavior- they just seem to have more of them.
What really highlights it, however, is the way that Florida handles it and the way that Urban Meyer is put on a pedestal as all of this crap goes on. Urban can’t control all of these guys off of the field, but he bears some responsibility in the recruiting of people with character issues. I hear the Florida fans referring to the Gators as a “family”, and Urban as their “father”. Hell, he can’t even be a father to his own three kids let alone an entire football team.
Frank, if you hate the Gators and Urban Meyer sooooo much why are you even reading the article?
rdbucfan says:
April 9, 2010 2:50 PM ET
Frank, if you hate the Gators and Urban Meyer sooooo much why are you even reading the article?
===================================
Let’s follow the same logic here-
If you don’t like my posts, why are you even reading them?
People read about things they don’t like all of the time, especially in the news. I don’t like murder or bank robbery, but I read articles about it. My guess is that a lot of conservatives read stuff about Obama, and that a lot of liberals would read things about Bush.
So I’ll continue to read articles about the Gators and Urban Meyer, Notre Dame, the New York Yankees, the Minnesota Vikings , women’s back hair, clogged sinks, cockroaches, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other things that I don’t like. You may now go back to pressing wild flowers and reading about all things nice.
Does that mean all of their recruits will have to go to Miami instead?
So, Frank, you think he knows some of these guys are trouble when he recruits them but he doesn’t care? Like Florida is the modern equivalent of The U?
Internal disciplinary problems are one thing. But there should be guidelines from the NCAA on how to handle player arrests, etc. Coaches should have the discretion to go beyond the minimum punishment, but there should be a mandatory minimum.
Deb-
I think that he knows that some of these guys are trouble when he recruits them. He has a big ego as well- I would bet that he thinks he can tame them. I don’t know if Florida is really as out of control as the “U” was. There are a lot of other coaches out there that will trade off the criminal element for talent- Meyer is just one, but an awful lot seems to happen around his program, but his followers will blindly condone it unless he starts to lose games.
“win as much as possible while keeping the number of maimings/assaults/thefts within reason”
Wow. I think you just summed up the problem pretty succinctly.
Sooooo, eye gouging and passing out drunk behind the wheel are still OK? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
———
Was thinking the same thing.
@Frank …
That part about Urban seeing himself as the Master Tamer … oh I buy that. I can definitely buy that.
OH BUT I THOUGHT OREGON WAS SOOOOO BAD, AND THE ONNNLY SCHOOL WHO RECRUITED THUGS.
YOU GUYS ARE ALL IDIOTS. EVERY SCHOOL RECRUITS THE SAME PLAYERS, AND WEATHER OR NOT THEY DO STUPID SHIT IS ON THEM. BUT I WOULD NEVER LET MY DUCKS HAVE A MOTTO LIKE THAT, OR DISGRACEFUL PROGRAM. YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT NCAA SANCTIONS AND ALL THAT LOOK AT FLORIDA AND OHIO STATE.
HEY URBAN IF A GUY FAILS A DRUG TEST 6-7 TIMES, I THINK ITS ON YOU TO GET HIM THE HELP HE NEEDS TO CRACK THE HABIT. NOT LET HIM PLAY IN ALL OF YOUR GAMES … WHATS THAT SAYING TO ALL YOUR OTHER PLAYERS ?