One of the many side stories of the Aaron Hernandez situation is where his former coach, Urban Meyer, fits when it comes to doling out blame.
While it’s beyond a stretch to point the finger at Meyer for what happened to Odin Lloyd, a New York Times piece published earlier this month brought up the 31 players arrested from 2005-10 while Meyer was the head coach at Florida. Some arrests were for generally harmless like under-age drinking, but others reportedly included crimes like domestic violence and burglary.
It certainly continued to raise questions about how Meyer ran his program at UF, and now its become an even more scrutinized topic for current coaches.
Asked at SEC Media Days about a coach’s responsibility for off-the-field behavior -- the reporter clearly implying the Hernandez story -- current Gators coach Will Muschamp said coaches are “100 percent” responsible for their players.
While Muschamp admitted he can’t know every single thing about every player all the time, he added that he and his assistants “can’t stick their heads in the sand and act like nothing is happening’ regarding athletes.”
That may be coachspeak, or it may be from the heart, but Muschamp will be placed side by side with that philosophy when he deals with problems down the road.