Winning. It really does cure just about everything, doesn’t it? Win and people rarely focus on the ‘why’ or ‘how’. It’s all about the result and euphoric state that comes from victory.
Think about it on a smaller scale. One’s team can play poorly for fifty-nine minutes, but should they kick a game-winning field goal in the final minute, all is forgiven. Conversely, a stellar performance can be shattered by an opponent’s miracle at the final whistle and the effort is lost when a team didn’t prevail.
Winning conveniently kills the process, putting all the focus on result. Of course, there’s a flip side. What happens when winning ways subside and losing creeps in? Just ask Urban Meyer.
The former head coach at Florida and current leader at Ohio State is finally under fire – and deservedly so. Meyer got a free pass during his reign in Gainesville. Two national championships and a do-nothing-wrong, all-everything Heisman trophy winning quarterback helped gloss over any off-the-field drama.
Florida amassed a 48-7 record between 2006 and 2009 – but racked up almost three dozen arrests in the process. Still, the story out of Gator Town was always the grit, faith, heart, determination and leadership of Tim Tebow. One man’s good and ability to win was enough to mask a train wreck, both off-the-field and in the locker room.
Meyer, who was a Teflon Don as a winner, was finally nailed this week when Matt Hayes and the Sporting News released a piece that chronicled the Meyer Era at Florida.
Hayes’ piece was the result of a three-month investigation that told the story of the Meyer that anti-Gator fans always believed to be truth. An integrity-less coach that played favorites and put winning above everything else.
A truth that Florida faithful buy into now that Meyer is at Ohio State and the same truth that Utah fans felt when Meyer abandoned their program, bolting for Gainesville. Buckeyes are currently blinded by the light, but give it time. Meyer will break their heart and do them dirty and they too will eventually join the camp of spurned lovers.
Some of the Meyer-themed highlight and lowlights from Hayes’ piece:
– The recruitment of Stefon Diggs, who signed with Maryland over Ohio State and Florida. Meyer relentlessly pursued the highly-touted wide receiver, going as far as telling the Diggs family that he “wouldn’t let” their son go to Florida due to significant character issues in the locker room … issues that obviously happened on Meyer’s watch.
– Meyer deemed the Florida program “broken” at the end of his last regular season game in November 2010, yet took no responsibility for the damage done. Said one former player, “Over the last two years he was there the players had taken complete control of the team.”
– Multiple former players and people close to the Florida program have stated that the timing of Meyer’s departure was tied to the roster he left behind. Meyer also stated the program was flawed beyond the suspecting eye. Those issues; drug use among players, preferential treatment for star players, a sense of entitlement among all players and roster management by scholarship manipulation.
– Former players refer to Meyer has having a “Circle Of Trust”, calling it the foundation of UF’s culture on his watch. In the 2008 season opener against Hawai’i, three stars were said to be out due to injury — Percy Harvin, Brandon Spikes and Aaron Hernandez — when in reality, all sat due to failed drug tests as part of the university’s standard punishment for said offense. By publicly stating that all three were injured, Meyer was “creating a divide between the haves and have-nots on the team,” according to Hayes.
– About the Harvin, Spikes and Hernandez suspension, a former player stated, “They were running with us on the first team all week in practice. 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.”
– Former players state that the preferential treatment of Harvin was the epitome of the “Circle Of Trust” issue. During off-season conditioning before the 2007 season (after Harvin helped lead the Gators to the 2006 national title), the team was running stadium steps and and at one point, according to sources, Harvin sat down and refused to run. When confronted by strength and conditioning coaches, Harvin said, “This s**t ends now.”
“The next day,” a former player said, “we were playing basketball as conditioning.”
The following year, multiple sources confirmed that Harvin physically attacked wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him to the ground. Harvin was pulled off by two assistants but was never disciplined.
– Regarding the culture of drug abuse at Florida and failed drug tests that have found their way into the NFL with Florida alum, New England head coach Bill Belichick spoke to the current Gators squad this off season and according to a source, “His message, in essence, don’t be like those guys.”
– The spillover from the Meyer era to the Will Muschamp era is most clearly defined by All-American cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who was said by former players to be in the Meyer “Circle Of Trust”. Jekins failed a drug test under Meyer, was arrested for his role in a bar fight and was later arrested twice for drug possession the first few months Muschamp was on the job.
In the first three months of Muschamp’s tenure, three players – Jenkins, Chris Martin and Kendric Johnson – were arrested in separate incidents for possession of marijuana. When Jenkins was eventually dismissed by Muschamp, the troubled corner 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 post-game speech after the 2008 season opener and threatened to quit. Meyer then brought him back without punishment.
– Meyer claims that the issues he dealt with player-wise was no different than 18- to 22-year olds playing football across the nation, but former player continue to blame the “Circle Of Trust”, which was a revelation of talent. Those who could play and contribute were part of the chosen few.
– Former Florida safety Bryan Thomas went as far as to say, “The program was out of control” and that “(Meyer) lost the team’s respect with that kind of stuff. 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.”
Thomas also stated that after the 2008 season he was asked to “move on” as he wasn’t in the team’s plans for 2009. He told Hayes, “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. 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 eighty-five, and allows affected players to stay on academic scholarship — which made room for another recruit.
Thomas signed the medical hardship, stayed at Florida for 2009, graduated and then transferred to then-Division II North Alabama. With eligibility remaining he played in twenty-three games over the next two seasons and was an All-Gulf South Conference selection.
– Thomas best summed his thoughts on Meyer, stating, “As far as coaching, there is no one else like (Meyer); he’s a great coach. He gets players to do the 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.”
The article goes into greater depth about Meyer’s recruiting tactics at Ohio State — where Wisconsin has already accused him of tampering and having former Buckeye alum and current NFLers call potential recruits — but the truly damning part of Hayes’ investigation was the exposing of Meyer’s run at Florida and the lack of character that embodied this leader of men.
Looking at this through the eyes of a Miami fan – two national championships and a 48-7 record is enviable – but again, at what cost? As much as many fans want to deny it, these kids are ‘student athletes’ first and are football players second. Meyer, like a handful of head coaches nationwide, seemed to miss that, sacrificing the well-being of young men in his care for the glory that comes with where you measure up in the record books.
When you look at a Meyer, or even a Bobby Petrino in Louisville, wrecking a motorcycle last week while tooling around town with a 25-year old female assistant, despite his being married with four children, it’s a quick reminder that having a head coach with integrity is a the most valuable, yet underrated, commodity.
These coaches are in charge of impressionable young men – many seeking true father figures – and all in need of guidance. For a grown man in a position of power to send the message Meyer did, what does that say? What did this teacher teach? Meyer’s approach was no different than the greed pigs who took down Wall Street.
Win at all costs. Those who produce get preferential treatment. All men aren’t created equal. Crush the little guy if it gets you ahead.
Even sadder, in the end, even with the wins and the hardware, Meyer still couldn’t earn respect. His role as the ‘cool parent’ backfired and in due time, as always, the inmates began running the asylum and a Florida program that was primed to be a well-oiled machine for years to come is now in disarray.
Meyer may know his Xs and Os, but when it comes to running a program, his efforts left Florida in a similar lurch to the one Larry Coker or Randy Shannon left Miami — one where hard work, discipline, motivation and the shaping of young minds was overlooked.
Biggest difference, Meyer’s football knowledge trumped Coker’s and Shannon’s combined — but the aftermath is more similar than different.
Thomas said it best – Meyer knows the game of football, but based on Hayes’ investigation, seems to be failing at the game of life and completely missing the mark.
When you look at the aftermath in Gainesville, they got two trophies, but at what cost? – C.B.