I’m not sure why Corch decided he had to go there – anybody think Saban would have wasted his time on this shit? – but go there he did. Texting with old media buddies…
“I just received an email from a friend where there is an accusation of multiple failed drug tests covered up by the Univ. of Florida or the coaching staff,” Meyer wrote in a text to The Sun. “This is absolutely not true. Hernandez was held to the same drug testing policy as every other player.
“He was an athlete at Florida 4-to-7 years ago and there are some comments being made that are not correct. Our staff, myself and our families worked very hard to mentor and guide him. Prayers and thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim. Relating or blaming these serious charges to Univ. of Florida, myself or our staff is wrong and irresponsible.”
… and new.
Two things there. First, nice weasel words about UF’s drug policy. Unlike a certain institution which shall remain nameless, at Florida, a student-athlete doesn’t go down for his first drug offense. Last time I check, “multiple” means more than one. And since we do know that Hernandez was suspended at one point for failing a drug test, all we’re left with is parsing whatever “covered up” is supposed to mean there.
Second, about that mentoring… well, Corch is entering “when did you stop beating your wife?” territory with that “worked very hard” stuff. Why was it necessary to do so? And did he realize it wasn’t taking?
Of course, if you want more distance, the next step is the one Meyer’s family is taking – it’s nobody’s fault but Hernandez’. Certainly, there’s a basic level where that’s the case. But let’s not lose sight of Urban the Pious. Corch, like almost every one of his peers, has no problem proclaiming his sacred duty to mentor the kids he looks to sign as he travels the recruiting trail. And afterwards, for that matter. So which is it?
Honestly, he’d have been smart to keep his mouth shut. This is just more grist for the mill.
Get The Picture 
This is another reason I’m grateful for Coach Richt.
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Good time to repeat an old comment:
ALL HAIL THE SAINTED COR. , who is free from the weaknesses of ordinary men, and who was completely above the fray during his reign.
Corch’s favoritism to delinquent stars is well documented and undeniable. Nice try Corch.
PS: Blutarsky, since when has Corch had buddies in the media, which at Florida he treated like toe jam?
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SAINTED CORCH. I blew it.
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Let’s put it this way: he’s still got Pat Dooley’s cell phone number.
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Doesn’t ESPN have a few buddies on his personal life recovery team who know him for the wonderful human bean that he ain’t, but some say he is?
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Erin Andrews left, though.
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I don’t think that anyone really believes that since Urban Meyer and the UF coaching staff were soft on disciplining AH, it directly led to AH committing a murder after a few years as a pro athlete. Let’s face it, AH was a charmer. He charmed a lot of people over the years. People in his hometown, UF coaches, NFL people, etc.
There were people who were aware of his talents on the football field and his charming personality who were willing to overlook his faults off the field. It probably had been happening for all of Hernandez’s life.
That being said, I do take please in people like Meyer, Addazzio, other former UF coaches and players having to stew in the wake of this investigation. Why? For one Meyer has played his pious – 1% of the 1% card for a long time. Two, he portrayed the “celebration” on the field as the greatest affront to UF and personally called out the danger that this could of created (but didn’t with credit to both UF and UGA players.) Third, there were comments as recently as two weeks ago attributed to “former” UF coaches and players who did not believe that Hernandez would have anything to do with a murder because he was really a “good guy” but could not get away from his friends at home. Fourth, I believe that Meyer did “cover” for AH’s volatility off the field because he was helping him win football games and when AH’s volatility off the field coupled with an interest to go to NFL (despite reports that he would not be a high draft pick) Meyer encouraged him to go to protect his “legacy” at UF.
Finally, after all that has come out over the last few weeks, Meyer and his former UF colleagues have had little comment. They could have easily said how surprised, disappointed, shocked they were with the developments. They could have come clean about what they knew about AH’s volatility and still have acknowledged that they were distressed about the murder. Instead, they kept up the facade of “supporting” the player and then had no comments for 7-10 days.
The fact is Meyer is a weasel. Meyer is a bully. Meyer is basically all of the unredeemable qualities of Coach Nickerson at Ampipe.
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+1. Urban Meyer is a caricature of all that is bad about (some not all) coaches in college football. He’s a back-stabbing liar and a user of other people–nothing more. He cares about his players the same way a pimp cares about his hookers. His frequent references to loving Tebow like his own son always made me feel like I needed a shower after hearing Meyer say it. How much would he have loved Tebow if Tebow were a mediocre player? I think we all know the answer to that one. Why anyone who loved his son would allow him to play for that weasel is beyond me.
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Yeah, but how do you really feel about him, Mayor?
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Two things:
1. You must be one hell of a mentor, Urban.
2. I wish I could read Meyer’s mind just to find out whether he’s as big of a piece of shit as I think he is.
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Meyer can vouch to Hernandez being a stand up guy. http://www.espn.go.com/nfl/story?storyId=9454509
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I’m not a fan of Meyer at all, and I’m one of those people who would rather win eight games with Richt than twelve with anybody else (thankfully he’s a good coach and we don’t have to).
But I think you guys are going a bit overboard on this one. I don’t know Meyer personally, I certainly don’t know his relationship with his players, I don’t know what steps he might have tried to take with Hernandez, etc.
I think Meyer is probably a dirtbag to the core, but I’d caution against some of the sweeping assumptions being made here about his character. We’re usually a bit more judicious than that.
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Be a little more exact about sweeping assumptions?
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“Dirtbag to the core” sounds pretty sweeping to me.
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I probably should have said sweeping “assertions”. Either way, you’re leaving out my word “probably”, which changes the meaning fairly dramatically, don’t you think?
I agree that if Meyer vouched for Hernandez’ character – w/o qualification – to an NFL scout, that implicates him somewhat, but only as far as the pro team is concerned – Meyer didn’t vouch for Hernandez to a judge or a parole officer. But do we know that? Do we know the details of the conversation between Meyer and the pro team scout? Was it “he was always in trouble but seems to have straightened himself out, and he’s a helluva player”? If the scout says he wasn’t told, do we know the scout is telling the truth or trying to cover for himself after the fact?
I don’t understand the point about the drug tests. Could Hernandez have racked up demerits for other offenses, failed a single drug test, then was suspended? And it does matter in my opinion if a player failed one drug test, two drug tests, or “multiple” drug tests – we’ve kept players that failed two drug tests, also, I believe. And in this case it mainly only matters if you think failing a drug test somehow suggests violent tendencies, or that Hernandez got special treatment that allowed him to go to the NFL (which doesn’t manufacture weapons, either), or that Meyer lied to the NFL scout about the failed drug tests, or that Meyer is a habitual liar.
Finally, my larger point is that suggesting Meyer is a liar because he said he believed in mentoring or character building or whatever and then one of his players killed somebody is unfair. That is an attempt to discolor a rival college football coach just a teeny tiny bit with a murder he had nothing to do with, which is what the original post suggests, despite the disclaimer.
There are a lot of good points about Meyer’s character on here, things he’s done that we can point to as reasons to dislike the guy. I just don’t know how much of this you can hang on him.
Now that I have defended Urban friggin’ Meyer on the GTP bulletin board, I will go defend the devil against charges of Satanism. Yeesh.
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Good post, Cosmic.
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Per Matt Hayes:
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Well, then there’s that…
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Easy, Cosmic. I was just jerking your chain. I agree with your notion that some are going a bit far in trying to make Corch personally responsible for AH’s crimes, mostly in an attempt to sling mud on FU.
But having said that, I don’t think my original post was an unfair characterization of what you said. In my world, “I think Meyer is probably a dirtbag to the core” = “sweeping assumption…about his character”. Your mileage may vary, of course.
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Cosmic Dawg, I agree. Hernandez has been out of school for awhile. I think some of these guys do well with the discipline that the college football infrastructure provides and then get out in the NFL with all of that money and all of that freedom and they don’t do well. It has nothing to do with what their college coach did.
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Cosmic, You have a bit of a point. I don’t say Corch had anything to do with Hernandez’s character, but I don’t mind if you infer that from my comments.
But take note also that Corch injects himself into this issue, and over the years has assumed the pose of rectitude and integrity, but shown himself to be hypocritical and opportunist. If there’s a significant opportunity to get a dig at Corch, I’m there.
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There’s guilt by association when you vouch for a former player’s character in order to get him drafted and it turns out that A. he’s a murderer; and B. you knew he was trouble when you had him but did little about it.
Sorry, Corch, but yet again, what your body did doesn’t square with what your mouth said your body did. And, as always, the rest of us get to be on the other end of Corch’s righteous indignation about even being asked about the actions of his body and the disparity with his words.
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Besides that, what do you think of the year-long relationship with a major sports media corp and no one had any “good-old-boy” talks with Meyer about players and/or his low-life revenge wish on those who embarrassed him at FU.
There are many who want to see his self-imprtant balloon pricked, hopefully at it’s highest point.
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Senator & Hogbody,
Remember Corch used to have Orlando Sentinels Mike Bianchi on speed dial until he left, now its really nasty between them. Hell hath no fury like a lover scorned.
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Meyer and Kiffin are tied at the top of my list for scummiest SEC coaches in my lifetime but I cannot hold him responsible for Hernandez’s recent actions. That could happen to any school, coach, conference, etc. with former athletes, or other students who attend their institution.
I do think programs which deal with problem players’ violations strictly and consistently have a better chance of making a positive impact in their future behavior, but there are no guarantees when it comes to human behavior. I am proud of the way UGA handles violations and confident CMR does as much/more in helping with preparation for life than any other coach in the country but he has been burned by several too.
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This story is on the front page of the NYT Sports page this morning. It’s below the fold, but still section B.
I’m willing to guess that Corch knew this was being published and that’s why he started to defend himself yesterday.
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From said article:
” A roster on the university’s Web site lists 121 players, 41 of whom have been arrested, either in college or afterward, and sometimes both. That number included 16 players on that season’s final two-deep roster, nine of whom were starters, as well as a kicker, punter and returner. Several of those players went on to the N.F.L., and one, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton,later won the Heisman Trophy playing for Auburn.”
Likely that few of the 36 walk-ons were arrested, so the % of recruited players arrested was close to 40%. Fulmer Cup Hall of Fame.
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I think this is something you can hang your hat on, however, as far as the kind of operation he runs. I can understand being happy that he’s finally getting some attention for it. If it were up to me, CMR can be our coach as long as he wants.
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I read another article concerning the Patriot’s owner (?) and his close relationship with Crier that listed the FU players (4) who went to the Patriots and had problems on and off the field and are no longer there.. The author questioned if Myers had taken advantage by pushing his players to be drafted by that person and they hadn’t lived up to the hype. He was not a fan of one of FU’s rivals.
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That was Belichick referenced above.
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No one’s holding UM Ifg responsible for AH murdering someone. But if the man is going to jump in front of the Timmy Parade to pretend that he’s God Gift to Coaching and Mentoring the Right Way, then he’s exposed himself to the Hypocrisy Rebuttal, and AH is Hypocrisy Rebuttal Exhibit A.
No one’s trying to shift blame away from AH. UM’s priority behind the scenes is win at all costs, but in front of the camera, he plays a different tune. I have zero issue discussing that topic in the context of AH. UM could have benched his butt or kicked him off the team. Didn’t do it. Had a chance and blew it. I’m ok with that narrative.
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