Today at Big Ten Media Day, Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer had time for 14 questions from the media. Twelve of them pertained to sanctions, legal issues, off-the-field trouble etc. If that seems excessive, wait till you see this list below. After reading it, you may wonder what was wrong with those other two reporters. I also included the most poignant Q&A of those 12 after the list.
Tomorrow, I’ll be back with more on Urban Meyer meeting the media and talking about his record of recruiting/coaching players with legal issues. This is a collaboration between Paul M. Banks and Helen Salinger.
I’m not going to make this a sarcastic piece or inject humor into it, because it’s about a topic that is serious and is plaguing college football, not just Meyer. The ex-Urban Meyer player who allegedly committed the worst crime is obviously Aaron Hernandez, hands down. Aaron Hernandez was charged June 26 with murder for his role in allegedly killing a semi-pro football player. But Urban Meyer doesn’t want to talk about Hernandez or any of these ex-offenders who are associated with his teams at Florida and Ohio State.
Let’s start with Florida, since that’s where most of the damage has been done. Under Urban Meyer, there were 31 arrests. Twenty-five players made up those arrests.
Here is a partial list of those players I found from the Orlando Sentinel and what they’ve done. This list was originally compiled in 2010:
Chris Rainey: arrested on a charge of aggravated stalking, a felony
Solomon Patton: charged with misdemeanor possession of alcohol by someone under 21.
Matt Elam: another charge of possession of alcohol by someone under 21.
Frankie Hammond Jr.: DUI
Gary Brown: misdemeanor battery after allegedly slapping a woman and scratching someone else at a party.
Carlos Dunlap: DUI
Janoris Jenkins: resisting arrest after a fight by a Gainesville night club.
Marquis Hannah: felony burglary and misdemeanor battery, in the same incident.
Carl Johnson: misdemeanor violation of a sexual restraining order.
Riley Cooper: misdemeanor of resisting an officer and failure to comply with police and fire department.
Cam Newton: felony burglary, larceny, obstruction of justice for allegedly stealing a laptop.
Jacques Rickerson: misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
Think that was bad?
Check out what Urban Meyer has presided over at Ohio State:
Carlos Hyde: named as a person of interest in an assault on a female. Possibly redeemed? Video evidence shows we may have to take him off this list.
Bradley Roby: arrested after a bar fight.
Marcus Baugh: underage possession of alcohol and possession of a fake I.D.
Tim Gardner: arrested for obstructing official police business.
Jake Stoneburner, Jack Mewhort: arrested for urinating in public
Storm Klein: domestic battery and assault
Bri’Onte Dunn drug charges
I think this list speaks for itself.
Q. You are not — as you just mentioned, you’re not the only coach dealing with players who get in trouble. You seem to take by far the most criticism, though, of any coach in the country involving disciplinary issues.
Do you have any ideas as to why that is and does it bother you, the criticism from media, fans, over this issue?
Urban Meyer: “I’m a human so it does. I don’t read. I don’t really get involved with following stuff, because I think people need to get facts before they start just making accusations and those type of things. I’m human and I think that is something that I’m constantly evaluating and making sure we are doing the right thing.
But in the end you’ve got to feel in your heart we’re doing the right thing; that we’re in the people business and we have to do what’s right by
those people. There’s never been one time that I thought that we did wrong by that person. Now, sometimes I sit back and evaluate that we give too many
second chances. That seems to be a big key, and that’s something I’m going to continue to evaluate. I treat those players like they’re my own children.
We have high expectations for them. If one of your children has an issue, that you try to educate, correct, discipline, and push them in the
right direction as hard as you possibly can. When I see some of the situations where some of these players are from, for me to walk away from that
player has always been very, very difficult to do.
That’s where we’re at.”
Wait, what he said “I don’t read.” and he doesn’t follow stuff? Uhm, but what about that PSA Urban Meyer did to encourage READING when coach of the Gators? (Pictured above)
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now.