From champs to chomped: How Urban Meyer broke Florida football

[Herald Democrat]

The uproar and controversy of Urban Meyer’s stunning recruiting
coup at Ohio State settled in and Stefon Diggs, still on the
Buckeyes' wish list, was debating his future.

Diggs, the second-highest rated wide receiver in the country,
had narrowed his list of potential schools to Maryland, Florida
and Ohio State. For more than a week following National Signing
Day on Feb. 1, and before Diggs eventually signed with Maryland,
Meyer relentlessly pursued Diggs.

Multiple sources told Sporting News that Meyer—who won two
national championships in six years at Florida and cemented his
legacy as one of the game’s greatest coaches—told the Diggs
family that he wouldn’t let his son go to Florida because of
significant character issues in the locker room.

Character issues that we now know were fueled by a culture Meyer
created. Character issues that gutted what was four years
earlier the most powerful program in college football.

It was Meyer who declared the Florida program “broken” at the
end of his last regular season game in Gainesville in November
of 2010. But why was it broken?

“Over the last two years he was there,” one former player said,
“the players had taken complete control of the team.”

Only now, through interviews with multiple sources during a
three-month Sporting News investigation, do we see just how
damaged the infrastructure really was and how much repair work
second-year coach Will Muschamp has had to undertake in
replacing Meyer—who has moved on to Ohio State less than a year
after resigning from Florida for health reasons.

Meyer denies allegations that he cast Florida and its players in
a dark light when he spoke to the Diggs family, and said, “I
love Florida; I’ll always be a Gator. My motives were pure as
gold when I left. We left Florida because I was dealing with
health issues that I’ve since learned how to control.”

But multiple former players and others close to the program say
the timing of his departure was also tied to the roster he left
behind. Remember it was Meyer who hinted the program that won 13
games in 2006, 2008 and 2009—and lost only 10 games from 2005-
09—was flawed beyond the unsuspecting eye.

Now those issues have surfaced for all to see. Left in the wake
of Meyer’s resignation were problems that can destroy a coaching
career: drug use among players, a philosophy of preferential
treatment for certain players, a sense of entitlement among all
players and roster management by scholarship manipulation.

The coach who holds himself above the seedy underbelly of the
game, who as an ESPN television analyst in 2011 publicly berated
the ills of college football, left a program mired in the very
things he has criticized.

“The program,” former Florida safety Bryan Thomas said, “was out
of control.”

Circle game
Ironically, Florida’s downfall began at the height of Meyer’s
success—the 2008 national championship season. Three seasons of
enabling and pandering to elite players—what Meyer’s players
called his “Circle of Trust”—began to tear away at what he’d put
together.

“I’ve never heard of Circle of Trust before in my life,” Meyer
said.

Former players, though, contend it was the foundation of
Florida’s culture under Meyer. In the season opener against
Hawaii, Meyer said a few elite players (including wideout Percy
Harvin, linebacker Brandon Spikes and tight end Aaron Hernandez)
would miss the game with injuries. According to multiple
sources, the three players—all critical factors in Florida’s
rise under Meyer—failed drug tests for marijuana and were
sitting out as part of standard university punishment.

By publicly stating the three were injured and not being
disciplined, former players say, Meyer was creating a divide
between the haves and have-nots on the team.

“They were running with us on the first team all week in
practice,” one former player said. “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.”

It was Harvin, more than anyone, who epitomized the climate
Meyer created. While former players say Harvin always was
treated differently as a member of Meyer’s Circle of Trust, it
was the beginning of his sophomore season—after he helped lead
the Gators to the 2006 national title—that it became blatant.
That's also when it began to contribute negatively toward team
chemistry.

During offseason conditioning before the 2007 season, the team
was running stadium steps and at one point, Harvin, according to
sources, sat down and refused to run. When confronted by
strength and conditioning coaches, Harvin—who failed to return
calls and texts to his cell phone to comment on this story—said,
“This (expletive) ends now.”

“The next day,” a former player said, “we were playing
basketball as conditioning.”

It only got worse as Harvin’s career progressed. At one point
during the 2008 season, multiple sources confirmed that Harvin,
now a prominent member of the Minnesota Vikings, physically
attacked wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, grabbing him by
the neck and throwing him to the ground. Harvin had to be pulled
off Gonzales by two assistant coaches—but was never disciplined.

When asked about the Harvin incident, Gonzales—now offensive
coordinator at Illinois—said, “I think it’s a little overblown.
I mean, every great player wants his voice to be heard.”

Said Meyer: “Something did happen and something was handled. I
don’t think it’s fair to Percy Harvin or Billy Gonzales to talk
about it.”

Gonzales left Florida for LSU—a lateral move—after the 2009
season, and did so by placing his keys, cell phone and
resignation letter on Meyer’s desk. There were rumors that
Gonzales resigned with a Post-it note on Meyer’s desk.

“I never left a Post-it note,” Gonzales said. “Urban and I have
talked since. He’ll do great things at Ohio State.”

That is, unless he hasn’t learned from his time at Florida.

Maelstrom in Gainesville
Even as the unprecedented success at Florida continued, a
mounting number of players were dragging the Gators’ name down a
path of drugs and destruction. At least 30 players were arrested
in Meyer’s six seasons. Instances of substance abuse were often
linked to his most prized athletes. NFL teams took notice.

Hernandez admitted to failing a drug test at Florida, a problem
that cut his draft stock from first-round grade to fourth-round
selection by the New England Patriots. Harvin, according to
multiple reports, failed a drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine
and slipped from a top-10 pick to the latter half of the first
round.

Spikes, sources said, failed a drug test at Florida and was
suspended four games during his rookie season with the Patriots
for using performance enhancing drugs. Offensive lineman Maurice
Hurt, according to multiple reports, last year tested positive
for marijuana at the Combine. He fell to the Washington Redskins
in the seventh round—and later developed into a starting guard
in his rookie season.

Just how prevalent was the drug use among Meyer’s players? A
source told Sporting News that Patriots coach Bill Belichick
spoke to the current Florida team this offseason, and addressed
the issue and how it impacts NFL careers.

“His message was, in essence, don’t be like those guys,” a
source said.

But none of those aforementioned drug problems was as prominent
as All-American cornerback Janoris Jenkins', who, like Harvin,
former players say, was protected by Meyer’s Circle of Trust.
Jenkins failed a drug test at Florida under Meyer and was
arrested for his part in a bar fight. He was later arrested
twice for possession of marijuana within the first few months
Muschamp was on the job.

In fact, in the first month of Muschamp’s tenure, three
players—Jenkins, linebacker Chris Martin and defensive end
Kedric Johnson—were arrested in separate incidents for
possession of marijuana.

When he was dismissed from the team by Muschamp, Jenkins 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 postgame speech after the 2008 season opener and
threatened to quit. Meyer not only brought Jenkins back without
punishment, Jenkins eventually developed into a freshman All-
American and played a big role in the team’s championship run.

Meyer says Jenkins “is a good kid who made a bad mistake,” and
contends he was dealing with issues at Florida that occur at
“every program in the country.” Every coach, he says, has his
own way of dealing with them.

“I am very proud of our guys that played at Florida,” Meyer
said. “Are there issues? Yes there are with 18-22-year-olds. I
have been criticized that I have been too lenient on players;
that doesn’t concern me. We are going to go out of our way to
mentor, educate and discipline guys the way we see fit to make
sure they’re headed in the right direction. Are we perfect? I
never said that. We do the best we can and I think our record
has been really positive in the impact we’ve made on those
people.”

The biggest impact, former players say, was for those in the
Circle of Trust. It wasn’t so much a focus on trust as it was a
revelation of talent. If you could play and contribute, you were
part of the chosen few.

“(Meyer) lost the team’s respect,” Thomas said. “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.”

Said Meyer: "Was I dealing with entitlement issues? Yes. But
they were great kids. If they weren't, I would've gotten rid of
them."

Recruiting and reaction
One way of ridding a program of undesirables is roster
management. Recruiting is the lifeblood of all programs. A
direct correlation exists between winning at recruiting and
winning on fall Saturdays.

Few do it better than Meyer. Few are as ruthless when it comes
to recruiting—and when it comes to making room for recruits.
Thomas was a four-star recruit from Zephyrhills, Fla., and had a
series of knee injuries hinder his development.

After the 2008 season, Thomas says he was told he had to “move
on” because he wasn’t in the team’s plans for 2009.

“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,” Thomas said. “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 85, and
allows the affected player to stay on academic scholarship.

It also made room for another recruit. Meyer denied this tactic
of roster management.

“As a coach, I don’t have any say in the medical decisions,”
Meyer said. “If the doctors say a player can’t play any longer,
he can’t play.”

Thomas signed the medical hardship, stayed at Florida for the
2009 season and graduated before transferring to then-Division
II North Alabama. With eligibility remaining, he played in 23
games over the next two seasons and was an All-Gulf South
Conference selection. He recently worked out for NFL scouts at
North Alabama’s Pro Day, and was in Gainesville for Florida’s
Pro Day.

Thomas may be the only player who will publicly speak out
against Meyer. Many others are fearful of Meyer’s ability to
hurt their NFL prospects. Every other player contacted for this
story asked to be unidentified.

“As far as coaching, there’s no one else like (Meyer); he’s a
great coach,” Thomas said. “He gets players to do 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.”

Will Columbus discover trouble?
Before he walked on the field this spring to coach his first
practice at Ohio State, Meyer ran into two more significant
problems.

According to sources, Wisconsin accused Meyer and his staff of
using former Ohio State NFL players to call high school
recruits. Wisconsin also accused Meyer and his staff of bumping
into offensive lineman Kyle Dodson, who was committed to the
Badgers but eventually flipped and signed with the Buckeyes. The
practice of “bumping” occurs when coaches accidentally “bump”
into players during recruiting dead periods.

Both the alleged phone calls and bumping are NCAA violations.

When asked about the specific charges, Wisconsin coach Bret
Bielema declined comment but told Sporting News a day after
National Signing Day that, “I wasn’t upset with Urban because of
a gentlemen’s agreement. It was something else that I don’t want
to get into. I told him what I knew, and he said he would take
care of it and he did.”

Meyer said the alleged incidents happened “before I was hired—in
December, but I can’t remember the exact timeline.” Meyer was
hired at Ohio State on Nov. 28, 2011.

He said when he heard of the allegations, he asked the coaches
involved and they denied any wrongdoing. Meyer said Ohio State
hasn’t self-reported anything to the NCAA regarding those
allegations, “because they’re not true.”

“Let me make one thing very clear,” Meyer said. “There are no
issues with Urban Meyer and the NCAA.”

Ohio State is serving the first of two years of NCAA probation
for several violations committed under former coach Jim Tressel,
including multiple players receiving impermissible benefits. The
football program could be a repeat violator if charged with an
NCAA violation over the next two years, where additional severe
penalties could be handed down.

During the heat of recruiting season, another dust-up arose in
Columbus. It was the “gentlemen’s agreement”—a loosely held
ideal among Big Ten coaches about backing off verbally committed
high school players—that got Meyer into a dicey moment.

Meyer and his staff got eight players to back off verbal
commitments and sign with the Buckeyes, and a few Big Ten
coaches—including Bielema and Michigan State coach Mark
Dantonio—spoke about the understanding among league coaches at
press conferences.

A few days later, during a speech to the state of Ohio’s high
school coaches clinic, Meyer scoffed at the notion of the
“gentlemen’s agreement” proclaiming, “You’re pissed because we
went after a committed guy? Guess what? We got nine (coaches)
who better go do it again. Do it a little harder next time.”

But less than two weeks earlier, sources say Ohio State running
backs coach Stan Drayton called a Florida assistant coach to
discuss the recruitment of Lakeland, Fla., wideout Ricquan
Southward, who was committed to Ohio State but was still being
recruited by Florida. Drayton, sources say, told Gators wide
receivers coach Aubrey Hill that Meyer and Muschamp had a
“gentlemen’s agreement” about committed players—and that Hill
should back off recruiting Southward.

Southward eventually signed with Ohio State.

“I did not tell Stan Drayton that we had a gentleman’s agreement
with Will,” Meyer said. “Now, I don’t know what Stan said to
(Hill) in their conversation.”

Hill declined comment. Muschamp also declined and said: “I’m
focusing on our team getting better—not anyone or anything else.”

It’s a still fragile program demanding no less.

Coming off the bottom
By the end of Muschamp’s first season, Florida failed to have a
first-team All-SEC selection for the first time in 40 years. For
the first time since 2004, Florida failed to have an
underclassman in the NFL Draft. The Gators had only two players
at the NFL Combine, the lowest number since the event moved to
Indianapolis in 1985. Fifteen true freshmen—players Muschamp
recruited—played for the Gators in 2011.

By the time Florida beat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl (while
Meyer was recruiting for the Buckeyes), Muschamp’s weeding out
process of players who wouldn’t buy into his philosophy had
whittled the roster to 72 scholarship players—13 under the NCAA
limit.

The 6-6 regular season record was Florida’s worst since 1987.
The “broken” program—Meyer’s words—had hit rock bottom.

“To put it all on a sense of entitlement or a few other things
that happened, I disagree,” Meyer said. “It comes down to
players.”

When asked how such a dysfunctional team won the national title
in 2008, one former player said, “We had better players than
everyone else. It’s that’s simple. We had (Tim) Tebow. We played
without our next-best player (Harvin), who was injured for the
SEC (Championship Game), and still beat an Alabama team that
would’ve beaten Oklahoma, too.”

Meyer points to the loss of five juniors to the NFL after the
2009 season as the reason for Florida’s regression in 2010.
There was also a new quarterback, a factor contributing to the
loss of five games. While he says he left Florida with
talent—the Gators had a top-10 defense in 2011—last year’s team
also struggled to overcome quarterback injuries, among other
problems.

Florida last month began Year 2 under Muschamp. Spring practice
featured several young players battling for starting spots and a
high-profile quarterback competition between sophomores Jeff
Driskel and Jacoby Brissett.

Meyer, having replaced the ousted and beloved Tressel a year
after Luke Fickell served as interim, began his first spring in
Columbus trying to install a new offense, and getting players
“to do the right things and be good people on and off the
field—like I have done everywhere I have coached.” Both coaches
are rebuilding while dealing with significant baggage.

Only one is connected to both.

Muschamp declined to be interviewed for this story, but in an
interview with Sporting News last month he hinted that things
aren’t always what they seem.

“This team is 15-11 over the last two years,” Muschamp said. “I
always look at the difference between reality and perception.
Sometimes perception isn’t always what reality is.”

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/2178871-urban-
meyer-florida-ohio-state-ncaa-violation-recruiting-drugs-program-
will-musc

[j. wood]

On 01 Aug 2018, Some dued <theodo...@gmail.com> posted some
news:7dd06c9a-42a8-478d...@googlegroups.com:

> I think I speak for everyone when I say, tl;dr

Took me 30 seconds to read and digest.

What's wrong with you?

[Michael Press]

In article <XnsA933117...@0.0.0.1>, "j. wood" <wo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

He thinks too much in unproductive directions.

Followup-To set.

--
Michael Press