I am not sure where Meyer is coming from here.
Yes, Meyer has not been accused of any wrong doing with regards to the NCAA but listening to his words makes me scratch my head. I am not saying that he doesn't have legitimate concerns...but his words just seem hollow.
That the NCAA thinks that kids lying or taking money is worse than some of the legal issues we have read about over the years...particularly the rap sheet that is well documented in Gainesville tells me all I need to know.
The system is so screwed up that it would not surprise me if the whole system collapsed under the weight of all the corruption.
Urban Meyer:
"And Dez Bryant is out of the profession, I mean college football. …
"I actually put one together last year, a recommendation (NCAA rules enforcement suggestions) and sent it to a good chunk of athletic directors and presidents and commissioners. You can have group committees, group hugs, group discussions, you can have whatever you want, at the end of the day if you enforce the law people will have an opportunity to break that rule less.
"If there’s a law and it’s an unforceable law, and deep down they don’t want to enforce it, you are officially in the wild, wild west and anything goes. We need to revamp this thing."
"I’m probably going to get criticized for saying a few things but I’m good. I’m no longer a football coach and that had a part to do with why I stepped away.
"I’m not the lone wolf here there are some great football coaches that are still coaching. They have to be very careful, politically correct, say all the right things and do all the right things and deep down their hearts getting ripped out because they’re at a competitive disadvantage and that’s just not right.
"But at the end of the day the people that pay the worst price is the 19-year-old young man knows that it’s wrong but still deals with agents when he’s not supposed to, taking things from agents and getting recruited illegally. At the end of the day that’s going to affect that young man for the rest of his life because a precedent has been set in his mind that taking a shortcut is okay.
"The ultimate mission of college athletics is to develop people for after athletics. The job is not to make money for the university. That’s not the number one objective and I’m anxious to help and give my opinion."
Meh...
Meyer is no angel of grace.
He may not have "broke" the rules but he is hardly untainted in some of the moves he has made on the recruiting trail and how he used Pastor Tebow to secure recruits.
He is no different than most successful coaches in that he has used kids as pawns for his own professional gain.
Sure, Meyer has the balls now to take a stand but if he had so much conviction on this then where was he when he was an active coach?
Pete Carroll took a stand on agents before he left...and it fell on deaf ears.
Now all of sudden people want to take notice?
Excuse me if I am not impressed...