Urban Meyer Fined for Ref Comments

by Year2 on Nov 6, 2009 1:45 PM EST in Football Comment 13 comments

Urban Meyer got a $30,000 fine for criticizing officials after last week's Florida-Georgia game. Mike Slive issued a terse statement about which clause of the ethics code Meyer violated, and the coach responded with an apologetic form letter saying he's sorry and accepts the fine.

This is the first case of someone getting punishment under the SEC's new policy which allows the conference to fine or suspend on first offense of criticizing officials instead of having to go through a pair of reprimand letters first. The key word there is "fine or suspend," which some folks seemed to have missed given some of the comments I've seen throughout the week. First time offenders were never going to get held out of a game by Slive, who decided to go the symbolic fine route instead.

In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone gets a suspension until the third strike, in which case the reprimand letters simply will have been replaced by pocket change shakedowns for the conference's millionaire coaches. If you're wondering why the announcement took so long to come out, it's because Slive was out of the office traveling most of the week.

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30k is pretty steep for this kind of penny-ante complaint – for it to be proportionate, the league will have come down like a ton of bricks on the next coach to say something serious.

by peachy rex on Nov 6, 2009 2:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Kiffen’s the only one who’s really said anything “serious”, and even then, I think part of his comments were taken out of context. Both Petrino and Mullins said similar things for their reprimands, with Mullins taking it just a bit further by suggesting the replay official should be punished.

by dxf04 on Nov 6, 2009 2:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ed Orgeron‘s "Seems like some people get the calls and some people don’t… There were very questionable calls throughout the season and it seems they go for the better team" was pretty bad too.

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by Year2 on Nov 6, 2009 2:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You're right

The two statements are not comparable. Nick Williams did, in fact, hit Tim Tebow late. It wasn’t vicious or intended to cause injury, it wasn’t on his blind side or helmet-to-helmet, and it only barely qualified as a “cheap shot,” but it was late and it should have been flagged under the rules of the game. Urban Meyer simply said so.

That’s a far cry from the Tennessee coaches’ very strong insinuations that SEC officials aren’t impartial. Those statements tiptoe very close to the edge of openly questioning the integrity of the league’s officiating. As with the reprimand against Bobby Petrino, Urban Meyer shouldn’t be fined merely for stating the rules accurately.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Nov 6, 2009 3:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It will be very interesting to see who draws the first suspension and for what – you know someone’s going to cross the line, probably before the end of the season.

by peachy rex on Nov 6, 2009 3:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It seems we're mired in inconsistency at this point.

Orgeron’s comment didn’t bring a reprimand to either himself or Kiffin. Bobby Johnson’s comment, which was suspiciously close to Meyer’s, didn’t draw a reprimand. Petrino started it all by stating on his TV show that “there were probably 3 calls that influenced the game”. The problem seems to be with Bylaw 10.5.4 itself. The language “refrain from public criticism of officials” apparently means that you can’t state (or even imply) that an official blew a call. Under this definition, Orgeron’s comments aren’t a violation (and thus no reprimand), especially if you look at the full transcript. Under this same definition, Petrino, Meyer, Johnson, Kiffin, and Mullins are all guilty of a violation, as they all stated (or implied) that refs blew calls, with some of them going as far to single out individual officials.

by dxf04 on Nov 6, 2009 4:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So what's the distinction

between Orgeron’s statements and the others? I’m honestly missing it here. Isn’t he implying that the refs are biased? How is that not “criticism?”

by wangalusa on Nov 6, 2009 4:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think we actually agree on this...

but you missed the point I was trying to make. My point was the Petrino, Johnson, and Meyer got 3 different penalties for basically the same offense, while Orgeron got nothing, simply because he was so vague that you can’t really call it “criticism of an official”, because he didn’t identify a specific play, blown call, or official. That was the “inconsistency” I was referring to.

by dxf04 on Nov 6, 2009 5:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'd take the time to point out the inconsistency here,

but honestly I don’t have the spirit for it.

by wangalusa on Nov 6, 2009 4:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

They just used him

to make an example out of him, now all the SEC coaches know league isnt messing around.

by Hook85 on Nov 6, 2009 9:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think I can remember

a season as focused on off-the-field crap as this one.

This is the final, absurdist touch.

by wangalusa on Nov 6, 2009 4:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think the absurdist capper is still coming.

I see this (and the SEC’s behavior in general) as the escalating nationalism and colonialism, to which the only recourse will be outright dadaism. I think Houston Nutt has been way ahead of the curve, here.

by Giant Catfish on Nov 6, 2009 11:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Louisiana Tech being ever so gracious to give this game to BSU.

I can’t believe they punted. What an idiotic call. A lobotomized monkey could see the BSU touchdown coming.

by Giant Catfish on Nov 6, 2009 11:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

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