Happy America Day to you.
If there's one thing I've learned in Urban Meyer's year and half in Columbus, it's that if you are one of the top two head coaches in college football, a chunk of the national media will find a way to create juicy stories to to further their personal agendas ranging from manufacturing pageviews to taking potshots at your reputation.
Following Aaron Hernandez's alleged decision to murder at least one person, the past few weeks brought a steady diet of trashing Meyer's time at Florida and creating dotted lines to practically label Meyer as complicit. Clay Trollvis Travis has been at the forefront of the barrage, invoking hyperbole for the sake of said agendas and pageviews.
Infamous Meyer-troll Mike Bianchi also seized the moment, one of many sage columnists to make a fuss when Meyer didn't openly discuss the Hernandez situation with reporters, as if making a statement would bring a man back to life or change the way people view the coach or the former player.
Now, comes word from Travis – via his unnamed source – that Meyer turned in Florida, and former assistant Brian White, to the NCAA for committing a secondary recruiting violation. As the story goes, "Meyer and Ohio State" turned in the White for an alleged improper "bump" with Curtis Samuel, a dynamic offensive player who currently has Ohio State in his top five, a list that doesn't include the Gators.
A "bump" occurs when a off-campus contact occurs between a recruiters and recruits during Evaluation Periods. The rule states:
An evaluation period is a period of time when it is permissible for authorized athletics department staff members to be involved in off-campus activities designed to assess the academic qualifications and playing ability of prospective student-athletes. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts shall be made with the prospective student-athlete during an evaluation period.
Brett McMurphy later piled on citing the usual "unnamed sources" to assert Meyer was "aware of it and endorsed it", directly refuting comments from Meyer to both Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch and Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun.
“It is absolutely not true that I turned in the University of Florida,” Meyer said in a text message. “Weeks after, I learned our compliance guy (without any coach involvement) forwarded an article to the conference office. This is standard procedure. Once again, zero coach involvement.”
While Travis and others have commented that it's unheard of for a coach to turn in a former assistant or school, the fact of the matter is that recruiting is probably the nastiest aspect of college football and for good reason. As such, coaches and compliance departments turn in fellow coaches and schools to the NCAA for investigation all the time. Further, considering the alleged violation here was something the average Joe could've uncovered if they had a Rivals subscription ($) since it was in print at Inside The Gators, not to mention the fact Florida was eventually cleared, and the faux outrage is all the more ridiculous.
I know one thing is certain. Not only will Ohio State fulfill Meyer's wishes to play like "an angry football team", you can bet the coach himself will have a huge chip on his shoulder as the Buckeyes look to run the table.
BAD BRAD IS HEADED TO BEANTOWN. I admit it. I've always had a bit of a mancrush on Brad Stevens. The Butler head coach always carried himself with class and took a mid-major to back to back NCAA championship game appearances, nearly upsetting Duke to claim the 2010 title.
Frankly, I kept a dream scenario close to the vest where Stevens would succeed Matta whenever Thad made the decision to hang it up. I've just always been super impressed with how the guy operates. Clearly, Danny Ainge was also impressed as the Celtics announced yesterday that Stevens will succeed Doc Rivers as Boston's new head coach. The goods on his Butler tenure:
In his six seasons as Butler's head men's basketball coach, Stevens compiled a record of success unmatched in NCAA annals. The 36-year-old Butler coach has led the Bulldogs to a 166-49 record, including a 12-5 record in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Four conference regular season championships, three league tournament titles, and six trips to postseason tournament play. His 166 wins is the most for any NCAA Division I basketball coach over the first six years to start a career.
Stevens, 36, becomes Boston's 17th head coach and will have his hands full with the Celtics in full rebuilding mode. It might take all of his six-year contract to realize a turnaround now that the aging roster has been gutted. With no Kevin Garnett and Paul Piece, Stevens will be forced to lean on the enigmatic Rajon Rondo, coming off major surgery, and Jeff Green. Bottom line, it's a players league and Boston has very few good players at this point so it's likely going to be a struggle to win games over the next few years no matter how many seasoned assistant coaches Stevens surrounds himself with or how quickly he adjusts to coaching a game with a 24 second shot clock.
Anyone think he'll be back in the college ranks in five years? The track record of college coaches making the jump to the NBA certainly indicates a high probability he will.
STRONG COMES STRONG. Former Meyer assistant and current Louisville head coach Charlie Strong has been doing serious work on the recruiting trail and as a result, it sounds like agents are attempting to make their presence known, hoping to eventually be signed to represent Louisville's top talent at the next level.
To his credit, Strong is attempting to meet the concern head on. At Strong's direction, the Louisville athletic department sent a letter to agents last week advising them to abstain from contacting players and their families until the 2013 season is complete. Failure to comply is not an option:
I will cut [the agents] off if they continue to contact them. At the end of season, I will make sure you have no chance to represent our players. Not that I’m being arrogant, but I want to put a statement out there: You continue to mess with our players, this is what we’re going to do.”
“I don’t want any contact until the end of the season. We’re just trying to do it right. I don’t want [players] to feel like I’m keeping them from talking to an agent. But I don’t know why now, there’s nothing an agent can do for them now.”
Strong also had a member of the NFLPA speak to the players and their families prior to spring drills, further representing a huge change in the program's talent. Zero Cardinal players were taken in this year's NFL Draft but QB Teddy Bridgewater and WR DeVante Parker are already potential 1st rounders for 2014. Welcome to the big time, Charlie. Mo Talent, Mo Problems.
Kyle Trout and his Field Generals won bigFIELD GENERALS FTW. Kyle Trout, Jalyn Holmes and the Field Generals captured the 7ON (Nikespeak for 7-on-7) championship Wednesday night at The Opening, defeating fellow Buckeye commits Dante Booker, Parris Campbell and Damon Webb of Alpha Pro 21-14.
Earlier in the day, former Ohio State target, and Texas A&M commit, Kyle Allen topped the list of Elite 11 quarterbacks following a strong performance in Beaverton.
SPEAKING OF THE 2014 DRAFT. Somewhat ironically, Gophers Now took a look at the returning hoops talent in the B1G for 2014 and compiled some feedback on their existing draft stock.
No less than 12 players land in Chad Ford's and NBADraft.net's respective Top 100 lists with eight players in the reputable list put together by Draft Express.
LaQuinton Ross continues to be Ohio State's best chance to keep Thad's streak alive of having a player drafted, at seven years and counting following San Antonio selecting Deshaun Thomas with the 58th pick in last week's draft.
Ross currently sits as the 21st best prospect on Ford's board while Draft Express slots him 28th overall. His status could prove to be a volatile one considering the highs and lows he experienced last season. If Ross polishes his game and overall basketball IQ, he could probably vault into the top 15. At the same time, if he forces teams to draft him largely on the "P word", he could see his stock drop well into the 2nd round.
Meanwhile, Aaron Craft's stock is much harder to quantify. Ford has him listed as the 83rd best prospect while Draft Express has him way up the list at 40th overall.
Like Ross, Craft has a chance to cause his draft stock to shift wildly based on his play this season. If Craft develops a reliable jump shot, then 40th might be realistic but if he shoots like he did last season, he won't be drafted. Despite his defensive prowess and leadership skills, I just don't see a team wasting a pick on guard that shoots 41% from the floor and 30% from three, as he did during his junior campaign.
If Craft can approach his shooting numbers as a sophomore which included 50% from the floor and 36% from distance, he just might find a GM willing to make him a 2nd round pick.
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