Unverified Voracity is challenged to fight Urban Meyer
"Players were not made available after practice. Instead, coach Urban Meyer expressed his concerns -- very publicly, I might add -- with a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel about a blog post that was written about UF receiver Deonte Thompson.
"If that was my son, we'd be going rounds right now," Meyer said.
The blog post apparently suggested that Thompson didn't like Tim Tebow's quarterbacking style. Meyer later called the reporter "a bad guy."
Meyer was attempting to protect his player from media scrutiny. At least that's how I interpreted the incident, which was very awkward. Meyer isn't known for showing much emotion, so he must have been pretty mad. It was only the second time this spring that Meyer has spoken with reporters.
Meyer told the reporter if he painted a Florida player in a bad light again that the Orlando Sentinel would be "banned from the University of Florida."
"Be very careful," Meyer said.
-jo- "
Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gator_clause/2010/03/florida-gators-qb-j…
THis isn't the first time that Meyer has threatened reporters/journalists/talking types with taking away their access to the University of Florida. Remember when Jesse Palmer question play selection in the 2008 loss to Ole Miss, Coach Meyer went of the "with us or against us" rant and suggested that some people should not be allowed to have tickets if they are critical of the team. I'm all for supporting your boyz, but really, "if that's my son, we would be going rounds"?
Looks like somebody's leave of absence really helped out with the stress levels. There are good ways to react to criticism of a player, but pretending like you want to fight a reporter isn't one of them.
This is the link for the article that caused the threatening:
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/gatorbytes/2010/03/23/deonte-thompson-le…
Edit: I was wrong about the article that caused the threatening: This is actually a post from the reporter in question, but not his original article-
"So, after today’s practice, Meyer wasn’t walking over to tell the media that players were not available today, which they weren’t. Part of the consequence for Thompson’s quote.
He was coming to play better defense than he can coach in honor of Thompson.
He was coming to tell me I’m a “bad guy.”
“You’ll be out of practice — you understand that? — if you do that again,” Meyer said. “I told you five years ago: Don’t mess with our players. Don’t do it. You did it. You do it one more time and the Orlando Sentinel’s not welcome here ever again. Is that clear? It’s yes or no.” (finger pointing toward the face)
“Urban, come on. Don’t make any threats,” I said. “That’s fine. I’ll play by rules. But all I was doing is quoting the guy. I don’t think I was the only one.”
“You’re a bad guy, man,” Meyer said. “You’re a bad guy.”
After Meyer then made the comment about what he would do if Thompson was his son, he embraced his daughter, Nicki, from about 20 yards away before they both turned in our direction and Meyer pointed toward the media.
This story is already out there, so I just figured I’d present my side. Coaches get mad, so they approach reporters about it. I get that. A reporter’s probably not doing his or her job without getting blasted once in awhile.
But maybe Meyer felt like making a statement, a chest-beating moment. Considering a guy who is trying to suppress his stress level, his doctors probably would have frowned on today’s incident.
Meyer has not addressed the media for interviews since last Wednesday. Players and coaches are currently off limits until further notice."
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college_uf/2010/03/urban-meyer-…
Wow.
James Carville advising him on media relations?
Does it matter? He's won so much that he could probably do press conferences without pants and no one would blink.
Thank god Charlie Weis was never successful at ND.
(and I fully believe Urban Meyer is a scumbag, just search the archives).
He'll certainly get the love of his players and recruits by showing he really wants to protect him.
Also, since he won 2 NCs, the fans, boosters, administration, and media at large will likely not give a damn.
would eat the Freep for an appetizer. If it happened, he might still be a scumbag but he would be my scumbag.
Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com tweeted:
Miami Herald reports Urban Meyer threatens to ban Orlando Sentinel reporter from U of Florida. That's not a fight Meyer can win. Ever.
Especially at a public school. It's not a fight worth picking either--no one wins. Allowing access enables coaches to shape perception. Not allowing access forces reporters on deadline to seek out anything to meet deadline, which forces them to accept negative stories from disgruntled insiders, including players.
True he can't win from the media's perspective and maybe the school's not thrilled but from a players/parents/recruits perspective he's being a hell of a team guy and gets brownie points from them all I imagine.
Dealing in absolutes? He is like a GWB that wins.
only a sith deals in absolutes
March 24th, 2010 at 10:47 PM ^
You are my new favorite poster.
Disclaimer: Offer considered null and void if octal9 locates a better post in the same browsing session. Offer only valid for 24 hours, or until octal9 forgets what your username is.
I'm completely ignorant on this issue I guess, but why wouldn't Meyer be able to convince the administration to revoke media passes?
My guess is that the administration would realize that unless the reporter had done something completely over the line, that action would completely piss off all the other reporters, particularly the national ones and your days of favorable coverage would be over. It's not like Florida football is the only game in town (like the Masters, where they run everything and are the most important tournament in the world)
would be to "close ranks" and "support our brethren", but I doubt that if UF chose to exclude a blogger & reporters from that blog associated network, ESPN & SI.com would stop covering Meyer. Now if Meyer got UF to banhammer some ESPN First & Ten associated slappy, the WWL would get some expose' stories up on UF's problems. Rumor was that was one of the reasons ESPN did the hit job piece on Penn St's football legal problems a couple years ago.. Paterno tried to get media passes revoked for a couple ESPN affiliated columnists who wrote unflattering pieces about how JoePa needed to leave before he embarassed himself more. Sourced from a friend who worked in the Penn St AthDept and saw the memo from JoePa to the AD...
SOOOOO... the outcome of Meyer trying this would be dependent on: A) who was banned, and B) if the admin at UF has a backbone to sustain a couple of negative news cycles.
Next time try this...
"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."
Works every time. Trust us...
This is all about Meyer's relationship with his players. It generally benefits a coach to instill an "us against them" mentality, and the press is always going to be a convenient target, since so many sports "journalists" are morons to begin with. It's the same thing as Gundy's "I'm a man" rant, and a more extreme version of Lloyd's occasional tiffs with local media assclowns.
Gundy's rant didn't work out so well. Even if you ignore the years of insults, the guy he was defending transferred and ended up doing his pro day workout at LSU.
I mean, the headline from this article (as quoted from Reid) says it all:
Reid: Gundy's rant "basically ended my life"
Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the trainload.
Word.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:03 PM ^
It's cool, though. Same idea. The barrels actually look like oil drums. At least that was the case at my first paper.
Shane Matthews ripped Florida after the Ole Miss loss in 2008, not Jesse Palmer.
Carry on.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:04 PM ^
dazzle the ladies on the Bachelor in a glorious display of metro-sexuality? Does Mathews know how tie a Double Windsor? Does he have skillz with the pomade? Didn't think so.
only a full windsor and a half windsor. Personally, I don't deviate from the Pratt knot or four in hand.
Urban Meyer is a dark sith lord.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:29 AM ^
would you like to see it?
http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/882/927048.mov
Wow. That's even more disturbing than I thought. So, reporters aren't aloud to quote your players, Urban? What a moron.
If this story was about RR not only threatening but banning Dull, Rosenpuke, and Shyster from the Uinversity of Michigan, most of us would be applauding it right now. I certainly would be happy.
March 25th, 2010 at 10:04 AM ^
Forget all of the "rights" blah blah blah for a minute.
Good for Urban. Good for his players, good for their cohesion. I'm impressed. I wish RichRod would have the same tough guy reaction in sticking up for a player agains the media - just once.
March 25th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
blueblueblue so let me get this straight-Urban Meyer goes after a reporter and you find a way to slam RR from this-YES you are the reason there is a FREEP! Let me try this in your words blueblueblue...
Forget all of the "public bathroom" blah blah blah for a minute.
Good for Harbaugh. Good for his bladder, good for his entire urinary tract. I'm impressed. I wish RichRod would have the same tough guy reaction in asking for his own toilet next to his office - just once.
March 25th, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
Wow. Extreme logic fail. Yes, extrapolate my framework to everything else. That is what I intended.
I wont comment on the "I am the reason there is a Freep" line. That's just dumb. (wait - I guess I just did)
I wasn't slamming RR. His easy-going good guy approach will pay off - eventually. I simply wish he would get tough just once. That is all that is needed. I don't care if he would be in the right or not, just get tough with these guys once. That is all.
Richrod will take his Freep frustrations out on 2010 opponents.